Thousands of tax prep shops, bookkeeping companies, CPA firms, and payroll services take emergency loans, promising to save over 200,000 jobs.
By CPA Trendlines Research
How many of those jobs will be reclaimed?
The CPA Trendlines full list of firms is available to PRO Members here.
Refunds up, but not by much.
By Beth Bellor
A shift in the wrong direction.
BUSY SEASON BAROMETER:
How accountants are battling the Coronavirus recession
Join the survey. Get the answers.
By CPA Trendlines Research
Every business in the country, if not the world, is feeling the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Outside of the tech sector, the impact has been largely negative. Every business is suffering. So, relatively speaking, the tax and accounting sector may be getting off easy.
MORE TRENDS in SURVEYS & RESEARCH: Seven Ways COVID Has Changed Busy Season | Getting a Handle on COVID | COVID Crushes CPA Business Outlook | Is the Worst Over? 63% of Small Business Say So | Beat the Covid Crisis with These 20 Steps for Your Firm and Your Clients | Clients, Revenues, Profits – Trending Down, Down, Down | Covid Crushes Rosey Forecasts | The Seven Factors Keeping Accounting Firms Afloat Amid COVID-19 | Feeling the Pain? The Biggest Job Losses by Client Sector | Tax Season Pivots to Covid Rescue Season | Planning for the Coronavirus Recession | How Accountants Are Coping with COVID-19 |
More Coronavirus coverage here
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According to the latest data from the CPA Trendlines 2020 Busy Season Barometer, about 39 percent of firms are still expecting to see an increase in business, but overall optimism seems to be dipping even as the economy begins to reboot.
Crisis Management Strategies with Jean Caragher
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3 Often Overlooked Factors in Successful Mergers & Acquisitions
With Special Guests: Joel Sinkin, Transition Advisors; and Rick Telberg, CPA Trendlines
Tuesday, June 23
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Accountants show new signs of optimism as fears of COVID chaos wane.
How to battle the Coronavirus recession
Join the survey. Get the answers.
By CPA Trendlines Research
The turning of a terrible tide of COVID pessimism has been neither quick nor clear-cut as the endless Busy Season of 2020 drags on, according to new findings and analysis from the CPA Trendlines Busy Season Barometer.
MORE TRENDS in SURVEYS & RESEARCH: COVID Crushes CPA Business Outlook | Is the Worst Over? 63% of Small Business Say So | Beat the Covid Crisis with These 20 Steps for Your Firm and Your Clients | Clients, Revenues, Profits – Trending Down, Down, Down | Covid Crushes Rosey Forecasts | The Seven Factors Keeping Accounting Firms Afloat Amid COVID-19 | Feeling the Pain? The Biggest Job Losses by Client Sector | Tax Season Pivots to Covid Rescue Season | Planning for the Coronavirus Recession | How Accountants Are Coping with COVID-19 |
More Coronavirus coverage here
The outlook certainly isn’t back to where it was in the sunny days of February. But hopes for a better year have edged up from 23 percent in April to 27 percent in May.
… in the tax season that never ends.
By Beth Bellor
Bleak but slightly less so.
MORE: Tax Pro E-Filings Down 20 Percent | IRS Web Traffic Doubles over Year-Ago | COVID Drowns IRS in New Filings | 2020 Tax Season Comes to a Screeching Halt | The Tax Season 2020 Dumpster Fire | Tax Pros Fall Behind 6.2% in Returns Filed | Tax Pros Trail by 908,000 Returns
That’s probably the best way to categorize the trends in the most recent data from the Internal Revenue Service.
But key trends, logistics, and legalities are changing.
By R. Peter Fontaine
Given the enormous disruptive effect of the COVID-19 crisis, it is surprising that mergers and acquisitions are still very much near the top of the accounting firm agenda.
MORE on CPA FIRM M&A: New Rules: Covid Shifts M&A Landscape | Merging in Sellers: What You Need to Know | Five Keys to Successfully Selling a CPA Firm | Mergers: What Could Go Wrong? | 10 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Buying an Accounting Practice | Buyers Name 20 Big Merger Turnoffs | Why Firms Merge: Hint, It’s Not for the Clients | Five Key Decisions for Your Exit Strategy
Coronavirus crisis updates: Start here for a guide to all our coverage.
In a word, sellers want to sell – and – buyers want to buy. We will examine the reasons we have seen that contribute to the continued strength of acquisitions; as well as the changes and challenges confronting buyers and sellers in a COVID world. READ MORE →
Coronavirus crisis management outlook and analysis.
With Sarah Dobek
We’re out of the crisis stage or the triage mode,” Inovautus founder and president Sarah Dobek tells CPA Trendlines in a video interview.”And we’re moving in to the second phase, which is learning how to operate in what everybody’s calling the new normal.”
MORE COVID CRISIS MANAGEMENT VIDEOS: Jean Caragher: How to Fight COVID-19 ‘Fear’ and ‘Insecurity’ | Jody Grunden: COVID and Client Communications | August Aquila: What Comes After Coronavirus? | Andrew Argue Is on a Mission | Martin Bissett: COVID Slams U.K. Accountants, Too | Bill Reeb: COVID Crisis Separates the Winners from Losers
Chaos and confusion make client communications “so critical right now for CPA firms,” she says, adding. ” If clients aren’t getting information, they’re absolutely getting information from your competitors.” READ MORE →
August Aquila sees two major changes on the horizon.