# Why accounting firms bring their client-side tools together on Firmary

Source: https://bestsoftwareforaccountingfirms.pages.dev/why-firmary/

Most small firms didn't plan their stack; each tool arrived to fix one problem. This page is the case for running every client-facing job in Firmary and keeping only the tax program, the ledger and the phone system next to it. [The job-by-job table](/compare/) shows where each tool fits.

## Clients get one app instead of several logins

A client of a firm on Firmary uses PocketFirm for everything the firm asks of them: uploading a W-2, answering an organizer question, signing the engagement letter, approving the draft return, paying the invoice. Each open job shows where it stands and the one thing left to do, and all of it carries the firm's brand; there is no app to download.

## Staff stop copying data between tools

A prospect who fills in the website form lands in the pipeline, turns into a client in one step, and keeps the same record through the proposal, the signed engagement, the requests, the files and the invoices. The client record also lists each of the client's services, who handles it (in-house, the client, or a provider like Gusto), the person responsible, and since when.

## The tax program and the ledger stay where they are

Firms keep the software their preparers know. The return is prepared and e-filed in the tax program, and staff record its e-file status in Firmary so the client sees it in PocketFirm. Books stay in QuickBooks Online, which Firmary connects to for customers, invoices and monthly charts in Insights.

## The connections a small firm uses every day are there

Staff connect Gmail or Outlook and their Google or Microsoft 365 calendar, and events created from Firmary can carry a Meet or Teams link. Texts go out through the firm's own phone provider, and on Allo, a photo a client texts arrives in that client's documents. Google Drive, OneDrive and Dropbox each connect, and the API and webhooks connect anything the firm builds itself.

## Several tools come across in one checked move

Firmary Switch and Move to Firmary lift clients, jobs, recurring schedules, invoices, payments, time and stored documents out of TaxDome, another practice tool or spreadsheets in a single dry run. The firm checks it, nothing reaches a client before then, and the old tools stay untouched. [Steps for choosing and switching](/buyers-guide/) lay out the order.