BUSY SEASON MANAGEMENT

Letting Staff Go After Tax Season? Bad Idea

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Eight reasons they might be more valuable than you think.

By Ed Mendlowitz
Tax Season Opportunity Guide

QUESTION: I am planning on letting go of some staff after April 15 and will hire replacements at a higher level. Any suggestions?

MORE ON TAX SEASON: Ten Tax Prep Questions That People Forget to Ask | Try This Clean Slate Exercise | Offer Your Tax Clients Other Services | Can Your Tax Reviewers Answer These 10 Questions? | The Top 12 Mistakes in Tax Return Preparation | Six Types of Person: Which Are You? | Answer These Two Questions First | Help Your Tax Clients, Help Yourself | What’s Your Value to Your Tax Clients? | Are You Excited About Tax Season?
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RESPONSE: 1) Your implication is that you will hire replacements at a higher level.

I do not like that. I like hiring out of school and training internally. I’ve written about this many times and shared my ideas ad infinitum and will not repeat that here because you can search back to previous Q&As (or read my 30:30 Training Method book).
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How to Leverage ChatGPT During This Crazy Tax Season

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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.

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

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

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… 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.

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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:

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End Tax Season Meetings with Clients … Seriously

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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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Make It ‘Productive Season’

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Don’t be busy. Be productive.

By Seth Fineberg
At Large

At this time of year, most accountants are considered to be mired in an annual waterboarding-like ritual known as “busy season.” While the moniker has long stirred ire, one way to rally against its implication is to take a good look at what being “busy” means. Moreover, why not make it more productive?

MORE FINEBERG: It’s Time to Do the Uncomfortable | Jeremy Sulzmann: Can Intuit Mend Fences with Accountants at QB Connect? | Meet Basis, the New AI Bookkeeper on the Block | Is This When Accountants Start Taking Freshbooks Seriously? |You’re Doing Email Wrong | Careful … You May Be Advising! | When Live Events Fail | Getting Real: Accounting Tech Decisions You Need to Make Today | Accounting Tech Doesn’t Have to Be Daunting |Who’s in Control? You? Or Your Clients?

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Perspective is everything. And while I’ve noticed more accounting professionals making concerted efforts to have more of a life/work balance, it is apparent that much of the work that contributes to being “busy” could evolve into productivity.

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Eight Steps to Getting Started with AI: A Guide for Tax Professionals

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Overcome the ChatGPT AI learning curve. 

By Sandi Leyva and ChatGPT

In the fast-paced world of tax preparation and accounting, the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) tools like ChatGPT can be a game-changer. However, the learning curve associated with these technologies can be a bit daunting, especially for technology immigrants in the Gen X, Boomer, and Silent generations (versus natives born after 1985).

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

If you’re hesitant or short on time, here’s how to get started:

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