Soloists Lag Multi-Owner Firms in Economic Confidence

Multi-partner firms show bullish signs. Soloists turn bearish on the U.S. economy.

CPA Trendlines 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.

CPA Trendlines survey research detects a certain optimism, but it seems to be a bit more cautious among solo practitioners. READ MORE →

Busy Season 2015: Worse and Worser

z tax 2015 better or worseAfter a bad year for many practitioners, watch for the consolidation and shakeout to come.

By Rick Telberg
CPA Trendlines Research

Before Busy Season 2015 had even begun, tax professionals were worrying most about the new rules and regulations they’d be facing, among them, the Affordable Care Act.

Join the survey; get the results

Indeed, so-called Obamacare loomed largely over the 2015 season, but practitioners found bigger problems with Form 3115, tougher competition and fee pressures. So much so, that a significant number of practitioners swore this tax season would be their last. And with merger season coming close on the heels of busy season, the profession should brace for a new wave of consolidation and shakeout, according to the CPA Trendlines analysis.

See Comprehensive Coverage of Busy Season 2015 READ MORE →

SURVEY RESULTS: Latest Comments on Busy Season 2015

THE CPA TRENDLINES BUSY SEASON BAROMETERClick to join the survey; see the results
THE CPA TRENDLINES BUSY SEASON BAROMETER
Click to join the survey; see the results

The CPA Trendlines Busy Season Barometer 2015:
Join the survey. Get the results

By CPA Trendlines Research

As results pour in from the final days of the CPA Trendlines Busy Season Barometer 2015, it’s clear that practitioners’ experiences range widely, from outright euphoria to bleak despair.

See Comprehensive Coverage of Busy Season 2015

Here are a few the latest comments, verbatim…

  • Better than last year. Volume is up significantly and good smoothness of preparation svc and knowledge of clients.
  • We added a small tax practice in an adjoining town
  • I didn’t have any clients with Obamacare non-compliance

READ MORE →

Busy Season 2015: Comprehensive Coverage

In case you missed it… In this directory, CPA Trendlines compiles complete coverage of the 2015 busy season. IRS Seeks More Tools to Fight Refund Fraud FY 2016 budget provisions would expand authority for regulation, correctable errors. Workflow Automation Takes Root in … Continued

Busy Season 2015: Top Lessons Learned So Far

THE CPA TRENDLINES BUSY SEASON BAROMETERClick to join the survey; see the results
THE CPA TRENDLINES BUSY SEASON BAROMETER
Click to join the survey; see the results

Doing the Tax Season Math: Regs + Staff + Clients + Tech + Self = Busy x Busy x Busy

 By CPA Trendlines Research

The key lessons learned from the 11th annual CPA Trendlines Busy Season Barometer Study are coming into clear focus.

More:
Busy Season 2015
Comprehensive Coverage

A. Blair East
East

A.B. East, at Manning Elliott in Vancouver, BC, Canada, for example, took a lesson in smart management. He says he learned “the importance of having the right complement of experienced staff to delegate to so I can reduce my hours and deliver to clients on timely basis.” Next year East will continue a very healthy policy: “I have been and will continue to mentor managers, seniors and juniors to advance their expertise on a quicker basis.”

Most of the issues practitioners faced this year fit into seven main categories. What’s especially interesting is that the solutions vary from common sense to plain impossibility.

  1. Affordable Care Act
  2. IRS Regs and Congressional Cruelty
  3. Better Staff, More Staff
  4. Clients
  5. Management
  6. Technology
  7. Interrelated Problems

Here’s a summary of our findings: READ MORE →

Busy Season 2015: Fixing the Tax System

tax frustrationHow tax professionals would remake the tax code. 

Imagine there’s no deductions,
it’s easy if you try.
No 8965, no1095-A,
above us, only sky.
Imagine all the CPAs,
Living for today

By CPA Trendlines Research

There’s nothing like another tax season to prod accountants into imagining about ways to reform the nation’s tax system. In the this year’s CPA Trendlines Busy Season Barometer, some CPAs have specific suggestions; others are calling on the profession to take a leadership role in the national conversation.

Register your comments here: CPA Trendlines 2-Minute Survey: Fix the Tax System

CPA Trendlines is polling the profession with a two-minute survey asking for specific recommendations for changing the code, the regs, the instructions and the forms – whatever it takes to make life easier for CPAs and the American taxpayer. (The call was not to reduce or increase taxes, just to simplify them.)

The earliest responses call for a diverse set of approaches: READ MORE →

Busy Season 2015: New Lessons in Time Management

THE CPA TRENDLINES BUSY SEASON BAROMETERClick to join the survey; see the results
THE CPA TRENDLINES BUSY SEASON BAROMETER
Click to join the survey; see the results

Lesson learned: Plan, prioritize, repeat.

Next question: Key financial metrics for 2015 results.
Join the survey; get the answers.

By CPA Trendlines Research

They don’t call it “Busy Season” for nothing. It’s a frenetic, hectic, even hellish effort to herd client cats toward an unforgiving deadline.

When we ask CPA Trendlines members what lessons they’re learning this year and what they plan to do about it next year, we hear a lot about time management. Based on the survey, time management issues can be organized into eight main categories:

  1. disorganized offices,

    Lisa Toback CPA
    Toback
  2. timing,
  3. staffing,
  4. scheduling,
  5. procrastination,
  6. poor planning,
  7. the need for time off and
  8. the desire to retire.

The solutions CPAs will be implementing next year range from minor tweaks to complete overhauls, or even surrendering to retirement and calling it victory. READ MORE →

Busy Season 2015: Vexed by Regs, CPAs Dismayed at Congress

Get a read on the busy season. Join the survey; get the results
Get a read on the busy season. Join the survey; get the results

Next Question: What’s the best way to fix the tax system? Register your comments here.

By CPA Trendlines Research

The U.S. tax system has become so complex and dysfunctional that even professional tax practitioners are bitterly frustrated and angry – outrage that’s been boiling over in the CPA Trendlines Busy Season Barometer.

This year accountants are talking about staff problems, client problems, overload problems and Affordable Care Act problems. But the anger with new forms and regulations isn’t stopping there.

“All reason has gone out the door,” says a CPA in Montrose, Colo. “I have been preparing tax returns for over 35 years. There has never been a tax season like this one – and there will never be another one like it.”

READ MORE →