Now that tax season is over there is one question every partner should ask their team:
How did your technology work for you this tax season?
The beauty of finishing tax season (excluding the inevitable extensions which we discuss in another post) is you have clear visibility into how everything worked – the successes and the failures. So now we’ll ask – what are you going to do with what you’ve learned?
Our second recommendation for a high value project to undertake this summer is this: take stock of your current technology footprint and take action in the areas that will make the 2016 tax season better for your firm.
Here are some ideas to get you started:
- Don’t believe the hype: There’s a lot of excellent thought leadership about the platform of the future for CPA firms. We agree with most of it. However, your focus should be on solving the tactical technology problems facing your firm. Fixing the basic issues will give you the biggest bang for your buck!
- A little integration goes a long way: Most CPA firms have integration issues. Office tools, tax software, workflow solutions, Excel databases and other siloed out solutions are common elements of the technology footprint. This creates redundant data, accuracy and productivity issues. Finding better ways to integrate your environment will pay dividends.
- Find the parts of your process that require manual intervention. Then automate them. It’s likely there’s more of this than you know about. Get with your team, find the bottlenecks and work towards a solution.
Summer goes way too fast. Make every day count!