Workflow Automation Takes Root in Mainstream CPA Firms

Roman Kepczyk , author of Quantum of Paperless at https://cpatrendlines.com/shop/qop/
Roman Kepczyk, Quantum of Paperless

Tax season 2015 sees 59% of firms using digital production systems.

By CPA Trendlines Research

The tax and accounting profession appears to have made a quantum leap with Busy Season 2015, by broadly embracing workflow automation to optimize production, control costs and speed delivery, according to data made available to CPA Trendlines.

The Association for Accounting Administration, in a study led by CPA Trendlines contributor Roman Kepczyk, author of Quantum of Paperless: The Partners Guide to Accounting Firm Optimization, finds that in the general movement toward paperless, or at least less paper, firms are increasing their use of technology to save more trees than ever. The survey compared findings in 2013 with what firms expected to do in the 2015 busy season.

A big innovation for many firms has been the use of digital workflow tools to manage tax return progress. Fifty-nine percent of firms reporting using a variety of products. Specifically, by brand: READ MORE →

6 Ways to Leave a CPA Firm (Retirement’s Just 1)

Businessman sitting at laptopGoodwill depends on the method of departure.

By Marc Rosenberg
Retirements & Buyouts

In the literal sense, retirement is only one of six ways that partners may separate from their firm.

MORE ON RETIREMENT: How to Juggle Tax Considerations for Partner Retirement Benefits | How to Transition Clients from Retiring Partners | You Want Goodwill Payments? Give Proper Retirement Notice | Retirement Vesting: The Devil’s In the Details | Compromise Is In Order for Some Goodwill Payouts | Three Ways to Calculate Goodwill Payable in Partner Buyouts, None of Them Great | 5 Points to Consider When Paying Out Goodwill | How to Set Terms and Limits for Goodwill Payouts | 4 Ways to Decide How to Pay Out Capital | Partners May Balk at Guaranteeing Retirement Obligations

Benefits to partners are handled differently depending on which of the six ways they leave:
READ MORE →

Bias About Women with Families Lingers

Woman smiling with boy with backpackMothers still seen as less committed to work than fathers.

By Ida O. Abbott
Sponsoring Women: What Men Need to Know

One pattern of gender bias is exhibiting “maternal wall” bias, which leads people to believe that women with children are unable to meet the demands of leadership.

People assume that women with children are less committed to their work.

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Learn more

MORE ON SPONSORING WOMEN FOR LEADERSHIP: Judged on Performance, Not Potential? Must Be a Woman | Gender Bias Still a Problem | Why Women Are Overlooked (And How to Fix It) | 3 Ways Men Are Favored in the Workplace | Women Need Promotions, Not Just Advice | Mentor or Sponsor? How to Distinguish Roles | 4 Ways Women Leaders Improve Firms | CPA Firms Must ‘Man Up’ and Get Women On Board

This bias arises from the stereotypes that create conflicting expectations for mothers and career women: Good mothers should always be available to their children, while good business people should always be available to their clients. READ MORE →

Savvy CPAs Focus on the Constants

Don’t be distracted by the hot trend of the moment.

In “10 Things That Accountants Didn’t Need to Worry about 10 Years Ago,” CPA Trendlines contributor Hitendra Patil generated reader reactions with some provocative thoughts about a tsunami of trends. Today, he looks at the other side of the coin, starting with a quote from Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos:

You should build a business strategy around the things you know are stable in time and then invest heavily in ensuring you are providing those things and improving your delivery of them all the time. If you want to build a successful, sustainable business, don’t ask yourself what could change in the next 10 years that could affect your company. Instead, ask yourself what won’t change, and then put all your energy and effort into those things.”

By Hitendra Patil
Pransform Inc.

What has remained unchanged in the tax and accounting profession over the last few decades? And what will not change over the next couple of decades?

More on The Entrepreneurial CPA by Hitendra Patil here.

Being a futurist is not easy. Being a realistic futurist is even more difficult. But being a person who knows the foundational value of his or her profession is relatively easy, if you know why and what customers buy from you. A CEO of Black & Decker once said the almost proverbial “customers don’t buy a drill machine, they buy a hole in the wall.” As an accountant and tax professional, you must figure out what your customers buy from you and why they buy from you rather than from your competitors.

Now is the time to think about what they will continue to buy in the future. READ MORE →

Ready or Not: CPA Firms Find New Opportunity in Booming Cannabis Industry

Marijuana and Dollar notes

Growing business draws on high-level skills and special talents.

Plus: Professional resources and CPE.

By CPA Trendlines Research
cannabizcpa.pro

Attention CPAs: There’s a big new niche opening in your area soon, but are you up to speed on accounting for a legal business that sells an illegal product?

America’s New Breed of Cannabis CPAs [VIDEO REPORT

  • Not sure of the fine line between a felony and economic development? Worried about the real estate implications of a marijuana dispensary?
  • Are you up to date on the special IRS rules for narcotics traffickers? Wondering whether 10 flower pots in an attic qualify as an agricultural enterprise?
  • Concerned about counseling a client whose business is illegal in a neighboring state where you hope to open an office? Are you ready to be an expert witness for something you’ve never seen outside of a college dorm?
  • Are baggies an office supply or a cost of goods sold? Do you understand why your new cannabis client’s mortgage broker suddenly looks like he’s got hemorrhoids?
  • Unsure of the deductibility of a medicinal bong?
  • Does your potential client look a little, like, umm, you know…?

Dude, get with it. The United States – some of the states, anyway – is opening up the biggest niche this side of the Rio Grande. READ MORE →

IRS Predicts ‘Challenging’ 2016

IRS Commissioner John Koskinen
Koskinen

Budget cuts remain a concern.

By CPA Trendlines 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 →

IRS Reports Everything Went Up Except Refunds

Tax professionals kept 59 percent of the e-filing segment.

When all the clicking and cursing was done, the IRS had received more than 132.2 million individual tax returns this year, up 0.8 percent from 2014. As of April 17, it had processed 126.1 million of them, up 0.4 percent from last year and a rate of 95.4 percent for the season’s receipts.

RELATED: Tax Preparation Fees: The National Averages [INFOGRAPHIC] | IRS Form 3115: a Sin and a Travesty | Accountants See Solid Business Gains in 2015 | As Market Share Slips Away, Accountants Look Beyond the 1040 | IRS Emerges as Major Tax Season Competitor READ MORE →

Selling on Value vs. Fees

What’s the difference? Compliance sells on fee; advisory sells on value.

By Martin Bissett
Understanding Selling

I’ve been asking you to believe in yourself, to get your potential clients to open up to you and to demonstrate to them the outcomes that working with you and your firm would create in their personal and professional lives.

MORE ON SELLING: 3 Ways to Convert Scheduling Practices to New Fees | Selling vs. Attracting to Build Relationships | When Selling, Don’t Chase New Fees, Attract Them | Selling Accounting Services Doesn’t Have to Be Hard! | ‘Selling’ Isn’t a Dirty Word | 8 Factors in Practice Development Success | In Sales, Perception Is Reality | Success Begins With Accountability | Do You Realize You’re Failing? | Winning Your First Client

Now here’s a checklist for you to run through before you begin your next business development initiative, and before each new business appointment that you have. READ MORE →