busy season management

the dreaded ‘quick question’

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young businessman in office on phonemaybe a training session is what’s needed.

by michelle long and sandi leyva
the ultimate accounting virtual conference

let’s talk about how to handle those “quick questions.” how many times do we have clients who say “i just have a quick question” and it’s never a quick answer?

more small firm growth strategies: how to manage client expectations | how to handle price sensitivity | how to handle referrals – and how not to | trashing the spreadsheet: best practices in modern expense management | how to find hidden money for your clients | 3 ways to implement value pricing | how small firms can use value pricing | building reputation to build your business | your existing clients are your best leads | need more business? focus on referrals

what are we going to do? are you going to bill? what about the time and effort to track and invoice your clients for those quick questions? what about the questions that are never quick?
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where workflow management runs off the rails

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deruthlessly efficient workflow management and the tragic tale of tammy tardy.

by frank stitely, cpa, cva
clarity practice management

tammy tardy was an average tax preparer who owned a typical tax preparation firm. every tax season tammy met with a hundred or so tax clients much like many of us. tammy managed her workload using the piles of files method. after a client meeting, she put the file aside, knowing she would get to it shortly.

“ruthlessly efficient workflow management offers the chance to wring another ten years of profitability out of the 1040 market.”

of course, twenty meetings later, she had no idea what she should work on next. so she just picked up a file from her office floor and began. she felt that it didn’t matter which returns you work on when you are overworked and in a hurry. there’s a fixed amount of work to get done by april 15th, and you just jump in and do it.

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ready for tax season? not so fast

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purple no. 4 billiard ball4 resolutions to keep as you prepare for busy season.

by sandi leyva
the accountant’s accelerator

i’ve worked with a lot of accountants who do not realize how valuable their skills are in the marketplace. most people can’t do what we do with numbers. we need to shake any self-limiting beliefs we have in this area because it limits our ability to serve more clients.

more on small-firm growth strategies: make your services an investment, not an expense | how a spreadsheet can help stop leaks | 9 ways to boost your value (and your fees) | 9 ways accountants throw away profits

if you were making resolutions for the accounting industry, what would you suggest? the first resolution i’d make is:
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8 ways to delight tax season clients

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portrait of a mature businesswoman giving a binderdo you make them feel important?

by ed mendlowitz
tax season opportunity guide

clients are our customers. they pay our salary and enable us to make good livings. do what you can to accommodate them and make them feel important – as important as they believe they are.

more on tax season: small tax season leaks can cause great damage | 5 ways thorough beats sloppy in tax season | here’s your new tax season marketing plan | 5 personal touches for tax season | 11 clear client instructions to make your tax season easier | how to get paid faster this tax season

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also be user-friendly – do not make it difficult to work with you. clients don’t know how smart we are. they think we are great, but they measure us by the small things – the good and bad.
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tax season management: multi-tasking is a myth

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woman multitasking dollarphotoclub_58357039

here’s how to apply neuroscience insights to tax season.  next question: what are the best time-management tips and strategies for busy season? join the survey. get the answers.

by hitendra patil

it’s october 14th. you are preparing a complex tax return. the cell phone rings. you look at the phone. it’s your wife calling. you answer the call. while on the call, you look at the third screen of your computer. there is an email from your largest client, with subject line “emergency; please help.” in walks your receptionist, frantically gesturing that there is an irritated client at the front desk.

more on the entrepreneurial accountant: 3 apps to automate business networking  | the 5 most common marketing blunders accountants make |  linkedin adds messaging. finally!  |   re-learning the lingo of the accounting business  |  how the “1099 economy” will transform accounting  |  what cpa firms could learn from google’s alphabet  |  summer reading list: five great books for the five lives of a busy accountant  |  four signs the uberization of accounting has already begun  |  management guru chester elton on success  |  savvy cpas focus on the constants  |  more

yes. you may recognize the multiple demands on your time and your brain. but multi-tasking is just a myth. the science is in: no one performs as well multi-tasking as they do when focused on a single task at a time.

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digital workflow systems make tax season easier

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businessman pressing virtual "automation" buttoneven without a document management system, there are workflow tools available.

by roman h. kepczyk
quantum of paperless

the most important aspect of transitioning the firm’s tax process to a digital environment is managing electronic files that are no longer physically viewable in assorted stacks around the office.

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more on tech spending: who decides what to keep? | firms need document management standards | how smart accounting firms use intranets to get smarter | unified messaging boosts security | when is the last time you renegotiated your internet rates? | remote access boosts productivity, requires planning | get ahead of your software updates | ready or not, here comes windows 10 | back up and check your backup | cloud computing can cost less | laptop-only workers more common | scanners allow data capture at the source | in pc monitors, more is better

this requires a digital tax workflow system that lets everyone know the status of every return and easily connects that person to digital copies of the return and the source documents.

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tax professionals find it increasingly difficult to keep up with late-changing tax regs

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the number of practitioners reporting major issues with code & reg changes doubles.

z_tax key issues

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

across the country, a lot of cpas felt downright punished this busy season as they got hit by problems from all sides. nobody reported earthquakes or tsunamis, but it seems a bunch got slammed by something worse than a tectonic pounding.

bam! pow! oof! yes, it was that dynamic duo, that tyrannical twosome, that yoke of you-know-whats: the united states tax code and the internal revenue service.

according to the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season survey, 12% percent of respondents report a busy season “much worse than last year.” another 24% had a “somewhat worse year.” add them up, and more than a third of the nation’s tax preparers suffered a painful busy season.

and the most commonly cited complaint are difficulties with the tax code, ranging from the requirements of the affordable care act to the new repair regs. read more →

the new normal: a busy season that never ends

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staff woes contribute to major tax season problems

z_tax defining differences

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

the 2015 busy season may be one for the records. according to this year’s 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season survey, more than a third of the nation’s tax preparers report a busy season that was much worse or somewhat worse than last year, and it wasn’t just the cold and the snow. read more →

if you thought tax season 2015 was bad…

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…the irs says 2016 could be even worse.

irs projects even worse taxpayer service for the 2016 filing season (fy 2015).
irs projects even worse taxpayer service for the 2016 filing season (fy 2015).

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

the 2015 filing season was akin to a tale of two cities, according to the irs’s own watchdog.

“for the majority of taxpayers who filed their returns and did not require irs assistance, the filing season was generally successful,” according to the report issued to congress by the national taxpayer advocate’s office headed by nina olson. “for the segment of taxpayers who required help from the irs, the filing season was by far the worst in memory.”

meanwhile, olson urges congress to undertake “fundamental tax reform,” pass a “taxpayer’s bill of rights” law, and boost irs funding.

“everyone is in collective denial about what inadequate funding for the irs means to taxpayers,” olson says. read more →

soloists lag multi-owner firms in economic confidence

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multi-partner firms show bullish signs. soloists turn bearish on the u.s. economy.

卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

z-busy solos vs other in otlookcpas aren’t economists, but they do know numbers, and they have their fingers on the pulse of the flow of money in their local areas. they know how their own businesses and their clients’ businesses are doing, and they have at least an inkling of the causes. remembering 2014 and living through the 2015 busy season, they are well placed to prognosticate on financial flows over the next 12 months.

卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 survey research detects a certain optimism, but it seems to be a bit more cautious among solo practitioners. read more →

irs seeks more tools to fight refund fraud

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irs commissioner john koskinen
koskinen

fy 2016 budget provisions would expand authority for regulation, correctable errors.

refund fraud, especially that caused by identity theft, remains “an ongoing battle” for the irs, commissioner john koskinen said in testimony about the 2015 tax season before the house ways and means committee’s subcommittee on oversight.

“for that reason, and in spite of our budget constraints, we have continued to focus as much of our resources as possible on improving our efforts against identity theft,” he said, improving filters used to detect suspicious returns as they come in at a rate of more than 2 million suspicious returns so far, which is over 500,000 more than last year at this time. read more →

irs predicts ‘challenging’ 2016

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irs commissioner john koskinen
koskinen

budget cuts remain a concern.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

no matter what you think of your 2015 tax season, the irs thinks it had it worse.

commissioner john koskinen testified about the season before the house ways and means committee’s subcommittee on oversight, and said even opening on schedule was a “major accomplishment” because of additional preparation needed for the affordable care act and the foreign account tax compliance act, as well as a system update reflecting december’s tax extender legislation. read more →