The Accounting Toolkit helps users make sense of their company's finances by simplifying complex accounting workflows for users with limited financial expertise.
Project Overview
Client: The Accounting Toolkit, a SaaS accounting platform catering to small and medium-sized businesses. Objective: Redesign the user interface and improve core user flows to make accounting tasks faster and more intuitive for non-accountants. The redesign aimed to address user feedback highlighting difficulty in navigating financial reports, setting up recurring invoices, and understanding tax calculations.
Goals and Challenges
Goals:
Simplify complex accounting workflows for users with limited financial expertise.
Improve navigation for core features like invoicing, reporting, and tax filing.
Reduce the time needed to complete essential accounting tasks by 25%.
Challenges:
Balancing ease of use for novice users while retaining advanced tools for accountants.
Integrating new tax compliance features without overwhelming the interface.
Limited timeline: The redesign had to be completed within 3 months to align with the upcoming fiscal year.
Research Process
User Interviews: Conducted interviews with 25 existing customers, focusing on two groups:
Small business owners with minimal accounting knowledge.
Accountants using the platform to manage multiple client accounts.
Key insights:
Small business owners found financial reports confusing and were hesitant to explore advanced features.
Accountants wanted faster ways to toggle between client accounts and manage recurring invoices.
Competitor Analysis: Reviewed five leading accounting platforms to identify common strengths and weaknesses. This analysis revealed an opportunity to simplify the dashboard by surfacing personalized recommendations.
Journey Mapping: Mapped out the user journey for invoicing, tax filing, and report generation, identifying pain points where users spent excessive time or encountered errors.
Design Process
Step 1: Ideation and Sketching
Created low-fidelity wireframes for a streamlined dashboard.
Introduced "Quick Actions" for tasks like creating invoices and uploading receipts.
Step 2: Prototyping
Developed an interactive prototype using Figma.
Added tooltips for complex features like tax deductions and customizable reporting templates.
Step 3: User Testing
Conducted usability testing with 15 users, divided between small business owners and accountants.
Feedback:
Small business owners appreciated the visualizations for cash flow and profit/loss.
Accountants requested bulk actions for tasks like invoice approvals.
Key Changes Implemented
Simplified Dashboard:
Consolidated financial metrics into easy-to-read widgets.
Added a "What’s Next" section with context-sensitive suggestions.
Improved Navigation:
Introduced a persistent left-hand menu with quick links to core features.
Simplified reporting workflows by enabling pre-configured templates.
Enhanced Invoicing Workflow:
Built a drag-and-drop interface for invoice customization.
Added recurring invoice presets to reduce manual effort.
Accessibility and Onboarding:
Improved onboarding with a guided setup wizard and in-app tips.
Enhanced accessibility with high-contrast mode and keyboard navigation support.
Results and Impact
Metrics:
Task completion time for invoicing reduced by 30%.
85% of users rated the new design as "intuitive" or "very intuitive" (up from 60%).
Platform adoption increased by 18% among new users in the first quarter post-launch.
Business Impact: The redesign positioned The Accounting Toolkit as a user-friendly yet powerful accounting solution, helping to secure contracts with two mid-sized enterprises during the rollout.
Reflection
This project was a rewarding challenge, blending user-centered design with business goals. Working closely with a diverse user base reinforced the importance of iterative feedback and empathy in design. One of my biggest takeaways was learning to strike a balance—simplifying workflows for novice users while retaining advanced functionality for power users. This experience taught me to embrace complexity as an opportunity for clarity, and it’s a mindset I carry forward in every project.
