In a recent survey, CPA firms were asked what processes they would like to reduce or eliminate. Here’s what they said: Bottlenecks that slow things down (mentioned by 48 percent of respondents) Duplication of work (46 percent) Poor interaction between departments (39 percent) Difficulty locating needed documents (33 percent) Lack of business process visibility (27… Read More
Don’t sweat the small stuff. It’s advice that’s been around for decades, however in 1985 Richard Carlson wrote a hugely popular book with that title and used it as the premise for building a stress free life. Although he did not coin the expression, “Don’t sweat the small stuff…and it’s all small stuff”, he was… Read More
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has announced that tax season will open on Monday, January 27, 2020. With less than 3 weeks to go until the official kick off to tax season, I thought I would compile a list of “Things To Do” that will help tax preparers get organized for tax season and make… Read More
We all know that Engagement Letters are necessary for properly outlining the scope of work, cost, the expectations of your client and your firm, and the time to completion. Unfortunately creating and executing the letter has become a burden for many CPA firms. History has taught us that tracking engagement letter content and approval can… Read More
Put yourself on the outside of your firm for a minute. If you had audit and tax work to be done, would you select your firm to do it? How would you go about making the decision to engage? What would be your criteria for making the decision? We tend to spend much of our… Read More
In my career, I have been lucky enough to have heard many extraordinary key note speakers. They’ve ranged from comedians to musicians. From Into Thin Air’s Jon Krakauer to Catch Me If You Can’s Frank Abignale. Although most speakers are very different in their delivery, often there is one common theme – In order to… Read More
As 2019 draws to a close, I started to research the challenges accounting firms have been facing. Here are the top 5 challenges that keep accountants are currently up against: Winning the Talent War – This concern is not unique to accounting firms. Many professional service firms are facing the same issue. So how do… Read More
In any given year there are several opportunities to attend accounting conferences. Is it necessary or even possible to attend all? Absolutely not. However, if you want to stay current, it would behoove you to choose a few that line-up with your firm’s vision and attend. Many use the excuse “I’m taking away from my… Read More
The last time I posted about Fantasy Football, I mentioned the skill of John Rozek, an accountant from Chicago, who became “The World Champion of Fantasy Sports” winning $2 million in prize money back in 2010. John was also inducted in to the Toyota Hall of Fame and coined “The Fantasy Football Guru”. Once again, … Read More
