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Bill Penczak: Stop Forcing Smart People to Do Stupid Work

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Challenge your people and keep the work interesting or risk losing them. 

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Too many accounting firms have “smart people doing stupid work,” according to Bill Penczak, a veteran sales and marketing professional. The founder and chief insights officer for Mica Ventures said to think about the effort it takes to get an accounting degree and get your CPA, and contrast that with the years of mindless work that many new hires are required to do, especially if they go into audit, he said. “One of the reasons why there’s such a talent shortage is because the market has figured this out,” and no one wants to do that stupid work, Penczak said.

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Besides making smart people do stupid work, Penczak said many of the firms he works with are realizing that they need to do a better job with mentoring and career development, as well as simply having more conversations with their people.

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With Fresh Funding, IRS Shows Service Improvements

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man talking on phone and smiling

Welcome to the 21st century.

By CPA Trendlines Research

It turns out that all it took was money. Funded better, the IRS performs better. It’s as simple as that.

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Look at the accomplishments as of the end of the filing season:

  • Three million more phone calls answered.
  • Phone wait times cut from 28 minutes to just three.
  • 140,000 more taxpayers served in person.
  • 80 times more returns digitized than in 2022.
  • Entire backlog of 2022 returns cleared without error.
  • New online filing and notification options offered.
  • Tax preparers can file 1099s in bulk.
  • New direct deposit refund enabled for amended returns.
  • 35 Taxpayer Assistance Centers opened or reopened.

The improvements are possible thanks to funding provided under the Inflation Reduction Act, and the IRS deserves credit for accomplishing so much in so little time. The IRA was passed on August 16, 2022.

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Cybersecurity Exemptions for Orgs with Less than 5,000 Clients

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You may be off the hook, but not out of the woods.

By Donny Shimamoto

Management consulting company AON described an exemption for some of the FTC requirements for firms that handle the personal identifiable information (PII) of less than 5,000 consumers.[i]

The Safeguards Rule provides an exception from certain requirements if the covered financial institution maintains customer information concerning fewer than 5,000 consumers. A consumer is defined in Section 314.2(b)(1) of the Safeguards Rule as “an individual who obtains or has obtained a financial product or service from the financial institution that is used primarily for personal, family, or household purposes, or that individual’s legal representative.”

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Essentially if you handle less than 5,000 social security numbers, then it would appear that you can take advantage of this exemption. AON went on to report that if you fall under this exemption, then you do not need to address the following requirements:

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Congress: Tax Prep Companies Shared Private Data with Google, Meta for Years

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Former FTC chief says this data breach is a “five-alarm fire.”

By Rick Richardson
Technology This Week

A seven-month congressional investigation found that three of the biggest tax preparation firms in the country may have shared Americans’ private financial information with Google and Meta for years in a possible violation of federal law. The information, in some cases, was used for targeted advertising.

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The investigation’s findings reveal a “five-alarm fire” for taxpayer privacy that, according to legal experts, could result in public and private lawsuits, criminal penalties or even a “mortal blow” for some major industry players like TaxSlayer, H&R Block and TaxAct.

“On a scale from one to 10, this is a 15 … This is as great as any privacy breach that I’ve seen other than exploiting kids. This is a five-alarm fire if what we know about this so far is true.”

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