How Accountants Shape Business Finances, And What Banks Can Do to Help

Running a small business starts out as a personal endeavor, but sooner or later complexity creeps in: sending invoices and chasing payments, tracking suppliers, assembling reports, filing taxes, projecting cash flow. More often than not, the first resource brought in to help is an accountant. Yet there’s no universal playbook for how to manage access and entitlements. For most business owners, setting up digital banking permissions tends to happen reactively—when an accountant asks for access to prepare a report, or a looming tax deadline forces a scramble. The stakes get higher when an accountant has the task of making outgoing payments or helping with business analysis and planning. 

Banks have an opportunity to make these transitions safer, smarter, and less stressful for business owners and accountants. This report examines how businesses work with financial professionals, outlining three major inflection points when banks should surface the right tools at the right time and provide contextual support that can reduce friction, prevent errors and fraud, and ultimately position banks as trusted partners as their business customers grow.

Key questions discussed in this report: 

• How many businesses work with an external accountant vs. internal staff vs. both?
• What financial management tasks are accountants responsible for?
• How frequently do accountants manage finances, and what level of access are they typically granted?
• How can banks and credit unions better support business clients at key transition points—including the first time they bring on an accountant, prepare taxes, delegate AP or payroll, hire financial staff, apply for a loan, or collaborate on financial strategy?

Companies Mentioned: 

Bill.com, Gusto, QuickBooks, Zelle