time management rule #1 for accountants

the “one big thing” you can do to take back control.

by seth fineberg
at large

accountants are constantly being told about “the one thing” they need to do to improve their professional lives, and in my view, the simplest and most powerful is to firmly adhere to deadlines that you determine for your clients. not the irs’s deadlines, not any governing body… you!

more seth fineberg:  plan to go ‘live’ post tax season |  why vc is a bigger threat than ai  |   what does taking control of your firm mean? | accountants need each other more than ever | marchternity: just say ‘no’ | some thoughts on in-person events | so you think you know accountants? | what bogs down accountants

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the one change tax pros need to consider making going forward is setting their own deadlines – for themselves, for their firms, and, especially, for their clients.

all signs seem to indicate this year’s tax season was, comparatively, the most “normal” over the past three years. but tons of tax pros continue to stress, struggle, and even reconsider staying with tax work at all. while it may seem like a huge step, you would be surprised that by just having clients adhere to your deadlines, and no other due date, the level of stress will be reduced exponentially. this may not be a new tactic, but firms i’ve spoken to who decided to engage in telling clients about their deadline, and not the irs’s, experienced a sense of relief not felt in years, if ever.

quite simply, the accountant said they told clients at the beginning of the year that while the irs deadline to file income tax was april 18, any paperwork that came in after april 10 would result in that client being placed on an extension, with little exception. much like setting your pricing, and standing by your value, this firm said this is what our deadline is and, with little pushback, had the least stressful season in years.

some firms get even more radical. one practitioner shared with me that after tax season, they freelance for a firm that puts everyone on extension and does its work through october. the lesson: using someone else’s procedure really underscores the positive changes they made to their own procedures this season. to put it in his words, “waiting to file does nothing but complicate the life of your tax preparer.” so, why put yourself through it?

year in and out, the one constant with tax-centric firms is how many hours and how much frustration is experienced with the act of following up with the irs on client issues and following up with clients on necessary documents that invariably will be sent in the last weeks of the regular filing season. it is within your power to say when and as more practitioners do so. until there’s a more automated system for the entire process, you can dictate when and how individual returns get done.

look, i’ve been saying for some time that the more control you take over your practice, the happier or more fulfilled you will be. and by that, i mean, much in the way simon sinek wants you to find your why, i want accountants to find their ‘no.’ a big part of taking that control and finding that no is in the act of saying when you want all paperwork in and setting the deadlines that work for you.

let’s be real. nothing in recent memory has impacted the profession more than the global pandemic. any hesitations about automation and remote work had to be dealt with head-on because it was the only way work could get done. firms large and small that felt they could not work from home or utilize cloud or automation tools were forced to reckon with the reality that this was a way work needed to get done.

and this brings me to my core point: if any further change in the profession is to happen, and this includes making it a more attractive career to join and stay in, the one core change that must happen is in how you work, or rather how you choose to work. i am, of course, talking about taking back your time and making the most of it.

i am talking about the cyclical nature of what you all accept in almost a dystopian rite of passage known as “busy season.” this, my friends and colleagues, needs to end. this cycle of abuse you all endure year in and year out, to the point at which i’ve seen so many of you want to move out of the profession and the firms you’ve built all together because you simply cannot take it anymore, has to end.

call an end to think the majority of the work you do needs to occur in these pre-determined blocks of time. it’s time, you take control of your careers and your lives. choose the work you want to do and how you do it, which can be balanced well with work you need to do. if this profession is to have a future it has to be one that you all create, not one pre-determined or dictated.

 

 

posted on may 31, 2023