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Hi guys, what apps have you integrated with Karbon and how do you find them, would be great to hear your experiences.

Stuart, Karbon's CEO, did a webinar on their tech stack and how to best select apps or tools.

Check out the recording here: https://karbonhq.com/resources/integrated-accounting-firm-technology-stack/ .

In addition, Envolta did a webinar with Karbon walking through their tech forward tech stack.

Check out the recording here: https://karbonhq.com/resources/the-perfect-tech-stack-for-accounting-firms/


 You should also, check out this article that provides the steps on how to select the right technology for your firm: https://karbonhq.com/resources/selecting-the-right-technology-for-the-modern-accounting-practice/


The presentation slides on that first recording BrooksW posted are GREAT! Shame its there 2020 app stack. Would love to see an updated version for 2023. 


I’m not sure if it is live yet, but we have integrated Slack with Karbon.  This allows comments and conversations in Slack to be tagged and added to work items and timelines in Karbon.  Love this feature.


@DianeK did you get into the Beta for Slack? Have you found the team default to Slack instead of just putting it in Karbon in the first place? We’re working hard to get client conversations out of Slack and directly in Karbon, and even though the integration looks really cool, my worry is the team will default to Slack and we have to push it over, instead of just putting it in Karbon in the first place.


@Rebecca Williams Yes we got into the Beta Testing.  We usually don’t have client conversations in Slack, but if we do it is easy to add it to work and/or a timeline. 

My favorite use is when someone asks me to do something for a client in Slack.  I can send this request to Karbon and tag it to the client’s timeline or a piece of work.  This can then be added to MY WEEK. I don’t have to set a reminder in Slack because I don’t have time to complete the task right now.  We also then have a record of why something was done posted on the timeline.


My favorite use is when someone asks me to do something for a client in Slack.  I can send this request to Karbon and tag it to the client’s timeline or a piece of work.  This can then be added to MY WEEK. I don’t have to set a reminder in Slack because I don’t have time to complete the task right now.  We also then have a record of why something was done posted on the timeline.

Interesting you say that.. we use Teams now (for the past year, Slack before that) and if someone sends me a message to do something for a client, it drives me bonkers. I tell them to send it to me in Karbon.

Would it not be easier for you if someone sent it to you in Karbon in the first place? Would save you 2 or 3 steps.


@SamG  Yes, it would be easier but you can’t tell the boss to “send it to me in Karbon”.  😉 I would like to keep my job even if it is currently tax season.


@SamG  Yes, it would be easier but you can’t tell the boss to “send it to me in Karbon”.  😉 I would like to keep my job even if it is currently tax season.

Haha, that’s fair 😅 I’m amazed you got the boss into Slack 😅


@AntoniyaB. 

My favorite integration is Ignition (fka Practice Ignition). 

Side note: I can’t imagine why on earth a firm would use the billing function that’s being developed in Karbon, unless they’re still functioning on a “time for money” model.

We use a value pricing model (not just fixed fee).  Ignition lets us set up template proposals and is a super professional presentation.  Also, no chasing clients for payment - we auto-bill up front.  We also have videos embedded in the proposal process (a short 30 sec video from me, a 30 sec testimonial when they receive the proposal) and “next steps video\yay” video from me and a “congrats on deciding to work with Lisa and her team” video from a prolific small biz author upon acceptance so clients can get started on their deliverables ASAP and get a dose of validation from the author.

I love that it integrates with Gusto so when we bill a per EE fee for payroll, it will grab the info and bill automatically for us.  Ditto that it will set up the Work items in Karbon for us.  Granted, we still have to edit the due dates and set up the repeating work in Karbon, but its enough info that my team can do that part.

 By far my fave integration!😍


@AntoniyaB.

My favorite integration is Ignition (fka Practice Ignition). 

Side note: I can’t imagine why on earth a firm would use the billing function that’s being developed in Karbon, unless they’re still functioning on a “time for money” model.

We use a value pricing model (not just fixed fee).  Ignition lets us set up template proposals and is a super professional presentation.  Also, no chasing clients for payment - we auto-bill up front.  We also have videos embedded in the proposal process (a short 30 sec video from me, a 30 sec testimonial when they receive the proposal) and “next steps video\yay” video from me and a “congrats on deciding to work with Lisa and her team” video from a prolific small biz author upon acceptance so clients can get started on their deliverables ASAP and get a dose of validation from the author.

I love that it integrates with Gusto so when we bill a per EE fee for payroll, it will grab the info and bill automatically for us.  Ditto that it will set up the Work items in Karbon for us.  Granted, we still have to edit the due dates and set up the repeating work in Karbon, but its enough info that my team can do that part.

 By far my fave integration!😍

Great! We use Ignition too - it’s been great for our billing and payments automation, just wish the integration worked both ways ;)


Yes, having the option to send hours from Karbon to Ignition would address both billing scenarios and be the best of both worlds.  Karbon’s new billing offering is a new revenue stream for them.... Given how much effort they’ve put into dev of the billing feature (to the exclusion of user feature requests, unfortunately), it seems unlikely they’d ever send that data to another billing platform.  🙁


@AntoniyaB.

My favorite integration is Ignition (fka Practice Ignition). 

I love that it integrates with Gusto so when we bill a per EE fee for payroll, it will grab the info and bill automatically for us.  Ditto that it will set up the Work items in Karbon for us.  Granted, we still have to edit the due dates and set up the repeating work in Karbon, but its enough info that my team can do that part.

@leeseinmt where you say you/your team needs to set up the repeating work in Karbon, do you put end dates on that repeating work? 🙂 

Side note: I can’t imagine why on earth a firm would use the billing function that’s being developed in Karbon, unless they’re still functioning on a “time for money” model.

We use Ignition too and have an extremely similar billing model. We only use Karbon Billing for outside of scope time or work where the scope is too difficult to define and the client will pay what it costs*.

*Which is good - because most of the time our recoverable rate on these jobs is much higher than our recoverable rate on the standard compliance, and I’d expect it to be - clients will typically pay more for specialist advice that extends beyond compliance and you’ll typically pick up and bill more of the time (unlike a compliance job that might have a cost blowout that you then don’t recover)

I’d actually argue that almost every accounting firm is still functioning on a “time for money” model (even if they’re not billing that way 😉) if you are paying your employees on an hourly rate to do the work you are charging your client for, it’s time for money. If you were super automated and scalable and AI was doing the work (rather than employees) it would no longer be time for money.

Does your team complete timesheets (is that what Gusto is)? How do you handle scope creep? And how do you handle two jobs that appear the same on face value (so are billed the same under VBP), but one takes twice as much time (costs your firm twice as much to do) as the other, due to factors you couldn’t predict at the start?


Hey @SamG the work items created by Ignition generally have a start date = engagement start date from Ignition.  They also have a Due Date = the Engagement End Date.  For ex:  if I send a proposal with a start date of 4/1/23, with an engagement thru 12/31/2023, the work items default to being due on 12/31/2023 even though they’re monthly deliverables that need to be set up for each month of the engagement.  If there’s a way around this I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to know the trick!  😍

Touche re: time for money!  I love this!  Regardless of how I bill my clients, or pay my team, my firm earns an EFFECTIVE hourly rate - its just a question:  is my firm earning $50/hr EFFECTIVE rate, or $500/hr EFFECTIVE rate, based on the fee I billed and the time it took me\my team to complete the deliverable.  It’s always a time for money model if we have humans completing the work (hello AI, as you noted!), the question is what is the firm’s effective rate?  I don’t limit my firm to $50/hr for bookkeeping services - so limiting!  Sometimes our effective rate is $50/hr (ouch!), sometimes its $500/hr (more like it, haha!).  And like you, I have one or two clients that I bill hourly because scope varies so widely month-to-month.  Its just easier for me to track that time using a Clockify extension in my bookmarks and then add the hrs and bill manually in Ignition.

All that said, the team and I def need to start tracking our time in Karbon for capacity planning as well as tracking GM on each client.  That’s on the radar for Q2 and Q3!   I don’t have access to the beta Billing functionality in Karbon,  so haven’t seen it’s functionality, so excited to see\try the value you find in it!

Gusto is the payroll provider we use for all of our payroll clients.  Its sweet to be able to charge the client their monthly variable fee for payroll based on # of EEs in Gusto at invoice date.  Magic!

Scope Creep is the ongoing struggle, isn’t it?!?!!?  I have pretty clear (to me!)  “included” items in each service in the proposal (and I routinely clarify excluded services based on random things clients ask for).  The hardest part is for me to remember the phrase “yes!  We’d love to give you a hand with XYZ.  Since this is beyond the scope of our standing engagement, I’ll send over a proposal.  Once we get your acceptance we can get started”.  Its really a question of MY discipline re: Scope Creep, unfortunately!

Right now, we’re small enough that clients only ask me for help with “other stuff” and\or my small team loops me in on something random.  I’m sure as the team grows that will be more and more challenging.  How do you address?

All of my new engagements, the pricing is for 3 months.  I won’t bid a job without seeing the QBO file first.  I explain that the pricing is good for 3 months, and then we’ll assess the ACTUAL work required vs what client said they wanted\needed, and adjust pricing if needed.  So that’s my “out” when a client says they want\need XYZ, but then they also add ABCDEFG once we get started.  This helps address the clients who think “anything that deals with money is covered” scenario because they didn’t read the SOW.

Would love to hear how you deal with Scope Creep, and pricing engagements that turn out to be WAY more than anticipated!  (I know we’re hijacking the OP question, sorry @AntoniyaB.!  😎

 

 

 


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