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BUSY SEASON MANAGEMENT

Use Humor to Get Tax Documents in Early

My secret? Humor, sarcasm and a bit of shame.

By Frank Stitely
The Relentless CPA

There are easy ways to get clients to do what we need them to do. In our office, we call the process “training” clients. One of our biggest headaches is the late delivery of tax materials. So, we train our clients to bring their tax documents in early.

MORE: End Tax Season Meetings with Clients … Seriously | Get Clients to Understand Firm Processes … or Say Goodbye | Train Now Before It Costs You Down the Road | Keep Clients from “Balance Due” Shock | Stop Clients from Performing “Favors” | Who Needs Fall Tax Planning? Clients … and You | It’s OK to Say No to Clients (Even the Large Ones) | Control Your Time: Avoid Ambush Meetings and Calls | You Train Your Clients, Whether You Mean To or Not | Don’t Let Clients Dictate Tax Workflow | Make Fewer Mistakes, Increase Revenue and Capacity | Easy Ways to Avoid ‘Done But’ Tax Returns
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We accomplish this through a series of e-blasts explaining our deadlines. The e-blasts start in December, and we call them “Countdown to Tax Season.” They cover much more than our deadlines for clients to provide business and personal income tax returns documents.

We use the blasts to train clients in other areas – such as minimizing the use of staples when they give us their documents. We also discourage people from putting their documents in three-ring binders. As I’m certain you already know, staples and binders drive your admin staff crazy when they’re trying to scan documents.
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BUSY SEASON MANAGEMENT

Three Ways to Thrive with Limited Capacity

smiling man working at laptop in office with glass walls

Turn the staffing shortage into a new opportunity.

By Frank Stiteley
The Relentless CPA

Charles Dickens had to be writing about the accounting profession when he wrote, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”

Clients are plentiful. I met a new client coming out of the restroom at our office complex. We get four to five inquiries a day – out of tax season. During tax season, we turned down four out of five prospective clients.

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Staff are not plentiful – at least not good ones. I’m getting two or three resumes a day, but they’re the warm body sort most of us learned the hard way not to hire during the pandemic. You’ve seen these resumes too. They are people with six employers in eight years. You are certain to be number seven in nine years. They claim eight years of experience, but you can see from their job history that it’s really two years of experience repeated four times. And – they want $100K for those two years of real experience.

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HUMOR

How a Case of Beer Saved the U.S. Financial System

Great businesses are formed by trusting others … even if they need a 24-pack to get there.

By Frank Stitely
The Relentless CPA

You’ve probably heard of the 1929 stock market crash, Black Monday, the dotcom bubble and the Great Recession. All of these combined pale in comparison to what almost happened back in 1986. Save for a case of Miller Lite, our financial world, as we know it, would not exist.

MORE: Even with Value Pricing, Time Tracking Matters and Here’s Why | End Tax Season Meetings with Clients…Seriously | Get Clients to Understand Firm Processes … or Say Goodbye | Train Now Before It Costs You Down the Road | Keep Clients from “Balance Due” Shock | It’s OK to Say No to Clients (Even the Large Ones) | You Train Your Clients, Whether You Mean To or Not | Business Owners Face One of Three Exits
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I landed this job not because of my fabulous accounting qualifications. I was a double major in economics/finance in college. I would have taken a job sniffing used toilet paper out of college with those academic credentials. I got the job solely from my relationship with Paul Karstetter, the second name in what eventually became Stitely & Karstetter, CPAs.

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PRICING, FEES & BILLING RATES

Even with Value Pricing, Time Tracking Matters and Here’s Why

Higher productivity equals higher capacity, which drives faster turnaround times. Faster turnaround times create happier clients. 

By Frank Stitely
The Relentless CPA

Employee productivity plays a huge factor in managing WIP (work in progress). Because capacity is the denominator in the Lean Six Sigma equation, and employee productivity is a big factor in capacity, employee productivity becomes a big factor in determining turnaround time.

MORE: End Tax Season Meetings with Clients…Seriously | Get Clients to Understand Firm Processes … or Say Goodbye | Train Now Before It Costs You Down the Road | Keep Clients from “Balance Due” Shock | It’s OK to Say No to Clients (Even the Large Ones) | You Train Your Clients, Whether You Mean To or Not | Business Owners Face One of Three Exits | How Small Firms Can Win the Talent Wars | Do You Know Your Turnaround Time?
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First, let’s dismiss all the consultants from the room who tell us that time tracking and productivity metrics don’t matter. Mostly, these consultants have never managed or owned CPA firms. Rarely have they worked in firms for any length of time. They have never known the struggles of meeting payroll during the first pay period in February when employee hours are up, but the tax season money is not rolling in yet. Goodbye. Don’t let the door hit you in the butt on the way out, or do let it hit you. That’s up to you. I hope it’s a heavy door.

Here’s an example that shows why time tracking and productivity metrics matter:

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PRO Member Exclusive

End Tax Season Meetings with Clients … Seriously

Clients who want to meet should be more than willing to pay for that meeting.

By Frank Stitely
The Relentless CPA

What did Dorothy and her friends fear in The Wizard of Oz? “Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!” Dorothy feared the wrong things if she was a partner in a CPA firm. We don’t see much wildlife in our offices during tax season unless you count fast-food delivery people and the occasional crazy client.

MORE: Get Clients to Understand Firm Processes … or Say Goodbye | Train Now Before It Costs You Down the Road | Keep Clients from “Balance Due” Shock | It’s OK to Say No to Clients (Even the Large Ones) | You Train Your Clients, Whether You Mean To or Not | Business Owners Face One of Three Exits | How Small Firms Can Win the Talent Wars | Do You Know Your Turnaround Time?
GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

We should fear the events that destroy our priorities and drain hours from productive work. Meetings and phone calls and emails, oh my! From a practice management standpoint, let’s look at why these communication methods are so destructive.

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