Is digitalization still a “nice-to-have” or rather a “must-have”? The tax law firm Birkenmaier & Kusel has clearly answered this question. Three years ago, Peter Kusel and his team began digitizing the upstream and downstream accounting processes. This step paid off in many ways, as he reveals in an interview.
**Hello Peter, we are pleased that you took the time for us. Please briefly introduce yourself and the tax law firm Birkenmaier & Kusel. **Gladly. My name is Peter Kusel, I am 41 years old and have been working as a tax advisor since 2010. In 2014, I joined the Birkenmaier tax consultancy as a partner, whose company history goes back to 1947. We are based in Lauben im Allgäu and have had two additional law firms in Munich and Oberstdorf since 2018. In addition, our association, which now has 130 employees, has its own management consultancy and a data protection company.
Hand on heart – are there still a lot of pendulum folders with receipts in your offices? There will be significantly fewer. The younger clients are of course particularly digitally savvy, but there are also many older clients who are open to digital solutions. Our law firm is set up flexibly, so that we can reliably serve both digitally minded and paper-loving clients.
Would you say that digitalization has finally arrived among tax advisors? The question cannot be answered in general terms. From our perspective, local law firms can be divided into three categories. There are tax advisors who, for reasons of age, have decided not to jump on the digitalization bandwagon. The second and largest segment are those who have digitized their core processes such as accounting. The third area is tax consultancy, which also digitizes upstream and downstream processes. Of course, these three segments cannot be clearly separated from each other.
Your tax advice falls into the latter category. How do you work with your clients and what tools do you use? Of course, we automate invoice management as one of the most important steps in preparatory accounting GetMyInvoices and thus save considerable time when compiling the invoices. We will provide you with documents DocuSign digitally signed, eliminating the need for sending back and forth by post. In addition, we have with PAUL developed our own cloud-based software for communication between our clients and consultants. Add to that Personio for the process automation of our HR department, MasterTask for project management and Keeeb as a knowledge management platform.
Can you explain the interaction between MeisterTask and Keeeb using a practical example? Yes gladly. Among other things, we support a large association that does its own accounting. Questions arise again and again, which we compile and work through in MeisterTask. We then share the knowledge about Keeeb with the client. This sustainable approach reduces the number of questions over time, which reduces the burden on us and saves the client money.
What advantages do digital tools have for law firms and clients’ accounting departments? Of course, process optimization is the top priority and, with it, time savings. However, an increase in quality should not be neglected. For example, if it is ensured that all documents are structured and stored uniformly, then a preliminary stage to controlling has already been achieved.
What tips can you give tax advisors who want to modernize their office work? When my team and I look back on our path from digital core processes to fully digitalized tax advice, we can only encourage every tax consulting firm to also follow this path. In this way, it can not only increase its efficiency, but also retain clients more strongly and gain new clients as an innovative tax consultancy. In order for this to be successful, the entire team should of course be involved and adequately trained. Our recommendation is to start with small steps and always keep the big goal in mind. Just do it?
