Improve resource management in your accounting firm with a workload report

How can you make sure your employees have the right amount of work and that all client assignments are progressing on time? Who in your team has capacity for new assignments, and who is already at their limit? And how do you anticipate upcoming peak periods, such as the busy financial statement season? Without clear visibility into employee workloads, resource management in an accounting firm easily becomes a challenge.

Balanced workloads bring clarity and efficiency

Inefficiency, employee burnout, and ultimately a decline in customer satisfaction can all stem from poor resourcing. Managing workload and resourcing proactively forms the foundation for profitable and sustainable accounting operations. Especially when your experts’ time is your most valuable asset.

Good resource management helps you to:

✅ Anticipate workload and resourcing needs

✅ Distribute tasks fairly and leverage your team’s expertise effectively

✅ Improve profitability by minimizing both overload and underutilization

Many firms begin resource planning with Excel spreadsheets, but these quickly become laborious and difficult to maintain. Systematic resource management requires tools that offer real-time visibility into workloads and enable automation.

Read also: 5 reasons why Excel is not the best solution for time tracking

Systematic resource management has a direct impact on customer satisfaction

Your clients value reliability and accuracy above all. Both of these are directly linked to how well your work is resourced.

Strategic resource management helps you:

✅ Stick to deadlines when resources are properly allocated and workloads are balanced.

✅ Anticipate peak periods such as year-end rushes or holiday seasons.

✅ Identify the need for additional resources before quality suffers or employees burn out.

When employees aren’t constantly working under pressure, the quality of their work improves, customer relationships strengthen, and errors decrease.

Use a workload report as a core management tool

A workload report provides concrete data to management and team leaders on how work is distributed and where overloads occur. Visual tools, such as a workload calendar, present this information in an easily digestible format.

With a good workload report, you can:

✅ Compare forecasts and actuals side by side.

✅ Monitor workload on individual, team, and organizational levels.

✅ Anticipate recruitment needs if certain roles are persistently overloaded.

✅ Take into account holidays and absences – and plan for them in advance.

For example, if the workload of bookkeepers or payroll specialists repeatedly exceeds 90%, you should consider whether you need more staff or process improvements. These insights are key components of effective resource management in an accounting firm.

Effective resource management starts with the right tools

Project-based work is especially common in accounting firms, particularly with seasonal tasks, consulting services, and client-specific development projects. The success of these depends heavily on how well you have planned the resources.

Workload reporting supports daily management. In weekly team meetings, for example, you can:

👉 Review which clients or tasks are the most burdensome.

👉 Identify where schedules look realistic – and where they do not.

👉 Decide whether you need additional resources before bottlenecks arise.

This level of oversight is essential for reliable and sustainable resource management.

Best practices for resource management in an accounting firm

Make the most of workload reporting with these tips to support effective leadership in your firm:

✅ Use a modern tool instead of Excel: real-time data, automation, and visual insights help you make better decisions.

✅ Compare plans with actuals: this helps you learn what types of tasks consume the most time and why.

✅ Treat resource planning as a continuous process: situations evolve, and you must react quickly.

✅ Define roles and responsibilities clearly: when you have defined job descriptions well, work is distributed more evenly.

✅ Start early – for example, resource planning for financial statements should begin well in advance, ideally by late summer.

✅ Leverage historical data: this helps you recognize seasonal fluctuations and the workload demands of different clients.

Case study: Tilitoimisto Aarnio enhanced its resource management with the help of Koho PSA

Do you want to learn more how resource management in an accounting firm works in practice?

Check out the Tilitoimisto Aarnio case study, and see how Koho PSA has helped them gain better control over workloads, and improve employee well-being.

Or book a free demo to see how Koho PSA would help your firm improve resource management.