Disconnected systems are burning out your accounting team – Here’s how to make tech a selling point instead of a detractor

As a firm leader, you’re well aware of the ongoing talent shortage in the accounting industry. It’s one of the reasons you’re investing so heavily in technology.

In addition to helping you keep up with evolving client needs and expectations, those new software systems and AI tools should also help things run more smoothly and efficiently internally. They’re meant to keep your current staff happy and productive, and to attract the bright young talent that will help propel your future growth.

There’s just one problem: Even with all the new technology, things somehow feel less efficient. Staff members are still spending hours chasing information, re-entering data, and fixing mistakes, and they’re getting frustrated. They’re finding themselves with less time for clients and strategic work. They’re getting burnt out.

But the notion of adding technology is not where you went wrong. In fact, 79% of respondents in Karbon’s 2025 State of AI in Accounting report believe that graduates are more likely to join accounting firms that actively use AI and other advanced technologies. So investing in more tech was – and is – a smart play.

The more likely issue is how you added that technology. The combination of too many pieces and too little coordination has probably resulted in a bad tech stack – one that’s fraying your staff and bogging down your firm.

Here’s how to fix the problem so you can hold onto your best people – and attract some great new ones.

If Your Tech Isn’t Talking, Your Tech Stack Isn’t Working

Adding technology is great in theory. But if you haven’t been paying attention to how systems communicate and integrate with each other as they’ve come on board over time, you’ve likely been building a disconnected tech stack.

That’s why things that were supposed to become more productive and more efficient don’t feel that way. Your systems aren’t talking and your staff is paying the price. What can you do to make things better for them?

It starts with how you put together your tech stack. Ideally, you should be focusing on the systems that control the data related to your relationships, work, and financials. Start by mapping the tools you’ve added over the years, along with how (or if) they connect. Be sure to identify…

• Core foundational back-office features that enable the firm to manage its work, such as tools for workflow and project management, reporting and data analysis, and team collaboration.
• Practice management and CRM components that help with client communications and engagement.
• Emerging areas that relate specifically to the firm’s underlying service focus, such as taxes or client accounting services (CAS).

Within each of these tiers, ask questions such as…

• Are all of these systems interacting properly and efficiently?
• Where are the redundancies?
• What can be eliminated or streamlined to make things easier for staff?

A Streamlined Stack = A More Satisfied Staff

With a better idea of your firm’s true needs and capabilities, it’s time to realign your tech stack. The goal? To focus primarily on those elements and solutions that allow your people to do their jobs more efficiently and productively. This realignment will come from a better, more disciplined tech selection process:

• Prioritize your infrastructure to address the biggest staff workflow issues first.
• Review the tech options that address your top priorities with an eye toward integration with current systems.
• Evaluate potential vendors to determine which might be the easiest and most effective to work with.
• Decide what belongs in the stack, focusing on a few key things – such as workflow fit, scalability, or ease of use – that are most critical to your team.
• Develop an equation for your qualitative analysis by assigning a weight to each of the characteristics that matter most to your firm.
• Score your options using a straightforward 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent) scale to rate how well they match your chosen criteria.
• Sign up for a free trial or product demo to test the finalists, ideally with some key staff members joining in. Which of these top picks best lives up to your expectations?

This is the opposite of randomly adding new tools and hoping for the best. This is a deliberate and focused approach that can help your firm build a tech ecosystem where data flows, collaboration improves, and client work scales smoothly.

All of which leads to a more satisfied staff – and a more attractive option for young talent looking for their fit in the accounting profession.

Turn Your Tech Stack into a Talent Advantage

Technology is an accelerant. In a connected and efficient system, it will amplify the gains; in a disconnected and inefficient system, it will exacerbate the negatives.

In other words, your tech stack can either be one of your firm’s biggest selling points or one of its biggest pain points. Which is why having a strategic vision around technology and a thoughtful plan to deliver it is essential.

It’s time to stop simply piling up new tools and systems and to start finding and eliminating the overlaps, gaps, and problem areas that are slowing down your staff. It’s time to build a system that is customized, personalized, and conformed to how your team needs and wants to operate. And it’s time to put in the hard work of change management that tech adoption demands.

Because in doing so, you won’t just be improving your workflow efficiency. You’ll be highlighting your efforts to create a more positive tech-forward culture for your people. And that’s the kind of differentiator that can help a firm overcome one the profession’s most vexing challenges – the ongoing quest for talent.

About the Author

Ian Vacin is co-founder and chief partnerships officer at Karbon, a maker of AI-driven accounting practice management software, and is co-author of Scale with Purpose: The Service Entrepreneur’s Guide to Intentional Growth. He has nearly three decades of leadership experience in technology and accounting with Karbon, Xero, and Intuit, and is passionate about helping accounting professionals be as successful as possible so they can better serve the small businesses they support.

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