Today's Features
CHARTS & GRAPHS

Tax Refund Totals Up 4%

data table

 

Electronic filings take a dip.

By Beth Bellor

In the last days of Tax Season 2025, processed returns and e-filings by tax professionals both slipped back into the negative.

MORE: Refunds Up 5% as Tax Returns Top 100 Million | Tax Pros Rev Up Filing Pace as DIYers Lag | Tax Returns Nearly Match 2024 Rates | Tax Pros Edge DIYers in E-Filings | Tax Refund Totals Up 7% | Tax Pros Handle 46% of E-Filings | Tax Refund Totals Up 10% | Tax Refunds Plummet, but No Worries | Tax Refunds Up 18% Early On | First Tax Filing Reports Are In
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As of April 11, the Internal Revenue Service had received 117.6 million individual income tax returns, down 1.7 percent from the same period in 2024. It had processed 116.3 million returns, down 1.5 percent.
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MARKETING & SALES

Dump the ‘Selling’ Stigma

Several businesspeople talking and shaking hands, silhouette against city skyline

Five tasks for business development.

By Martin Bissett
 Business Development on a Budget

Over the years, many partners have told me about their struggles to grow their firms proactively, the main one being that they feel they must sell, which goes against the grain for them. Have you ever felt that way?

MORE by Martin Bissett
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Perhaps you’ve never had to sell before, and it is taking you way out of your comfort zone. You are entering into unfamiliar territory, that alien landscape called “selling.”
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GROWTH STRATEGIES

Debbie Kilsheimer: Stop Thinking Small | The Disruptors

“Too often, we’re stepping over dollars to pick up pennies.”

This is a preview. The complete 1-hour video episode, with commentary and transcript, is first available exclusively to PRO Members | Go PRO here
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The Disruptors
With Liz Farr

By age 25, Debbie Kilsheimer was already disrupting the traditional accounting mindset. At her first job, she questioned why clients were billed by the hour when speed and efficiency weren’t rewarded.

“The smarter I get, the more efficient I become, the less you make,” she told her boss. “I don’t understand that. Plus, the clients don’t know what anything will cost—so they’re afraid to call.”

MORE PODCASTS and VIDEOS: Dave Kersting: Collaborate with Co-Firming | Ashley Francis: AI’s a Partner, Not a Replacement | Richard Roppa-Roberts: Collaboration Over Competition | Ira Rosenbloom: M&A Numbers Are Easy – Culture Fit Is Hard | Roman Villard: Ditch the Suit & Shine | Monique Swansen: Align Firm Values with Services | Tina McGill: How to Create Lasting Client Impact | Stefan van Duyvendijk: Develop Operational Mindset | Steve Evans: Why Traditional Hiring Methods Fail | Roger Knecht: Can You Be an Accountrepreneur? | Beth Whitworth: Focus on Outcomes Not Hours |Mike Sylvester: Learn to Say No | Salim Omar: Identify Your Client’s $100,000 Problem | Jackie Meyer: Earn More with Fewer Clients | Jack Fleherty: Don’t Be a ‘Yes’ Person | Greg Adams: From Finance to Storytelling | The Disruptors | Jody Padar: Make Radical Changes Now If You Want to Be Relevant in 2030 | Rebecca Driscoll: Amplify Reach By Helping Other Firm Owners | Rory Henry: Create the Return on Relationships | Mike Maksymiw: Be the Leader You Wish You Had |

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Her suggestion to switch to flat-rate pricing was met with disbelief, but she knew she was onto something. Two decades later, Kilsheimer and her husband, Hal, run a million-dollar firm built on premium service, not time sheets.

“I’m going to be Starbucks. I’m going to be Louis Vuitton,” she says. “I’m going to be the most expensive accountant they talk to—and I’m going to deliver on that promise.”

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BUSY SEASON MANAGEMENT

Accountants Reporting a Pretty Good Year

woman and man in office high-fiving and giving thumbs up

Revenue and profit both higher.

By CPA Trendlines Research

In terms of client lists, revenues and profits, accounting and tax prep firms are reporting a pretty good year – maybe not as good as they expected four or five months ago, but still, not bad.

Back in December and January, the early results of the CPA Trendlines Busy Season Barometer survey showed respondents somewhat optimistic about their upcoming year.

  • 15 percent expected their client lists to grow by 10 percent or more. Another 34 percent were hoping for a growth of 5 to 10 percent.
  • A mere 9 percent were anticipating any kind of decrease in clientele.
  • 41 percent didn’t see much change coming one way or the other.

MORE Barometer: Concerns Take Curious Shifts as Tax Season Closes | Tax Season Faceplant: Accountants Overrun by Late Chaos | Accountants Turn Negative Amid Tariffs, Trade, Uncertainty | What CPA Firms Could Do Better | SURVEY: Which Client Industries Will Grow This Year | Tax Preparers Share Advice for Your Clients | Staffing, Tech, Prices Top Tax Pros’ Concerns | Tax Pros Gear Up for a Better Busy Season | Tax Season 2025 Begins. Ready or Not.
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But now with firms looking back over their season, the stats are shifting again, with a big increase in those experiencing a decrease.
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AUDIT & ASSURANCE

Use Innovation to Rethink Client Service

Businesswoman opens door to brick wall

Six roadblocks to avoid.

By Alan Anderson, CPA
Transforming Audit for the Future

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” – Albert Einstein

When most auditors hear the word “innovation,” they think it has to do with getting more technology. But that’s only a small part of what innovation means. Innovation isn’t just throwing more technology at your audit processes. That approach is often just replicating with technology what you have done in paper for decades.

MORE by Alan Anderson
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According to an article in Forbes, “Innovation is the rethinking or reimagining of a business process that already exists.” Applied to audit, innovation is reimagining what audit is and what audit can be. It’s the transformation of audit from a commoditized compliance-only function to a sought-after and highly valued service that produces benefits to the clients who use that service and to the firms who provide that service.
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