TAX SEASON

How to Leverage ChatGPT During This Crazy Tax Season

By

Make tax season less taxing and more productive.

By Sandi Leyva and ChatGPT

In the fast-paced world of tax preparation and accounting, time is of the essence. Embracing ChatGPT can dramatically transform your workflow, offering practical and actionable solutions to common challenges.

Check out our courses on ChatGPT,
offered as a deep discount bundle or separately.
Webinar Schedule:
MORE ChaptGPT here

Here’s how you can put ChatGPT to work, making this tax season less taxing and more productive, even if Congress decides to pass a retroactive tax bill right in the middle of busy season.

READ MORE →

Firms Culling Clients as Staffing Woes Persist

By

man in suit exiting office building

Others tap outsourcing, training clerical staff as solutions.

By CPA Trendlines Research

Early results from the CPA Trendlines 2024 Busy Season Barometer: Emerging Issues, Opportunities, and Trends are showing a painfully persistent problem with staff shortages, though it seems the hardship may have improved a bit since last year.

MORE: Revenue Up at 59% of Accounting Firms … and More Good News | Compensation’s Up, but Up Enough to Retain Staff? | Are Accountants Charging Too Little? | ChatGPT for the Reluctant Accountant | CPAs Needed to Help Small Biz Adopt AI | Revenue Growth Is Top Priority for Small Firms | Is the CPA Business Model the Clog in the Pipeline?
GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

This year, like last year, survey respondents are reporting staffing as the second most common concern. Last year, it was reported by 47 percent, almost tied with the main concern: late or unprepared clients.

This year, uncooperative clients still rank first, at 50 percent, but staffing concerns have dropped to 37 percent.
READ MORE →

Tax Pros Gain Ground, and DIYers Maintain Lead

By

data table

Refunds are up over 4 percent.

By Beth Bellor
CPA Trendlines Research

With about a month left in the 2024 tax season, the individual income tax returns keep pouring in, and the Internal Revenue Service keeps grinding them out.

The IRS had received 62.8 million returns, down 1.1 percent from the previous year, as of March 8, the latest data available. It had processed 61.9 million returns, down 2.1 percent.

MORE: Tax Pros Handle 46.4% of E-filing | Tax Refunds, Tax Pro Market Share Trending Up | Refunds Up as Tax Pros Tackle 41.5% of E-filings | Tax Pros Handle 37.7% of E-filings | Tax Pros File 33% of Early Returns
GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

E-filings

Electronic filings totaled 61.2 million, down 0.9 percent.
READ MORE →

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

By

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?
GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

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:

READ MORE →

Tax Practitioners Say Happy Days Are Here … Again

By

bar chart
Seventy percent report as good or better year than last year.

 

For most, anyway.

By CPA Trendlines Research

The first results of the 2024 Busy Season Barometer: Emerging Issues, Opportunities, and Trends are in, and so far, halfway into the tax season, accountants and tax practitioners are reporting another pretty good year.

That’s two in a row!

MORE: The IRS Is Coming! Get Your Clients into Compliance | End Tax Season Meetings with Clients … Seriously | Brandon Hall: Firms Try to Make Too Much on Tax Prep | Eight Steps to Getting Started with AI: A Guide for Tax Professionals | The Nightmare of Non-credentialed Tax Preparers | Tax Pros Are Expanding and Earning More
GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

Last year, 58 percent of survey respondents said their year was much better or somewhat better than 2022, which, as you may recall, had been a rather rotten year.

So when only 32 percent of this year’s contributors say this season is better than 2023, it doesn’t mean fewer are having a good year. It means almost a third are reporting a year better than a good year.
READ MORE →

Got FOMO When It Comes to AI and ChatGPT? You Should: Here’s What You’re Missing

By

… not to mention $856 per week per employee in savings.

By Sandi Leyva

In the 10 months that I have been teaching ChatGPT, I’ve noticed about a third of my webinar participants have set up a free account with OpenAI’s ChatGPT, where they have access to ChatGPT version 3.5. Another third have invested a whopping $20 per month for the paid version, and the remaining third don’t have an account at all. A tiny number of participants are lucky enough to have companies that have invested in the Enterprise version of the software.

GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

And these are accounting and tax professionals who are eager to learn ChatGPT. If you haven’t embraced the paid version of ChatGPT (individual, Teams or Enterprise), it’s time to learn what you’re missing.

 

 

Check out our courses on ChatGPT,
offered as a deep discount bundle or separately.
Webinar Schedule:
MORE ChaptGPT here

While the free version of ChatGPT can generate answers to thousands of questions, it can’t:

READ MORE →