A Day in the Life: Client Accounting Services Edition

A day in Client Accounting Services (CAS) is difficult to describe because every day is very different.  Of course, I drink my fair share of coffee, have multiple Spotify playlists to fit my mood, and, like any accountant, I have a list of projects and clients that require my attention.  For me, client contact is the spice of life.  Each client’s rich history with their small business requires CAS team members to form a relationship with their clients, and to be able to adapt our skills and knowledge to their differing needs.

By taking care of the so-called necessary evils of owning a business – the financials, payroll, and sales tax – I allow my clients to focus on what they love to do, be it plumbing, flower arranging, construction or dentistry.  Client Accounting Services aims to make these overwhelming, but necessary, pieces of business ownership effortless.  I address clients’ questions and concerns through phone calls and email throughout the day.  Sometimes they receive correspondence from one of many business-related tax agencies, and their first phone call is to me to help them “translate government speak.”  Sometimes they are venturing into a new part of QuickBooks and want to check in before they “mess something up.”  And, still other times their QuickBooks or tax website is acting in an unexpected manner and they want to tap into our expertise to finish their task with confidence.

Another big part of my day at Bergan Paulsen is collaboration.  Each staff member has their own area of expertise so we are always working together to make sure all of the bases are covered for a client.  If a client asks a question outside of my expertise, I’m encouraged to say, “I don’t know the answer to that, but will talk to one of my colleagues and someone will get back to you with an answer.”  Because we have 100+ team members, our clients know they have access to 100+ big brains attached to 100+ big hearts.  We all want what’s best for our clients, and there is a lot of satisfaction in unraveling a financial mystery – with the help of everyone at BPC.

There are days when I wonder “where did that 8 hours go?!”  When I’m entering my time into our billing software I can see that even if I didn’t get through my to-do list, I did a lot of good work helping our clients.  I’m a nerdy accountant to the core and love crunching numbers, but knowing that I spend my days  helping clients realize their small business dreams is why I keep coming back every day!

For more information on our other offices, check out these links:

• Virtual Tour of our Waterloo Office
• Virtual Tour of our Cedar Rapids Office
• A Day in the Life of a Staff Accountant in our Coralville Office  

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Erin Bockoven, Client Accounting Services | ebockoven@berganpauslen.com
LinkedIn | QuickBooks ProAdvisor
Erin is a Beloit, Wisconsin native. She attended Luther College, where she received her B.A. in Accounting. Erin works hard to understand her clients’ individual needs so they can focus on doing what they love.  Read more about Erin on our website.