BUSY SEASON MANAGEMENT

You Don’t Have a Time Problem

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Businessman running after clock in silhouette

Three ways to fix what’s actually going on.

By Sandi Leyva
The Complete Guide to Marketing for Tax & Accounting Firms

I know it’s a bold statement and a lot of you will disagree. But please have an open mind and hear me out.

MORE: Ten Ways to Have More Energy This Tax Season | Are You Crossing Off Your Business Bucket List? | Ten Ways to Make Your Business Irresistible | Five Ways to Target the Low-Hanging Fruit | Are Your Revenue Projections Realistic? | Six Strategies to Make More without Working More | The Art of Prompt Engineering for Accountants | Calculate Your Business Relationship Ratios
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Time is the great equalizer. We all have the same number of hours in a day, yet some entrepreneurs, many of them self-made, become wildly successful, while others languish. Only one in 20 business owners in the U.S. make it past $1 million in annual revenues. I believe the way they use their time is a big factor in their success or failure.
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The Top 12 Mistakes in Tax Return Preparation

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Businessman horrified by what he sees on computer screen

 

There’s good news, though: they’re preventable.

By Ed Mendlowitz
Tax Season Opportunity Guide

Here are the top 12 tax return preparation errors:

  1. Number transposition and spelling errors. This includes income and deduction amounts and client Social Security numbers, addresses and ZIP codes. Spelling errors should also be avoided – they indicate a lack of attention to what you are doing.

MORE ON TAX SEASON: 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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  1. Unreported 1099 income. Clients frequently leave out 1099s, but the preparer should make sure all 1099 items from last year are accounted for. Missing 1099s that were not final for last year should be accounted for.
  2. Tax payments. Entering incorrect and unpaid amounts can be avoided by requiring the client to provide “proof” of the payments. Entering “incorrect” amounts provided by the client is a major cause of tax notices.

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Every Accounting Firm Needs Quality Control

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man using laptop, pen marking imaginary checkboxes in air

The lowest cost always comes when the person first performing the service does it correctly.

By Ed Mendlowitz
202 Questions and Answers: Managing an Accounting Practice

Question: I want to improve my firm’s review and quality control. Do you have any suggestions?

Response: This is a recurring issue for most firms. Every CPA practice needs quality control. The issue is whether a dedicated quality control (“QC”) person is needed and, if not, how the QC can be done without one.

MORE: Three Ways to Start an Accounting Practice | Fifteen Strategies for First-Time Supervisors | No One Listens to You? Change How You Talk | Free Consultation? Not Always | Measure Knowledge Gaps (Then Close Them) | 47 Types of Business Valuation to Provide | Referral Fee? Forget It | Should You Offer Financial Services? | Thirteen Things to Consider Before You Sell Your Practice | How Much Is Your Tax Practice Worth? | Ready to Retire? Selling Your Practice Is No Strategy | Uncooperative Partner Might Not be the Problem | Merge in Lower-Priced Work without Losing Out | 20 Things You Need for a Business Valuation
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A practice is a business and every business must be run efficiently and profitably. QC is an area that I have found many firms getting tied up in and either spending nothing or much more than they should.
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Six Types of Person: Which Are You?

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Use the answer to help define your business and your future.

By Ed Mendlowitz
Tax Season Opportunity Guide

Is your practice satisfying?

Do you like it the way it is, or do you want it to develop and grow? Some people like the way things are and don’t care about change.

MORE ON TAX SEASON: 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?
GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

If you’ve gotten this far, I would suggest that you do care about change, and change means you have to do some things differently.
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Get Clients to Understand Firm Processes … or Say Goodbye

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woman in a business suit waving a red flag

With just a little advanced marketing, you can get paid year-round AND have more satisfied clients.

By Frank Stitely
The Relentless CPA

When I’m frustrated, here’s how I explain the importance to clients of letting us work our process:

“When you get your car repaired, you don’t look over the mechanic’s shoulder and tell him which wrench to use. The same principle applies to us. If you knew the best ways to prepare tax returns, you should become our competitor.”

MORE: 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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Let’s be perfectly honest with each other.

There’s a reason you aren’t actively training clients to allow you to work efficiently. You’re afraid that you’ll lose clients.

I guarantee that you will.
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Are You Excited About Tax Season?

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woman working at two monitors

If not, take time to determine why.

By Ed Mendlowitz
Tax Season Opportunity Guide

Successful people are happy with their practices and what they do and get joy from interacting and helping clients. I know a lot of accountants who continuously complain about tax season – yet they make most of their money during the period.

MORE: Nine Tax Season Resources That Get Forgotten | Eight Ways to Charm a Client | You’re Only as Good as Your Last Screw-Up
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Do they expect someone to knock on their door with a wheelbarrow of money to hand them? If they are financially secure, why do they keep working? If they are not, then, DUH! Either do it or find something else, but stop complaining. Better yet, look at all the benefits from what you do (if you need me to tell you the benefits then find something else to do).
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Eight Ways to Build Busy-Season Stamina

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Attitude is key, but can only do so much.

By Sandi Leyva
The Complete Guide to Marketing for Tax & Accounting Firms

Busy season is just around the corner. Can you feel the excitement? Or the dread?

Here are eight ways to boost your stamina and minimize burnout for those of you who are working long hours in the weeks ahead.

MORE: Five Things That Clients Don’t Know about Accountants | Are Your Revenue Projections Realistic? | Six Strategies to Make More without Working More | The Art of Prompt Engineering for Accountants | Calculate Your Business Relationship Ratios | Five Ways to Acquire More Clients | Five Stages of Any Business | Put Your LinkedIn Profile to Work | What’s In a (Domain) Name? Plenty
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1. Understand the physical limitations of “willpower.”

According to scientists, our willpower is replenished every morning after a good night’s sleep. It’s strongest in the morning (even if you’re an evening person like me), and it wanes throughout the day. The more stress you’re under, the faster it depletes during the day, and sometimes your willpower runs out before the day does.
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Train Now Before It Costs You Down the Road

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Your time investment now could reap dividends during tax season. 

By Frank Stitely
The Relentless CPA

We’ve all heard it.

Ask if an assigned project has been completed and get the, “It’s done, but …” followed by a few reasons why said project is still – let’s be honest – incomplete.

MORE: Keep Clients from “Balance Due” Shock | Stop Clients from Performing “Favors” | Control Your Time: Avoid Ambush Meetings and Calls | Make Fewer Mistakes, Increase Revenue and Capacity | Six Ways to Create a Millennial-Friendly Firm
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Let’s examine how we got a “done but” society. A lot of this will sound like, “Back in my day, sonny …” old man nonsense, and a lot of it is.

However, I promise you a solution after my sociological exploration of 21st-century culture. You won’t need a degree in sociology to understand this.

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