How Summit CPA Transformed Client Reporting with Klipfolio Klips

Summit CPA Group is a US-based distributed accounting firm that specialises in virtual CFO services, 401(k) audits, and financial planning. The team is made up of experienced accountants who use cloud-based tools to deliver financial insights to businesses across North America.

In addition to serving its own clients, Summit CPA Group also helps other accounting firms build out their virtual CFO offerings through a specialized CPA firm augmentation programme.

“We’re a tight-knit group that values openness and honesty. We’re all striving for the same goals together. It’s demanding in a good way, but flexible. We never worry about feeling bored as there’s always something new going on. There’s a lot of family flexibility, which is nice, too.”

One of the driving forces behind this innovation is Jake Grimm, Summit CPA’s Director of IT. With over four years at the firm, Jake leads efforts to keep their technology and reporting tools modern and efficient. He’s constantly looking for ways to streamline workflows and improve how financial data is shared with clients.

Replacing static reports with interactive dashboards

“We needed interactive dashboards to track our metrics in real time; our static reports weren’t good enough and took too long to build. That’s why we made the switch to [Klips].”
— Jake Grimm, Director of IT, Summit CPA

Before Klipfolio Klips, Summit CPA created client reports in Excel and converted them into PDFs. According to Jake, this process had two major issues: first, the reports weren’t consistent across clients; and second, they were completely static—offering no real-time updates or client interaction.

Adopting Klips changed that. With interactive, real-time dashboards, Summit CPA replaced static reports with dynamic visualizations that clients could easily access and understand. Jake and his team built industry benchmark dashboards so clients could see how they performed against their peers, along with interactive financial summaries that let them explore the details when needed.

Now, instead of waiting for emailed reports, clients receive password-protected dashboard links with always-updated, easy-to-understand insights. This empowers them to understand their numbers and make better financial decisions.

Fast adoption

When Jake first began exploring Klips, he immediately noticed how user-friendly the platform was from a backend perspective. This meant his team could start building and managing dashboards without requiring advanced technical skills or long training periods.

“Overall, I love how user-friendly [Klips] is.”

This simplicity also made it easy to scale their reporting as the firm grew. Onboarding new clients or rolling out new services didn’t add extra work or complexity.

Integrating multiple data sources

Summit CPA’s clients rely on a mix of financial tools, systems, and databases. Klips’ ability to connect to various data points allowed Jake and his team to pull information from all those different sources into one clear, unified dashboard.

With all their key tools and databases now connected, Summit CPA could present a complete financial picture to each client—without manual data merging or reconciliation. It also meant clients received reports they could trust, backed by real-time, automatically refreshed data.

Customizable user permissions

Another critical factor that led Summit CPA to choose Klipfolio Klips was its user permissions feature. With a diverse client base, the firm needed to carefully manage who could see and interact with different parts of the dashboard.

“We wanted to be able to share reports and dashboards based on user logins. [Klips] had that control in place.”

Klips’ permissions system made it simple to share the right dashboards with the right people. For example, executives could view high-level summaries, while internal staff could dive into operational details. Even better, the Summit team could share dashboards with as many users as they needed and customize each experience.

Tracking the metrics that matter most

Beyond client reporting, Summit CPA also uses Klipfolio Klips to monitor key internal metrics that drive the health of its own business. Among the most important are:

• Money in the bank, which helps maintain a strong cash position

• Effective rate, which measures team performance and productivity

• Overall profitability, which benchmarks how the firm performs compared to others in the industry

One standout feature for the team is their Financial Statements Dashboard.

“Right now, my favourite Klipfolio visualization is our Financial Statements Dashboard. It’s interactive for the end user, and they can take in a variety of data sources and packages to drill down and analyze—versus a static report.”

This interactive view combines four separate visualizations to break down financial statements in a way that’s easy to navigate. Instead of static reports, team members and clients can now explore multiple data sources and reporting packages with ease.

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Transform reporting with Klips’ real-time dashboards

Summit CPA Group showed how switching from static reports to interactive dashboards can transform the way teams work. With Klips, Summit streamlined reporting, improved data clarity, and gave clients the tools to understand their financial health in real time—empowering smarter, faster decisions.

Klips can help transform your business, too.

With flexible integrations, dynamic visualizations, and customizable dashboards, it’s designed to make data more engaging, actionable, and accessible for teams across industries.

Explore Klips to see how real-time dashboards can elevate your business.