Remko en Peter of Schrey & Juffer Accountants en Adviseurs about Combidesk
Remko Juffer and his six colleagues prepare annual accounts, file income tax returns, and handle the bookkeeping for all kinds of SMEs. You might think they spend their days buried in Excel sheets crunching numbers — but nothing could be further from the truth. At Schrey & Juffer Accountants and Advisors, they automate as many workflows as possible so they can focus on what truly matters: advising their clients.
“We also do what traditional accounting firms do,” Remko explains. “The bookkeeping needs to be updated, and the annual accounts must be prepared — but that’s not our main focus. Before Peter and I started our own firm, we worked at one of the Big Four accounting firms. There, we would only begin working on the bookkeeping when preparing the annual accounts. Now, we do it weekly, giving our clients continuous insight into their business and enabling them to make timely adjustments.”
Entrepreneurship, together
“At larger firms, there’s often more distance between you and the client — it’s all about the numbers and the conclusions drawn from them. You look at the past and deliver a message. We find that approach too one-dimensional. We sit down with our clients and look ahead together, as if we are co-entrepreneurs. We point out opportunities, risks, and possibilities. Those personal advisory conversations — that’s what we do it for.”
Clients also appreciate the personal contact with the accountants at Schrey & Juffer. They’re a down-to-earth team from Twente who say it like it is — something that’s valued. The only thing that sometimes raises questions among clients is automation.
“The Moneybird–Twinfield integration was set up within 5 minutes. Easy to use and fast support.” Remko Juffer, Owner Schrey & Juffer Accountants and Advisors
Can it be done faster or better?
“IT is part of our daily focus. When we started our own firm in 2013, we set out to become a fully online office — and we succeeded from day one. We only use online software packages and were early adopters in that regard. Even now, we still ask ourselves daily: what can be done faster or better? Should we switch to a different software solution? We want to be fed client data as quickly as possible — once the numbers are up to date, there are no surprises.”
The biggest challenge was linking all the software systems together. Remko and his team use Twinfield and Exact Online for financial administration, Basecone for document scanning, Elsevier Nextens for tax filings, and MLE (“Make Life Easier”) for annual reports. But how do you quickly help a large group of clients who use Moneybird for their sales administration?
Saving a workday per year
“We used to manually transfer client data from Moneybird into Twinfield or Exact Online. It was time-consuming and error-prone. Then Combidesk introduced the Moneybird–Twinfield integration. We implemented it quickly — and now no one has to touch it anymore.”
The result? “Time savings and fewer errors. Of course, our staff don’t make mistakes,” he jokes, “but the fact is that automation reduces the risk of typos. And since no one has to spend time on it anymore, for entrepreneurs sending around 30 invoices a month, it saves roughly one full workday per year.”
Automation also means staying alert
“We were early adopters back in 2013, but I think automation in accounting still has a long way to go. The number of manual steps in the process will decrease every year. That frees up time — and that time should be used for personal conversations.”
Schrey & Juffer Accountants and Advisors is already embracing that advisory role, but it remains a challenge to bring clients along. “IT has to suit you,” Remko says. “I don’t need to talk about integrations and software with every client. The drive for automation to gain the best insights as fast as possible can also be a pitfall — because could it create too much distance between accountant and client? We guard against that by meeting with all our clients several times a year.”
Remko and his team will continue to ask themselves in the coming years what can be done faster or better, navigating the jungle of software tools. This way, their clients are assured of fast, tailored advice, and their staff enjoy user-friendly tools that make working with numbers as easy and enjoyable as possible.
Automating bookkeeping = instant time savings
Less manual work, fewer mistakes, more clarity. Especially when combined with automatic payment matching between Mollie, PayPal, Stripe, Pay., Rabo Smart Pay, or ING Checkout.
