Lam CPA & Advisors is a full-service accounting firm with over 25 team members serving 150+ small to mid-sized business clients.
With experience at top worldwide CPA firms, the team excels in client accounting services (CAS), tax strategy, financial advisory, and audit.
Lisa, a manager at Lam CPA & Advisors, oversees the firm’s offices in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. When she joined the team, she saw first-hand how their commitment to “respect, integrity, trust, teamwork, and excellence” was paying off. Clients were happy, and the team was primed for growth.
However, she also recognized one all-too-common challenge: a tech stack stuck in the past.
Outdated tech stacks impede growth and efficiency
Like many other accounting firms, Emily’s team juggled multiple point solutions that didn’t communicate.
Client information was stored in physical 3-punch binders instead of a digital cloud, and financial reporting and month-end close were managed in Excel spreadsheets.
This meant spending more time on manual, repetitive tasks. According to Emily, reconciling accounts alone took over 30 hours each month.
These processes weren’t just time-consuming; their inefficiencies increased the potential for error. For a client-centric business like Lam CPA & Advisors, minor discrepancies can have significant consequences. Time spent combing for mistakes also detracts from high-value tasks.
To scale Lam CPA & Advisors’ business, Emily needed a tool that reduced operational friction while maintaining a high standard of work.
“Efficient operations are essential for any accounting firm, but there were some processes we couldn’t optimize within our existing tech stack. I knew if we could find a way to streamline our systems, we could create a better business for our team and clients,” Emily explains.
AI-powered tools to automate and simplify
Enter Dime’s AI-powered accounting platform.
With Dime, Emily found a way to automate repetitive tasks and simplify tedious processes.
Instead of manually updating data across spreadsheets, Lam CPA & Advisors now use Dime’s comprehensive checklists. Each line in the checklist drives real-time updates to related sub-ledgers, general ledgers, work papers, trial balances, and financial statements with all required MD&A and footnotes.
Emily also found a simplified approach to client management with Dime’s client portal. The custom, branded hub enhances client communication with task management and document-sharing features.
When choosing between platforms, Dime’s ability to unify several accounting and financials into a single solution made it the obvious choice for Emily and her team. “We explored numerous options, including Campfire and Numeric, but Dime was the only platform that offered an all-in-one solution for our needs.”
Uncover time for relationship building and business growth
Emily and her team at Lam CPA & Advisors once used three different point solutions for daily operations. Today, they save time and money with one efficient platform.
Remember the 3-punch client binders? Now, stakeholders can access the most up-to-date information and insights in a single, cloud-based location.
Processes that once required manual computing are completed automatically with real-time data syncing across platforms. This includes regular accounting and attestation work, such as compilations, reviews, and audits. (Those 30 hours a month spent on reconciliation have been reduced to 5.)
When errors occur, Lam CPA & Advisors catch them quickly using Dime’s AI-powered alerts. Potential compliance risks, uncategorized entries, or anomalies are flagged as soon as they arise and before they can cascade into larger issues.
“Our close process was clunky and heavily reliant on spreadsheets,” Emily says, “With Dime, we have a centralized platform that simplifies everything, from reconciliations to reporting.”
The result: Lam CPA & Advisors shaved three days off their month-end close. Over a year, that’s an additional 7 weeks to complete higher-value tasks, increase profitability, and better serve their clients.
With an innovative tool as their co-pilot for major monthly, quarterly, and yearly accounting work, Emily and the Lam CPA & Advisors team avoid the tech turbulence of scaling an accounting firm. Smooth skies ahead.