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
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
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
Workflow is key to for a successful Business Process Management solution. Workflow helps us streamline our business processes – audit, tax, engagement letter, client acceptance, etc. – by automating the routing and approval of documents. It works great if all the steps are sequential and relationships are 1:1. However, if the 1:1 relationship is broken… Read More
More and more accountants are saying that there is no longer a “Busy Season”. Instead there is always work to do, however there are specific deadlines throughout the year that create peaks. April 15th is definitely a top contender on the list of important dates. Equally as important is October 15th. Once October 15th comes… 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. When asked, the following list of concerns continually up: Updating or making… Read More
