what have practitioners learned from last year?
by rick telberg
from the aicpa insider
as they say, fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. tax practitioners may fall into the twice-shamed category since they appear to be experiencing the same recurring, historical tax preparation problems. perhaps, using the words of george santayana, accountants who “cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
nevertheless, before you start sending us e-mails suggesting that we have denigrated a noble profession, please read on.
what was the no. 1 tax preparation problem of 2005? and how will some tax practitioners deal with the problem in 2006? the study is collecting input. join the study and get the answers.
as you probably expected, seven in 10 practitioners encountered problems with clients who were “late or unprepared.” in fact, the issue has shown up every year we’ve studied tax season operations.
however, “late or unprepared clients” is not the major problem ? rather, it is a symptom of the problem.
that is, many cpas have not yet learned how to manage chronically late clients. they need to learn how to treat the disease and eliminate its symptoms. in this regard, some cpas use processes and techniques that have reduced the number of “late or unprepared” clients and the attendant consequences, including overtime, schedule compression, frustration, extra work, low realization, and extensions.
how do we counter the problem since we know it is going to happen again in 2006?
the study group had some interesting suggestions, including:
— raising fees
— firing clients
— not advertising for clients
— doing fewer tax returns
however, those suggestions are more punitive than remedial.
some of the better suggestions include such remedies as:
providing incentives to your clients for early submission, for example:
? one company provided gift certificates to encourage early client response ? as they said, this was a “huge hit because our [restaurant] clients had requested we repeat ?” this “early bird” program.
? another cpa provided a discount for early submission and experienced a “tremendous response.”
eliminating “the small [clients], “? those who would be better off using a small tax preparation service.”
earlier and continuous contact with clients.
starting earlier ? several respondents suggested beginning work with your clients during october or november in order to correct problems before busy season and year-end arrives.
monitoring and managing return status “on a daily basis” and “keeping a better log of returns… needing additional info.”
providing a “listing of needed records in the tax organizer.”
using appropriate cutoff deadlines ? clients missing the cutoff “automatically go on extension.”
planning earlier, scheduling appointments earlier, and sending out information requests earlier.
reviewing the results of 2005 immediately after busy season to identify needed changes.
giving incentives to the staff “for the most creative and innovative idea” for process improvement.
using your managers extensively for client contact and follow-up.
all in all, the better ideas seem to fall into one of five areas:
(1) incentives,
(2) planning,
(3) improved monitoring and management,
(4) continuous and early assistance, and
(5) process controls.
maybe one of these suggestions will reduce the number of your late and unprepared clients. again, let us learn from history.
one response to “are you ready for tax season 2006?”
al sperske cpa
i am one of those small preparers that you mentioned. my biggest problem is with obtaining k-1’s from the larger firms. i cannot finish a return until i obtain all of the investment k-1’s.
the bulk of my practice is from that type of investor.