Accounting workflow software vs. spreadsheets and email
Retire the tracking spreadsheet. Somewhere in your shared drive is a file named FINAL_tracker_v7_USE_THIS_ONE.xlsx. It is doing its best. CPA Relay is CPA firm workflow software that replaces the spreadsheet, the 14-reply email thread, and the sticky note that was quietly load-bearing.
Currently invitation-only · $55 per seat per month, everything included
The status quo, gently dramatized
The system you have vs. the system you want
Nobody chose the spreadsheet-and-email system. It accreted. It works until the day two people update different copies, and busy season is made entirely of that day.
Today: the tracker
With CPA Relay
Side by side
The questions your firm asks every day
A client tracking spreadsheet alternative should answer the questions the spreadsheet was invented for, without the archaeology.
| The question | Spreadsheets + email | CPA Relay |
|---|---|---|
| Who owes us documents? | Check the tab. No, the other tab. Then search email to confirm the tab is wrong. | A live list of open requests per client, with a reminder button next to each one. |
| Has the engagement letter been signed? | There is a sticky note about this somewhere. | Signature status per document and per signer, with a nudge for the one who "will get to it." |
| What's unbilled? | Whatever the time column said before it got sorted and lost its row alignment. | Unbilled time on the project, one step from becoming an invoice. |
| Which version is current? | FINAL_v7. Unless someone is in v6. Someone is in v6. | One workspace. There is no v6. |
| What did the client send last week? | An attachment on reply 9 of 14, addressed to one person's inbox. | Uploads land on the right client and project, visible to the whole team. |
| Can the client see where things stand? | They can email to ask, which starts a new thread. | A client portal with their requests, invoices, and next steps spelled out. |
To be fair to the spreadsheet
What CPA Relay is, and what it is not
CPA Relay is an operations workspace for accounting firm workflow: client projects, document requests, approvals, signatures, time, invoices, and payments. It is not a general ledger, tax preparation software, or a payroll processor. You will keep the tools that do that work. CPA Relay replaces the spreadsheets and email threads you use to track everything around them.
Let the tracker rest
It earned it. Move client tracking into a workspace that knows who owes documents, signatures, and payment, and can send the nudge itself.
Currently invitation-only · $55 per seat per month, everything included