Data, Data Everywhere, But Not a Drop to Act On

Every leader in an accounting firm understands the importance of reporting. That’s not the problem. The real issue is access. 

Access to clean data.  

Access to insights at the right time.  

Access to the tools that make reporting useful instead of overwhelming. 

In firms across Australia, we see the same symptoms: a lack of visibility across WIP, shallow client group information, late debtor follow-ups, overextended staff, and job delays that no one saw coming. Not because people don’t care. But because the data sits in silos, locked behind legacy systems or lost in spreadsheets that take too long to wrangle. 

So, how will high-performing firms change this in the future? 

The best reporting doesn’t just tell you what happened. It tells you what to do next. 

Yet too often, reports are built backwards. Partners get a dashboard once a month (if that), filled with retrospective metrics, lagging indicators, and no clear actions. 

In a modern firm, reporting must become a real-time, action-driving mechanism. When staff utilisation drops, a WIP balance blows out, or a job gets stuck midstream, your systems should show that today, not weeks from now.

One firm using integrated Power BI dashboards alongside their workflow system was able to pinpoint exactly where jobs were stalling—something they couldn’t do with static reports or monthly summaries. 

By analysing turnaround times and job stage progression, they uncovered consistent bottlenecks, particularly where WIP was building up unnoticed. Armed with this visibility, they:

• Redistributed workload
• Set up automated reminders using workflow rules

The Result?

• Faster turnaround on delayed jobs 
• Improved staff efficiency 
• Better client communication 
• Reduced WIP write-offs 
• Higher profitability 

This kind of insight simply isn’t visible without real-time WIP and job stage tracking.

One of the biggest hurdles firm leaders face? Time. 

They don’t just need better data, they need faster access to trusted insights without having to run reports, export CSVs, or triple-check formulas manually. 

That’s why reporting architecture matters. When data lives in a single source of truth, connected across your billing, workflow, CRM, and documents, you can build intelligent defaults into reporting:

• Auto-generated job turnaround reports 
• Live dashboards on capacity and utilisation 
• Alerts on debtors and time leakage 
• Cross-entity reporting with filters for business unit, division, or manager 

This is where Kloud Connect shines, giving partners a single platform that connects the dots across their operations. 

The modern partner doesn’t want 30 reports. They want three that matter, and notifications when something’s off. 

With the right setup, firms can track critical leading and lagging metrics across: 

• Job Health: % completed, turnaround time vs benchmark, staff assigned, blocked tasks 
• Staff Productivity: billable hours, target achievement, leave and availability 
• WIP & Debtors: days outstanding, risk flags, adjustment patterns 
• Client Group: profitability by entity, referral patterns, unbilled time 
• Divisional Insights: performance comparisons across business units 
• Capacity Planning: predicted vs actual availability, under- or over-assigned teams

Here’s where PT 2.0 plays a critical role. Firms don’t just need to look internally. They need to know:
“Is this normal?”
“How are other firms our size performing?”
“What are the top 10% of firms doing differently?” 

Thanks to PT 2.0’s data insights, drawn from over 100 accounting firms across Australia, we can now offer context that turns numbers into clarity. 

• Job turnaround benchmarks by service line 
• Staff productivity thresholds by firm size 
• Debtor benchmarks and cash collection cycles 
• Capacity stress indicators across roles

A strong reporting system isn’t just a tool. It’s a cultural asset. 

And increasingly, senior leaders don’t want pre-built dashboards; they want the ability to interrogate the model themselves. That’s where Power BI, custom views, and dynamic filtering become game changers. 

When visibility is shared across leadership, admin, managers, and staff, accountability increases, conversations improve, and decisions are proactive rather than reactive: 

• Reporting becomes a weekly rhythm, not a monthly task 
• Staff performance is reviewed in real-time, not at year-end 
• Job delays are flagged early—not when the client calls 
• Teams feel more in control, not constantly catching up

Data is only as powerful as what you do with it. And to do something with it, you need systems that surface the right insights at the right time, without friction. 

You don’t need more reports. You need the right reports. And a platform that makes getting them effortless. 

If you’d like to explore how Kloud Connect and PT 2.0 can help you unlock performance visibility across your firm, reach out for a walkthrough.