The Modern Blog

Thoughts on Firm Effeciency

Insights, tools, and strategies for firm optimization.

Generic client-level interest is a blunt instrument. Here's the scalpel.

ModernPM applies interest at the invoice level — directly to specific outstanding balances.

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When dependencies live in someone's head, they're not dependencies. They're risks.

Dependencies aren't a project management concept imported from software engineering. They're the actual structure of CPA work. ModernPM makes that structure visible and enforceable — instead of hoping everyone remembers.‍

Set the steps, assign the tasks, let the system run the engagement.

ModernPM bakes the institutional knowledge into the system — so the workflow runs whether or not the person who built it is in the room.

One client, multiple entities — billing that knows the difference.

ModernPM's client group functionality ties related clients together and makes that relationship visible throughout billing — so you can manage a relationship as a whole, not just as disconnected records.

If it's not worth billing, write it off. Don't send a $0 invoice.

ModernPM makes write-offs a two-click operation. No invoice required.

Lock the period, reconcile everything, move on — fast.

ModernPM compresses that into a guided workflow that surfaces the problems before they become problems.

Invoice when the milestone is hit — automatically, in the right order.

Milestone billing changes the model. Invoices don't wait for someone to remember. They trigger when the work is done.

Your tech stack, your rules — ModernPM connects to the tools you already use.

Your practice management platform should fit your tech stack. Not force you to rebuild around it. That's the premise behind ModernPM's API — not a bolt-on integration layer, but the same open API that powers the entire platform.

Track the things your firm actually tracks — not what someone else decided mattered.

ModernPM's custom fields let you build the data model your firm needs, not the one that came pre-built.

Define the process once. Run it forever.

Templates let you define workflows, tasks, billing plans, rate tiers, service lines, and time tracking settings once — then spin up projects all day with everything pre-populated.

Click submit. Keep working. We'll tell you when it's done.

ModernPM's async bulk actions engine works differently. You submit the job, and you keep working.

Post hours, mark paid, move on — the payroll screen that doesn't lie to you.

ModernPM's payroll view is built around the idea that accuracy and visibility aren't optional when it comes to staff compensation.

Reimbursable, non-reimbursable, pending, posted — all of it, actually organized.

ModernPM handles all expense types — reimbursable and non-reimbursable — with a workflow that's actually designed for how CPA firms operate.