Here’s what you’re looking for: CPA Trendlines Research

NEWS

Avalara Launches A.I. Tool to Streamline Tax Classifications

Simplifies product classification and taxability determinations.

Seattle-based Avalara Inc., a leading provider of cloud-based tax compliance automation for businesses of all sizes, is rolling out an artificial intelligence-based tax classification tool, designed to cut the time spent by Avalara AvaTax users classifying products and taxability.

“The accurate classification of products and services has always been a bottleneck for customers in their tax compliance journey,” said Sanjay Parthasarathy, chief product officer at Avalara. “By harnessing the power of AI and machine learning, we have not only accelerated the classification process by providing a solution that helps users arrive at the right tax classification quickly and efficiently without being a tax expert, but we have also made it more accurate.” READ MORE →

CHARTS & GRAPHS

COVID Crushes CPA Business Outlook

Top three takeaways: Hiring outlook for next 12 months is bleak. 92 percent of businesses report being negatively impacted by pandemic. Liquidity emerges as a top concern.

The CPA Outlook Index falls 50 percent since last quarter and now stands at 38, its lowest level since early 2009. (AICPA)

via AICPA

Battered by repercussions from the COVID-19 pandemic, business executives hold the most pessimistic view of the U.S. economy since the end of 2011, when the nation was still emerging from the lingering impact of the Great Recession, according to the second-quarter AICPA Economic Outlook Survey.

The CPA Outlook Index—a comprehensive gauge of executive sentiment within the AICPA survey— fell 50 percent since last quarter and now stands at 38, its lowest level since early 2009.

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FEATURED

Make Your Newsletter Go Zoom

Woman drinking coffee in front of desktop computer

How COVID is creating a new channel to reach out and serve clients and prospects.

By CPA Trendlines Research

Newsletters aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. Sure, they’re a nice way to touch base with clients, but what do they really accomplish?

MORE in MARKETING: Marketing Is About Thought Leadership | Why Consultative Selling Works | How to Inoculate Your Firm against Covid Competition | How Marketing Systems Produce Business Growth | ‘Found Money’ Delights Clients | 14 Marketing Activities Needed Now More than Ever | What CPAs Can Learn from Lawyers and Doctors | More in Marketing > > >

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Maybe it’s time to rethink the newsletter. The COVID-19 crisis may be catalyzing a new way to

  • show clients you care
  • establish your expertise
  • give clients individualized information they really want
  • create the gestalt of a networked client community with your CPA firm at the center

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MANAGEMENT

The New Rules for Online Meetings

Checklist: 36 do’s and don’t’s for conducting business, some learned the hard way.

By CPA Trendlines Research

Online meetings and conferences are the new way of doing business – so new that we still haven’t settled on protocols and etiquette.

MORE: The Seven Factors Keeping Accounting Firms Afloat Amid Covid-19 [Survey Results] | New Rules: Covid Shifts M&A Landscape | Deciphering the SBA’s New PPP Loan Forgiveness Rules [New Dates Added] | Retired CPA Partners Face Pay Cuts from COVID-19
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It’s time we did.

We already have standards for in-person conferences. They’re so standard that we’ve never bothered to write them down. It goes without saying that we don’t go to meetings in our ratty bathrobes. We don’t bring our pets. We don’t have a significant other asking if we’re done yet.

We’ve been meeting via computer for only a couple of months, but certain protocols – certain do’s and don’ts – are already developing, based on research by CPA Trendlines.

You may have already noticed a few of the no-nos.

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CHARTS & GRAPHS

Is the Worst Over? 63% of Small Business Say So

But 84% worry about a second wave of infection.

By CPA Trendlines

As business owners across the country focus on getting back to business, 63 percent feel the worst is behind them when it comes to the impact of COVID-19 on their operations, according to new research from a payroll agency that handles payrolls for 670,000 small- and medium-sized businesses.

MORE on the COVID CRISIS: Six Ways Accounting Firms Will Never Be The Same Again | Retired CPA Partners Face Pay Cuts from Covid | COVID Tests Accountants’ Entrepreneurial Talents | Deciphering the SBA’s New PPP Loan Forgiveness Rules [New Dates Added] |

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However, four in five business owners are somewhat or very concerned about a possible second wave of infection.

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