One of the most popular series on the Bravo Channel is The Real Housewives. If you’ve seen it you know it is a supposed “reality show” that follows the lives of a group of women in an American city. For many it is a guilty pleasure to watch this cohort of wealthy, entitled individuals fight each other.
It is also bad drama.
So what does this have to do with tax preparation? The hard truth is for many firms; the tax preparation process is also filled with bad drama.
Think about some of the questions that pop up during the typical tax preparation process:
- Where is the return?
- Did we miss a deadline?
- Are the right people in the review loop?
- Did we complete all the forms?
Whether you are the one asking these questions – or are the receiving end – this type of drama is never fun.
What’s the problem?
There are several reasons these simple questions are tough to answer. First, tax preparation is complex. Many people are involved as the return is bounced from scanning to prep to review to processing to partners etc.
Next, tracking is not a core function in tax preparation software. This is not a knock on any of these systems or vendors. These vendors need to be able to mass market their solutions. Accommodating firm specific tracking needs “out of the box” simply is not feasible.
What’s the answer?
The answer lies in making tracking a mission critical part of your tax preparation process. Don’t settle for whatever functionality your tax prep software gives you.
Eliminate the tracking drama once and for all.