Time Management Rule #1 for Accountants
The “one big thing” you can do to take back control.
By Seth Fineberg
At Large
Accountants are constantly being told about “the one thing” they need to do to improve their professional lives, and in my view, the simplest and most powerful is to firmly adhere to deadlines that you determine for your clients. Not the IRS’s deadlines, not any governing body… You!
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The one change tax pros need to consider making going forward is setting their own deadlines – for themselves, for their firms, and, especially, for their clients.
All signs seem to indicate this year’s tax season was, comparatively, the most “normal” over the past three years. But tons of tax pros continue to stress, struggle, and even reconsider staying with tax work at all. While it may seem like a huge step, you would be surprised that by just having clients adhere to your deadlines, and no other due date, the level of stress will be reduced exponentially. This may not be a new tactic, but firms I’ve spoken to who decided to engage in telling clients about their deadline, and not the IRS’s, experienced a sense of relief not felt in years, if ever.
