How Dawn Brolin Ditched Manual Entry and Maximized Value with Bookkeep

Meet Dawn Brolin

Dawn W. Brolin, CPA, CFE is the founder of Team Brolin and author of The Designated Motivator for Accounting Professionals. She is also the CEO of Powerful Accounting, a Connecticut-based CPA firm that provides tax and accounting services in addition to operational and fraud protection training to a diverse clientele of approximately 250 tax clients and 85 businesses.

The Problem: The Manual Data Deluge

Dawn Brolin and her team at Powerful Accounting grappled with a significant challenge: manually posting daily sales data from multiple ecommerce and retail platforms into QuickBooks for their clients. This process was not only time-consuming but also prone to errors, which could lead to substantial financial discrepancies.

“We were really just posting net sales, then letting the bank feeds post the deposits, and it wasn’t accurate,” said Dawn.

The manual handling of vast amounts of transactional data from a growing number of sales channels significantly hampered their efficiency and diverted resources away from more strategic, value-adding activities for their clientele.

“There’s huge value in having the daily sales reports booked every day, but no client wants to pay for that amount of work – so automation is the key” according to Dawn.

The Decision: Embracing “Set It and Forget It” with Bookkeep

Seeking to enhance her clients’ accounting processes, Dawn turned to Bookkeep in 2021. After evaluating other available services, Bookkeep emerged as the standout choice due to its seamless, user-friendly automation tools, which eliminated manual data entry and provided accurate, real-time financial data.

What particularly set Bookkeep apart was its commitment to accrual accounting—a method aligning with correct sales tax reporting—unlike competitor platforms that relied on less accurate cash accounting. In addition, the ability to automatically book summary daily sales entries that separate out items such as sales, sales tax, fees, and push them to the correct GL accounts in QuickBooks was a huge time saver. This adherence to accounting excellence made Bookkeep not just an option, but the only viable solution for Dawn’s high standards.

“I’ve been doing this for 24 years and there is no other app that is solving for the revenue recognition, which is separate from the cash flow deposit. Not only could no other software company solve this need, they couldn’t provide the automation as accurately and seamlessly as Bookkeep,” said Dawn.

Bookkeep’s exceptional integration capabilities further solidified its position. Not only is it compatible with major platforms like Amazon Seller, Shopify and Square, but Bookkeep also connects specialized and legacy point-of-sale systems, offering comprehensive revenue accounting and sales tax automation.

Dawn was impressed by what she calls the “set it and forget it” nature of Bookkeep, highlighting the platform’s intuitive setup and immediate integration. Her team was up and running the same day.

The Solution

Bookkeep’s comprehensive solution not only addressed immediate operational challenges but also established a foundation for long-term success and client satisfaction, solidifying Dawn’s firm as a leader in efficient and proactive accounting services:

1. Automated Data Entry: Bookkeep eliminated the need for manual data entry by posting daily sales reports from multiple sales channels to their accounting system and reconciling payment deposits automatically, enhancing accuracy.
2. Optimized Resources: Automation allowed Dawn’s team to pivot from data entry to strategic advisory roles, benefiting clients with more value and reduced costs.
3. Unified Sales Channels: Bookkeep’s seamless integration with 60+ sales channels simplified multi-platform ecommerce and retail accounting for Dawn’s diverse clientele.
4. Reduced Learning Curve for New Ecommerce and POS Systems: Since most clients sell on multiple platforms, leveraging Bookkeep’s integrations and easy-to-use interface and mappings saved time, increased accuracy, and reduced the learning curve for staff. Dawn believes the company will be able to connect even more technologies together in the future in order to simplify additional accounting processes, like payroll. “Whether it’s Bookkeep creating it or challenging other payment and payroll software tools to do it better and right, we’re going to see more solutions and better integrations in the industry,” she said.
5. Accurate Reporting: Implementing accrual accounting for daily sales journal entries, Bookkeep enabled accurate daily financial data and sales tax reporting.
6. Sales Tax Simplified: In partnership with DAVO by Avalara, Bookkeep streamlined sales tax management, ensuring effortless compliance.
7. Proactive Monitoring and Support: Bookkeep’s proactive reporting and communication with Dawn’s firm in turn allowed her team to be more proactive with clients. Plus its preemptive issues reporting and standby response team maintained continuous and uninterrupted service. Dawn praises it as “the number one support of any app I’ve ever used.”

The Results: Amplified Efficiency and Client Growth

• Streamlined Operations
• Strategic Focus Enhancement
• Proactive Management
• Increased Client Satisfaction and Loyalty
• Reliable Support Network

Adopting Bookkeep dramatically streamlined operations at Dawn’s firm, eliminating manual data entry and the risk of errors that came with it. This automation enabled the team to shift their focus from mundane tasks to strategic consulting, enhancing the value they brought to clients.

“Bookkeep gives us peace of mind that we have accurate financial data, and it has allowed us to focus on higher value work,” said Dawn.

With access to more timely financial data, the firm has become more proactive in managing client accounts. Bookkeep’s solid support structure and proactive troubleshooting fostered a stress-free and confident working environment.

Clients directly benefited from the transition. Faster, more precise sales and revenue reporting resulted in better business decision-making. Meanwhile, the firm capitalized on the time savings and newly available resources to expand its clientele and amplify service offerings, maintaining high-quality support without compromising detail or personal touch.

As Dawn succinctly puts it: “If you’re going to advise ecommerce and retail clients and look to the future to help them build their business and not just be a compliance-driven, ‘once a month’ firm, you have to use tools like Bookkeep.”