The Complete Cloud Accounting Guide for Modern Firms

I started Xen Accounting in 2013 as one of the first fully cloud firms in North America…

Back when cloud accounting wasn’t a big thing yet.

In fact, my very first published blog post was about cloud/online accounting.

I had to figure out a lot of it myself, and I made mistakes…

(Many of them were expensive!)

But on the flip side, I had a first-mover advantage in the space and saw something a lot of people didn’t see at the time:

The technology was there to make accounting more efficient for firms and more effortless for clients.

No more shoeboxes of receipts, and no more driving to drop off papers.

After a lot of trial and error and even more expensive mistakes…

I grew Xen Accounting from scratch to a hefty sale in just five years.

And in this guide, I’m going to show you how to build or transition to a cloud accounting firm that gives you the freedom and profits you want.

Let’s go!

What Is Cloud Accounting?

Cloud accounting is the use of software tools in accounting firms to conduct all operations online.

Client work like bookkeeping, tax prep, and advisory happens online.

Client communication, team meetings, and collaboration also happen online.

Since everything is digital, it also means that the firm is effectively paperless.

(Xen Accounting was a 100% cloud accounting firm.)

How Does Cloud Accounting Work?

At its core, cloud accounting works because of three things:

• Cloud-based accounting software: Your accounting tools live on the internet, not installed on a desktop computer in your office.
• Real-time data access: Your clients’ financial information updates automatically. Bank transactions flow in through connected feeds and expenses get captured through receipt apps. You and your client see the same numbers at the same time without waiting for them to send you files.
• Digital workflows: Everything moves through online systems. Clients upload documents through a portal, while you send requests through your practice management tool. They e-sign documents, you hold meetings over video, and team members collaborate in shared workspaces.

The result is increased efficiency for accounting firms and more convenience for clients.

Cloud Accounting Statistics

To better understand how cloud accounting firms actually operate and perform, I surveyed 150 firm owners from the Future Firm newsletter community.

Here’s what I found…

Cloud Adoption Is High Among Forward-Thinking Firms

The first question I asked in my survey was whether firms were fully, partially, or not cloud at all.

Here’s how I defined each category:

• Fully cloud: All software is online, no paper, and both the team and clients are fully serviced online. No in-person interaction is required.
• Partially cloud: Most software is online and the firm is mostly paperless, but the team or clients still come into the office occasionally.
• Not cloud: Desktop software, paper files, and workflows depend on being in the office.

And here are the results:

That’s about a 95% cloud adoption rate!

Now, before you think “Wow, almost everyone’s cloud now…”

Keep in mind these are firms that subscribe to my Future Firm newsletter, a newsletter about modern accounting practices.

(You can sign up for free if you’d like… No pressure. 🙂)

The broader accounting industry is still behind this.

As for why firms choose to go cloud…

Freedom and Efficiency Drive Cloud Adoption in Accounting Firms (More Than Profit)

You might think accounting firms adopt cloud accounting primarily to make more money…

But you’d be surprised.

More freedom (92 mentions) and more efficiency (88) lead the pack:

Here’s what this tells me:

As analytical as we accountants are trained to be…

These answers come from an emotional place.

Why?

Because when you’re working 60-hour weeks during tax season and can’t take a vacation without everything falling apart, you’re not thinking about profit margins.

You’re thinking about freedom.

Firm owners go cloud because they’re burnt out, tired of the inefficiency, and craving flexibility in how they work and live.

And like you’ll see below, it’s paying off:

Fully Cloud Firms Work Less Than Partially Cloud or Non-Cloud Firms

I asked firm owners how many hours they typically work per week…

And then bumped that data against the type of cloud accounting firm that they run.

Here are the results:

As you can see, firm owners do get that freedom they wanted in cloud accounting.

Fully cloud firms eliminate the time sinks that plague traditional firms:

• No time spent chasing paper
• No scheduling around office hours
• No commute
• No waiting for clients to physically show up with documents

Interestingly, partially cloud firms work the most at 43 hours per week…

Here’s why I think that’s happening:

Partially cloud firms are fighting two systems at once.

They’re trying to maintain traditional workflows while also adopting new cloud tools.

That’s double the work: managing both the old way and the new way simultaneously.

It’s also worth noting that “partially cloud” means different things to different firms.

For some firms, it means their accounting software is online but clients still come to the office.

For others, it means the team works remotely but they’re still drowning in paper.

Fully cloud firms don’t deal with any of these.

Everything is designed to work online, workflows are standardized, and there’s no back-and-forth between digital and physical, no exceptions to manage.

That consistency gives you your time back.

Now, given that profitability ranked last in the list of reasons firms choose cloud accounting, this next part may come as a surprise to you…

Fully Cloud Firms Report Healthier Margins

Yep, you read that right.

Check this out:

Accounting firms may not go cloud for the money…

But they end up making more of it anyway.

How?

Fully cloud firms can charge premium prices.

When your entire operation is built around convenience and efficiency, you’re not selling tax returns and bookkeeping.

You’re selling an experience:

• Real-time access to financials
• Fast turnaround times
• Seamless document sharing
• No friction

That’s worth more to clients, and you can price accordingly.

(Keep reading to learn how you can leverage cloud accounting to significantly increase your prices.)

What Are the Benefits of Running a Cloud Accounting Firm?

At this point, you’ve seen the data.

Fully cloud firms work fewer hours, report higher margins, and are run by owners who prioritized freedom over profit (and ended up with both).

Cloud is the future of accounting.

But let’s look at what those benefits look like in practice.

Increased Efficiency and Less Manual Work

Cloud accounting firms are more efficient because they’ve eliminated the friction that bogs down traditional firms.

When everything lives online and connects to everything else, work flows automatically instead of requiring constant manual intervention.

Here’s what that efficiency actually looks like:

• Routine tasks run on autopilot through cloud-based automation. Bank transactions sync automatically into cloud accounting software, receipt apps capture expenses in real-time, and rules you set once apply across all clients instantly. Dext does this:

• You’re not constantly switching between systems because everything connects online. Cloud practice management integrates directly with your accounting platform and client portal, so information flows between systems without manual exports and imports.
• Your workload becomes predictable because cloud tools enable consistent processes. Monthly close workflows trigger automatically for every client on schedule, and your team sees exactly what needs to happen next without checking in with you.
• Client interactions move faster through online portals and real-time access. Clients upload documents directly from their phone, and you both see the same real-time financial data without waiting for file exchanges.
• Delegation works because cloud systems make processes portable. Your team member in another city can pick up exactly where you left off because all the work lives in shared cloud platforms accessible from anywhere.

The result is less time spent on administrative busywork and more time building relationships with clients and growing the firm.

Better Work-Life Balance for Firm Owners

In my opinion, getting an improved accounting work-life balance is one of (if not the) best benefits of cloud accounting.

We already saw that fully cloud firm owners work about 35 hours per week.

But the work-life balance benefit goes deeper than just fewer hours.

When you’re running a traditional firm, your schedule is dictated by other people’s availability.

Clients need to come to the office, so you’re there during business hours.

Your team also works in the office, so you need to be present.

And tax season means everyone’s physically together grinding through returns.

Cloud accounting changes that equation entirely.

You can work from anywhere, which means you’re not tied to a specific city or office.

You can take that family vacation and still check in on urgent matters without your entire operation grinding to a halt.

I know this because I went on a 7-week trip in Asia without bottlenecking the work in my company.

(I shared this story on LinkedIn.)

This is the freedom that firm owners said they wanted when they chose cloud accounting:

Not just working less, but also working on your own terms.

Access to a Broader Client Base

In the data above, we saw that 47% of firms said one reason they went cloud was to expand their client base beyond their local area.

When you’re limited to clients within driving distance of your office, you’re fishing in a small pond.

You take whoever walks through the door, regardless of whether they’re actually a good fit for your firm.

In cloud accounting, you can not only serve more clients…

You can also serve better clients.

This matters more than you might think.

When your potential client pool goes from your city to the entire country, you can afford to be choosy about who you work with.

You can specialize in an industry, set minimum engagement sizes, and say no to bad-fit clients because there are plenty of good-fit ones out there.

Traditional firms are constrained by geography, which means they’re often constrained by compromise.

Cloud firms, on the other hand, get to be intentional about who they serve.

Improved Client Experience

I discussed in my Future Firm podcast that clients don’t care about what you do…

They care about how easy you are to work with.

And cloud accounting makes you dramatically easier to work with.

Think about it from the client’s perspective:

• They can upload a document from their phone while sitting in a coffee shop instead of scanning it, saving it, and emailing it to you later.
• They can access their financial reports at 11 PM on a Sunday when they’re thinking about their business, not just during your office hours.
• They can ask a quick question through your portal and get an answer the next morning.

Traditional firms make clients work around their schedule and their systems, while cloud firms make the experience frictionless.

(All clients need is an internet connection!)

And when clients have a better experience working with you, they stay longer, refer more people, and are more willing to pay premium prices.

Because it’s not the accounting services they are paying for, but the peace of mind and convenience.

Long-Term Profitability

We’ve already seen that fully cloud firms report higher profit margins today.

But the bigger advantage is what happens over time.

Cloud accounting firms are built to scale in ways traditional firms simply aren’t.

You’re not hiring someone new just to handle the increased filing or physical document management because the systems do more of the work as you grow.

You’re also positioning yourself for the clients who are willing to pay more.

Here is an example:

In my Future Firm Accelerate program, the teachings are built around operating as a cloud accounting firm (the same model I used with Xen Accounting).

Most members are cloud firms, which means they have the infrastructure to implement what we teach.

Jim below was able to 5x his firm’s sales…

Because his firm’s cloud setup allowed him to implement the systems to dramatically increase her revenue.

Business owners who expect modern service delivery aren’t going to choose a firm that requires in-person meetings and paper documents.

Instead, they’re going to choose you.

Many traditional firms are watching their margins compress as they compete primarily on price in a shrinking local market…

On the other hand, cloud firms are expanding their margins by delivering more value with less effort.

What Are the Challenges in Cloud Accounting?

Cloud accounting isn’t all upside.

The data shows fully cloud firms perform better, but getting there is harder than a lot firm owners expect…

And staying there requires solving problems that traditional firms never had to think about.

Change Management

The biggest challenge in building cloud accounting systems isn’t the technology.

It’s getting your team to use it consistently.

You can implement the best cloud tools in the world, but if half your team is still working the old way while the other half has adopted the new processes…

You’ll only create confusion.

This shows up in a few predictable ways:

• Some team members resist the change entirely. They’ve been doing things a certain way for years, and the new cloud workflow feels unnecessarily complicated to them. So they find workarounds like saving files locally instead of in the cloud system, or emailing clients directly instead of using the portal.
• Adoption becomes inconsistent across the firm. One person follows the new process religiously, while another skips steps because they think their way is faster. Suddenly you have five different versions of “how we do monthly close” instead of one standardized approach.
• Processes don’t get documented, so people improvise. You assume everyone will just figure out how the new tools work. They don’t. They make their best guess, and those guesses diverge over time until no two people are doing the same task the same way.

For many firms, the problem isn’t that their team lacks the capability to learn new tools.

It’s that they haven’t built the consistency and accountability to make sure everyone follows through.

Tool Overload and Poor Integration

Cloud accounting promises efficiency, but a lot of firms end up creating the opposite problem.

They add too many tools.

You start with your accounting software, then add a practice management system, then a document portal, then a client communication app, and then a proposal tool…

Before you know it you’re managing eight different logins and none of them talk to each other properly.

I call this shiny object syndrome.

The irony is brutal:

You adopted cloud tools to reduce friction, but you’ve added more.

This happens most often when firms are early in their cloud transition and haven’t figured out what they actually need yet.

They see other firms using a tool and think “we should probably have that too” and chase the newest app without asking whether it solves a real problem or just creates another login to manage.

Pricing and Scope Misalignment

Going cloud often exposes a pricing problem you didn’t know you had.

Here’s what happens:

You move to cloud accounting and suddenly your processes are more efficient…

You can deliver work faster, and clients love the convenience and accessibility.

But you’re still charging the same fees you charged before.

Worse, you’re often doing more work during the transition period.

So your margins compress.

You’re working just as hard (or harder) but not getting paid more for it.

The problem is that your old pricing was probably based on deliverables (tax returns, financial statements, monthly closes), not on the value you provide.

Cloud accounting makes that misalignment impossible to ignore because now you can see exactly how much effort each client requires.

The clients who are organized and follow your processes take half the time, while the clients who are a mess take three times longer.

But if you’re charging everyone the same flat fee, you’re subsidizing the difficult clients with profits from the easy ones.

How Do You Transition Your Firm to Cloud Accounting

The transition to cloud accounting is a big change in how your firm operates.

You can’t rush it.

Here’s how to do it properly:

Phase 1: Define Your Vision

Before you buy a single tool or change a single process, you need clarity on what you’re building.

Without that clarity, you’ll complicate things for both your team and clients.

Step 1: Decide What “Cloud” Means for Your Firm

Remember the data I shared earlier?

Partially cloud firms worked the most hours and had the lowest margins.

That’s because “partially cloud” means something different to every firm.

For some, it’s cloud software but clients still come to the office.

For others, it’s remote team members but paper-based workflows.

In order for your firm to have cohesion, you need to define what cloud means for your firm specifically:

• Does it mean all your software is online?
• Does it mean zero paper?
• Does it mean clients never come to your office?
• Does it mean your team can work from anywhere?

Fully cloud firms have answered “yes” to all of these.

But you might have legitimate reasons to answer “no” to some of them…

For example, maybe you have a physical office you want to keep, or you serve clients who prefer occasional in-person meetings.

For me when I was running Xen Accounting, I was all-in on cloud accounting, and our (admittedly terrible) pricing packages reflected that:

What matters is that you make a clear decision and build everything else around it:

Your processes, your team structure, your client onboarding, your marketing, etc..

If you don’t define what cloud means for you, you’ll end up with half your firm operating one way and the other half operating another way, and that inconsistency will kill your efficiency.

Step 2: Fix Processes Before Migrating Tools

Many firm owners think new tools will fix their broken processes.

They won’t.

If your monthly close is a disorganized mess with unclear responsibilities and constant back-and-forth, moving that mess into modern cloud accounting solutions won’t magically fix it.

You’ll just have a disorganized mess in a nicer interface.

Cloud tools amplify what you already have…

If your processes are solid, cloud tools make them faster and more efficient.

If your processes are chaotic, cloud tools just make the chaos more visible.

So before you migrate anything, map out how work actually flows through your firm today.

• How does a new client get onboarded?
• What happens during monthly close? Who’s responsible for each step?
• Where do things typically get stuck?

Identify the bottlenecks, the unclear handoffs, the steps that get skipped, the work that only exists inside one person’s head.

Fix those problems first.

If you do it backwards (i.e., tools first, processes later)…

You’ll end up forcing your firm to work around the limitations of whatever software you picked instead of building a system that works for your firm.

For a deeper dive into this topic, check out my guide to improving your accounting processes.

Step 3: Invest in Training Early

Training needs to happen before you start rolling things out, not after.

Bring your team into the process early, and then show them how the new cloud tools work.

Let them ask questions and raise concerns before they’re expected to use these systems with real clients.

The goal is getting them to understand why you’re making this change and how it benefits them:

• Less time chasing paper
• Fewer repetitive tasks
• More flexibility in where and when they work

When people understand the “why,” they’re far more likely to commit to the new way of working instead of reverting to what’s comfortable.

And don’t just train once and assume everyone’s good!

Build in ongoing check-ins to make sure people are actually using the tools correctly and following the processes consistently.

Phase 2: Operational Foundation

Now that your team understands what’s coming and why, it’s time to build the systems that will actually run your cloud firm.

This is where you design how work flows, how clients experience your service, and how you package what you sell.

Step 4: Standardize Your Processes

If your firm operates on an “ask someone who knows” basis where the only way to figure out how to do something is to track down whoever did it last…

Cloud accounting will expose that weakness fast.

You need to document exactly how every repeatable task gets done.

This is where SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures) become essential.

An SOP is a step-by-step guide that anyone on your team can follow to complete a task correctly, even if they’ve never done it before.

Here’s an example of one of our SOPs here at Future Firm:

When your processes are documented this clearly, anyone on your team can pick up a task and know exactly what to do.

This means you’re not dependent on specific people being available.

Quality stays consistent, and clients get the same experience regardless of who’s handling their work.

Onboarding new team members also becomes easier.

Instead of shadowing someone for weeks, they can follow the SOPs and you stop being the bottleneck.

Now, I know what you’re thinking:

“But Ryan, this sounds like a ton of work.”

It is…

But there’s a shortcut!

1. Record a Loom video of yourself going through the process. Just do the task like you normally would and narrate what you’re doing as you go.
2. Once you’re done, take the transcript from that video and paste it into ChatGPT. Give ChatGPT your SOP template format and ask it to turn the transcript into a written SOP.

Here’s what that looks like in action:

Now your team has two things:

A written SOP they can reference anytime, and a video showing exactly how you do it with full visual context.

This approach is faster than sitting down to write everything from scratch, and the video becomes a training resource that’s way more helpful than text alone.

Step 5: Make Processes Easy for Your Clients

Like I said in a LinkedIn post, clients care about four things:

(Eyes on the fourth one!)

Do you think clients will feel good if you’re not easy to work with?

This feeling is what they’ll remember when it’s time to renew, refer someone, or decide whether your fees are worth it.

(It’s also one of the biggest reasons clients won’t replace you with AI.)

Yes, cloud accounting gives you the tools to increase your firm’s efficiency, but you have to design your processes with the client’s convenience in mind.

Here are a few examples:

• Document collection should be effortless for them. Don’t ask clients to scan documents, save them with specific file names, and email them to you. Give them a portal where they can upload from their phone in 30 seconds.
• Communication should be simple and centralized. Clients shouldn’t have to figure out whether to email you, call you, or message you through three different platforms. Pick one clear channel and train them to use it.
• Scheduling should happen on their time, not yours. Use a scheduling tool so they can book meetings when it’s convenient for them without the back-and-forth of “does Tuesday at 2 work?” Let them see your availability and pick a time.

Cloud accounting makes your firm more efficient, which is great for you.

But you can’t sell cloud accounting to clients by saying “this makes things easier for us.”

It has to be about them!

The easier their experience, the stickier your client relationships become.

Plus, taking care of your clients is one of the most important best practices in paperless accounting.

Step 6: Rebuild Your Service Packaging Around Outcomes

When you transition to cloud accounting, you need to completely rethink how you package and price your services.

Don’t try to justify higher prices by listing features like “online access to your financial records” or “included in our Slack channel.”

Remember, clients don’t care about features.

They care about outcomes.

Cloud accounting improves efficiency for your firm, yes…

But the real value is what that efficiency enables you to deliver to clients:

• Faster turnaround times
• More proactive guidance
• Less frustration
• More peace of mind

When you rebuild your service packages, frame them around those outcomes.

For example, instead of offering “bookkeeping + tax prep,” you might offer a package that includes:

• Books closed within 5 business days every month (outcome: timely financial visibility)
• Quarterly tax planning check-ins (outcome: no surprise tax bills)
• Unlimited questions via portal (outcome: peace of mind when they need guidance)

Here’s an example of an outcome-focused tiered pricing plan:

Notice how the wording on the left is focused on what the client gets?

Cloud accounting makes it possible to deliver these outcomes more efficiently and at a higher standard than traditional firms can.

And because you’re delivering better outcomes, you can charge accordingly…

Whether that’s through tiered pricing or customized packages based on client needs.

(You can learn more about the tiered pricing strategy here, but the key here is connecting your pricing to the value clients receive, not just the services you perform.)

When you transition to cloud accounting, your messaging needs to change with it.

You’re not selling the same services delivered through new tools…

You’re selling better outcomes made possible by a better way of working.

Phase 3: Controlled Rollout

Phase 2 was about designing how your firm should work…

Phase 3 is about actually running that system with real clients and making sure your team can execute it without you being the bottleneck.

Step 7: Redefine Team Management for Asynchronous Work

One of the biggest advantages of cloud accounting is that your team doesn’t need to be in the same place at the same time to get work done.

But that only works if you actually design for it.

I’ve been working this way since I started Xen Accounting in 2013:

I’ve been managing fully remote or distributed teams from day one.

Today, most of my Future Firm team is based in the Philippines, which means almost 100% of our work happens asynchronously.

(Here is us during a team retreat in the Philippines!)

That said, asynchronous work doesn’t mean “everyone does whatever whenever.”

It means being intentional about how work gets handed off, how decisions get made, and how communication happens when people aren’t online at the same time.

Here are a few tips to make it work:

• Use your practice management tools for collaboration, not just task assignment. When someone completes a step in the monthly close, they should leave a note in the task explaining what they did, tagging the next person who needs to pick it up. That way, work keeps flowing even if you’re in different time zones.
• Set clear expectations about response times. Asynchronous doesn’t mean ignoring messages for three days. Define what “urgent” means and how quickly people should respond to different types of requests. Maybe Slack messages get answered within a few hours (depending on your team members’ time zones), but detailed questions in tasks can wait until the next business day.
• Document decisions where the work happens. If someone makes a judgment call on how to categorize a transaction, they should note why in the task or client file. That way, the next person who touches that client understands the context without having to hunt you down for an explanation.
• Create accountability through visibility, not micromanagement. When all work lives in your practice management system, you can see what’s in progress without asking for status updates. Your team knows you can see their work, which creates natural accountability without needing constant check-ins.

Asynchronous work is most effective when you have systems that let work flow smoothly without everyone needing to be available at the same moment.

Step 8: Transition Clients in Phases, Not All at Once

At this point, it’s time to actually move clients over.

Don’t do it all at once!

Start with 5-10 clients who are already organized, tech-savvy, and easy to work with.

These are your pilot clients.

The ones who will be patient while you work out the inevitable hiccups that come with rolling out new systems.

Move them through your new cloud workflows, onboard them into your client portal, and get them uploading documents the new way.

Run a full monthly close using your standardized processes.

Pay attention to what breaks.

• Where do clients get confused?
• What steps take longer than expected?
• What questions does your team keep asking?

Fix those problems before you move the next batch.

Once the first group is running smoothly, add another 10-15 clients.

Then another…

Scale gradually until your entire client base has transitioned.

Phased rollout gives you room to course-correct when things are still manageable.

If something isn’t working, you fix it before it affects everyone.

It also keeps your team from getting overwhelmed.

They’re learning and adapting in real time, but not drowning in change all at once.

Go slow now so you can go fast later.

Phase 4: Market Repositioning

Your firm operates differently now, which means you need to talk about yourself differently too.

The way you attract clients, position your services, and explain what makes you different has to reflect the cloud-first approach you’ve built.

Step 9: Reposition Your Marketing and Sales

When you’re a cloud accounting firm, your client base is no longer limited to people within driving distance…

This means that your marketing needs to reflect your expanded reach.

If you’ve been relying primarily on local referrals and networking events, that’s not going to scale when your ideal clients could be anywhere in the country.

You need to build visibility beyond your local area…

Ways to reach business owners who will never meet you in person but need to trust that you can serve them well remotely.

To help you with that, I wrote these in-depth, tactical guides to different approaches to marketing for accounting firms:

• Marketing Strategies for Accountants
• SEO for Accountants
• Social Media for Accountants
• Email Marketing for Accounting Firms
• Content Marketing for Accountants

You’re not selling yourself as “the accountant down the street” anymore.

You’re selling outcomes and transformation.

When prospects ask what you do, you need to articulate the specific problems you solve and the results clients can expect.

And because you’re not meeting clients in person, your sales process has to build trust differently.

That might mean discovery calls over Zoom where you demonstrate your expertise and explain how your cloud workflows benefit them.

It might mean case studies or testimonials on your website that show prospects you can deliver results without being in the same city.

The way you present yourself needs to communicate that you’re a modern firm built around a better way of working.

Step 10: Consider Specializing in an Industry

I need to say this upfront:

You can absolutely succeed as a generalist firm.

That said, specializing in an industry makes a lot of things easier…

Especially when you’re cloud-based and competing in a much bigger market.

Specialization makes you more visible.

If you’re trying to rank on Google for “accountant” or “accounting firm,” good luck.

Every firm in the country is competing for those terms.

But if you specialize, the competition shrinks dramatically.

Take Hall CPA, for example.

Their website is optimized for the real estate niche.

This means when someone searches for “accountant for real estate investors,” Hall CPA has a much better chance of showing up because there are far fewer firms competing in that specific space.

Another good example is Protea Financial, a firm that specializes in wineries.

(Both of these firms made our list of the Top 50 Modern Firms of 2025. Feel free to check it out!)

Specialization makes your marketing easier.

When you know exactly who you serve, you know what problems they have, what language they use, and where to find them.

You’re speaking directly to a specific type of business owner who immediately sees themselves in your messaging.

Specialization also makes your operations more efficient.

When all your clients are in the same industry, your processes become even more standardized.

You’re dealing with the same types of transactions, the same tax situations, the same questions.

Your team gets faster because they’re not constantly context-switching between wildly different businesses.

Now, here’s my advice if you do decide to specialize:

Pick an industry you’re both good at and enjoy working with.

The whole point of going cloud and restructuring your firm is to get more freedom.

If you niche down into an industry you resent, what’s the point?

You’ve just locked yourself into serving clients you don’t like at scale.

Find the intersection of what you’re skilled at and what you actually enjoy, and build your niche around that.

What Cloud Accounting Tools Should You Use?

There are hundreds of cloud tools out there, and it’s easy to get overwhelmed trying to figure out which ones you actually need.

Based on the survey data, cloud firms rely on a surprisingly small core set of tool categories…

Here’s what I see in this data:

Cloud firms aren’t using 15 different tool categories.

They’re focusing on the essentials and making sure those tools integrate well with each other.

The key is being disciplined about which categories matter and choosing best-in-class tools within those categories.

Start with these:

Core Accounting Platform

Your accounting software is the foundation of your cloud firm.

(It’s no surprise that QuickBooks Online and Xero top the list of the top 10 most mentioned cloud accounting platforms in the survey.)

Most firms are already using cloud-based accounting platforms, but if you’re still on traditional accounting software like QuickBooks Desktop or Sage 50, this is the first thing you need to migrate.

Here are some of the most popular cloud solutions to get you started:

• QuickBooks Online – The most popular online accounting software with a large ecosystem of integrations and add-ons. It’s the default choice for most small business clients and has the widest accountant adoption, which makes it easier to find team members who already know the platform.
• Xero – A strong alternative to QuickBooks with a cleaner interface and better multi-currency handling. It’s particularly popular internationally and among firms that prefer its user experience over QuickBooks.
• Sage Intacct – Built specifically for larger, more complex clients who need advanced reporting and multi-entity consolidation. It’s overkill for small businesses but essential if you’re working with mid-market companies.
• NetSuite – Oracle’s enterprise-level ERP solution designed for high-growth businesses with complex operations. It goes beyond accounting to include inventory management, order fulfillment, and CRM functionality.
• FreshBooks – A simpler, more streamlined option focused on service-based businesses and freelancers. It’s less robust than QuickBooks or Xero but easier to use for clients who don’t need advanced features.

Your choice here depends on your client base. Most firms serving small businesses will land on QuickBooks Online or Xero.

If you’re working with larger clients or specific industries, you might need something more robust like Sage Intacct or NetSuite.

Practice Management Tools

Your practice management system is where you manage tasks, track client work, communicate with your team, and maintain visibility into what’s happening across all your engagements.

Here are some of the most popular practice management tools:

• TaxDome – An all-in-one platform built specifically for tax and accounting firms with client portals, e-signatures, billing, and workflow automation built in. It’s particularly strong for firms that want everything in one system rather than integrating multiple tools.
• Karbon – Designed for collaborative work with a focus on email integration and team communication within tasks. It’s popular among firms that want robust workflow management and strong visibility into team capacity and workload.

• Canopy – Combines practice management with tax resolution tools, making it ideal for firms that handle a lot of tax controversy or IRS representation work. It also includes time tracking, billing, and client management features.
• Financial Cents – Built specifically for bookkeeping and accounting firms with workflow automation, client portals, and practice management features in one platform. It’s particularly strong for firms focused on recurring services like monthly bookkeeping and wants a simpler, more affordable alternative to enterprise solutions.
• Double (formerly Keeper) – Focused on bookkeeping firms with standout client communication features that centralize financial data sharing. Clients can access their financials, receive bank statements, and manage uncategorized transactions directly in the platform, eliminating endless email back-and-forth about missing information.
• Jetpack Workflow – Purpose-built for recurring work like bookkeeping and monthly close processes with strong checklist-based workflows. It excels at creating repeatable processes that trigger automatically based on schedules.

The right choice depends on your firm size, service mix, and how much integration you need with other tools.

If you want to learn more about these tools, check out my article on the top accounting practice management software.

Communication Tools

How your team communicates matters just as much as the tools you use to do the work.

Cloud firms need clear communication channels that work for asynchronous collaboration, where conversations are documented and searchable.

• Microsoft Teams – Integrated with the Microsoft 365 ecosystem, making it a natural choice for firms already using Outlook and Office apps. It combines chat, video calls, and file sharing in one platform with strong enterprise-level security.
• Slack – The most popular standalone team chat tool with excellent integrations and a cleaner interface than Teams. It’s particularly good for creating organized channels by project, client, or team function to keep conversations focused.
• Missive (affiliate) – A shared inbox platform that combines email with team chat, allowing multiple people to manage client emails collaboratively. It’s perfect for firms that still rely heavily on email but want the organization and transparency of a modern communication tool. This is what we use at Future Firm.

• Zoom – The default choice for video meetings with clients and team members, offering reliable quality and screen sharing. Most clients are already familiar with it, which removes friction from scheduling calls.

I recommend picking one primary channel for internal communication and one for external client communication.

Document Collection and Client Intake Tools

Getting documents from clients is one of the biggest time sinks in traditional accounting, but cloud tools can automate most of this.

Check out these tools:

• Dext – Automatically extracts data from receipts and invoices using AI, then pushes that information directly into your accounting software. Clients can forward receipts via email, upload through a mobile app, or even connect their Gmail to capture everything automatically.
• HubDoc – Owned by Xero but works with multiple accounting platforms, focusing on document collection and data extraction for bills and receipts. Strong at fetching documents directly from suppliers and financial institutions without requiring client involvement.
• SmartVault – A document management and client portal system that handles secure file sharing and e-signatures in addition to document collection. It’s useful if you want one tool that covers both document storage and client intake.
• Liscio – Combines client communication, document requests, and e-signatures in a single platform designed specifically for accounting firms. It’s particularly good at reducing email volume by centralizing all client interactions in one secure portal.

When clients can snap a photo of a receipt and it automatically flows into their books with the right coding, you’ve eliminated hours of grunt work every month.

AI Tools

We are in an age where using AI isn’t optional anymore…

And I’m not just talking about automating compliance work, even though AI does that extremely well.

I’m talking about using AI across your entire firm:

Advisory, marketing, client communication, content creation, all of it.

Here’s what you need to understand:

AI tools are as flexible as software gets.

Which means the use cases are virtually unlimited if you’re willing to experiment.

Here are some of the hottest AI tools right now:

• ChatGPT – A highly versatile AI assistant for research, drafting client emails, creating content, analyzing data, and building custom GPTs trained on your firm’s specific processes. I use it daily for everything from brainstorming marketing ideas to helping draft SOPs based on Loom transcripts and even screening job applicants.
• Claude – Anthropic’s AI assistant, particularly strong for writing tasks that require nuance and a natural tone. It’s excellent for drafting client-facing content, refining proposals, or working through complex explanations that need to sound human.
• Delphi.ai – Lets you create custom AI clones trained on your own content and expertise. This is the tool with which I built RyanBot, an AI chatbot trained on all the Future Firm Accelerate content and my expertise. Members can ask it anything about running an accounting firm and get on-demand advisory on pricing, client management, operations, whatever they need. (Below is RyanBot helping out with a pricing concern.)

• ElevenLabs – AI voice generation that can clone your voice for creating audio content at scale. I use it to produce podcast episodes. I write the script, paste it into ElevenLabs (which I’ve trained with my voice), and it outputs a complete podcast episode that sounds like me.
• HeyGen – Creates AI video avatars of yourself that can deliver personalized messages to clients. Imagine automating parts of client onboarding with videos that look and sound like you, explaining processes or welcoming new clients in a way that feels personal without requiring you to record 50 individual videos. (The video below was made with HeyGen.)

AI has become such an integral part of how businesses operate that at Future Firm, daily AI use is mandatory for the team.

And while AI isn’t going to replace accountants, accounting firms that use AI will have a competitive advantage.

They’ll be able to position themselves as forward-thinking, efficient, and modern.

The firms that don’t embrace AI will fall behind, working harder for less while their competitors deliver better service with less effort.

You can learn more in my in-depth guide to artificial intelligence in accounting.

Knowledge Management and SOP Platforms

In a traditional firm where everyone works in the same office, you can get away without formal knowledge management.

But in a cloud firm (especially one operating asynchronously) that doesn’t work.

You need a central place where all your firm’s knowledge, processes, and SOPs live so people can find answers without hunting someone down.

Here are a few tools to get you started:

• Notion – A flexible workspace that combines wikis, databases, and task management in one platform. It’s incredibly customizable, which means you can build exactly the knowledge base structure you need, though that flexibility also means it requires more setup work upfront.
• Confluence – Atlassian’s enterprise knowledge management tool, popular among larger firms that already use Jira or other Atlassian products. It’s robust but can feel overwhelming for smaller teams who don’t need enterprise-level features.
• Google Drive/Docs – Not a dedicated knowledge management tool, but many firms use it successfully if they stay organized. At Future Firm, we maintain a giant spreadsheet that serves as our SOP repository with links to each documented process.

Regardless of which tools you use, I recommend having some dedicated to keeping your SOPs organized.

(Like a Director of Operations or a virtual assistant.)

This will prevent your documents from becoming a dumping ground where nothing can be found.

Start Building a Profitable Cloud Accounting Firm That Works on Your Terms

That’s a wrap!

A complete guide to building or transitioning into a cloud accounting firm.

Remember, the firms that succeed in cloud accounting aren’t the ones using the most tools…

They’re the ones who committed fully and built cohesive systems.

Bookmark this guide so you can reference it as you work through each phase.

Now, I want to hear from you.

What’s the biggest challenge you’re facing in transitioning to cloud accounting?

And if you’re holding back from going fully cloud, what’s stopping you?

Let me know in the comments below!

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