survey shows hopes for a smooth and profitable 2020 are destroyed by a floundering economy.
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the resilience of the coronavirus and the continued spread of covid-19 has accountants shifting the focus of their concerns.
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ages ago—back in february, b.c. (before covid)—the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 2020 busy season barometer survey found that out of 14 common concerns, economic conditions were of the least concern, the bottom of the list, worrying just eight percent of respondents.
covid changes everything.
a month later, the economy was the greatest concern, rattling 77 percent of respondents
the irs’s postponement of the tax filing deadline eased concerns about late or unprepared clients. the february figure of 48 percent bumped up to 53 percent in march, but by the end of april, it was down to 39 percent.
economic concerns eased off a bit in april, paralleling the slight improvement in the stock market. but it remains the greatest source of anxiety, unsettling 66 percent.
never in the history of the busy season barometer has a concern shifted so far so fast. nothing has ever come close.
personal and family issues
as if reorganizing the office weren’t enough to bring fret to practitioners, concerns about family and personal issues were also distracting them from their professions. early in the year, personal and family issues were of concern to only 15 percent, but by april the number leaped to 24 percent.
back in early march, security and privacy were the second-most common concern, touching 37 percent. the number sank to 26 percent by the end of the month, then went down to 19 percent by early may.
concerns with the disruption of office workflows and processes has been pretty steady, actually dropping a tad, from 35 percent to 30 percent.
the experience of robert jones, of r.c. jones & associates, in liberty mo., sums up the workflow and process adaptations that many firms have managed to pull off.
“non-essential staff is working from home,” he tells us. “we’re fortunate to have planned for cloud processing, and it was a fairly seamless process. maintaining productivity levels is now the challenge but can be fixed with adjustments in compensation models. getting essential staff into the office with adjustments to the footprint of the space to be mindful of distancing turned out to be more difficult than i thought it would be, but we’re managing.”
worried about who might not make it…
patrick mcdermott, a partner with mcdermott & apkarian, llp, is expecting a somewhat worse year as his firm faces challenges on several fronts.
“we often feel out of control,” he reports. “all the old metrics do not measure what we are handling right now. we were not prepared for working from home full-time. delivery of finished work is challenging. a ton of non-billable work to be done every day. worried about a/r and who may not make it and not pay our bill.”
lorena dodge, a principal with ronald j. amirault, cpa, ltd. in warwick, r.i., tells us her firm prevented some of the pressure by going paperless last year. but that doesn’t mean the firm isn’t under a lot of stress.
“our workflows and output are largely paperless, which allows for flexibility of work location and work processes,” she says. “we have put many workers on remote working from home, and they’ve maintained efficiency close to that of in the office which surprised us. we feel that we are “essential” as we’ve kept our clients calm and are helping them wade through various stimulus and assistance, which always sounds better than it turns out to be. the stress of tax deadlines is now replaced with the stress of trying to help companies apply for and get relief…”
the wellbeing of clients
something very common—and encouraging—in comments is widespread concern for the wellbeing of clients under economic pressure. with the stress of irs deadlines relieved a bit, practitioners are offering new kinds of help, much of it unbillable.
explaining her concern for the national economy, karyn vaughn, an enrolled agent, and certified management accountant, says, “if we do not get people back to work soon, it will be hard to pull back from the abyss. small businesses are barely hanging on. this crisis has really made us aware of how interdependent we all are economically.”
solo practitioner david r. stebenne seems to have his own bases covered, but he’s worried about other people’s.
“nobody has truly begun to understand the new economic realities,” he tells us. “in general, people are going to be hurting a lot more 6 months from now than they are today. my business is relatively insulated, intentionally small, and focused on clients with the needs and the means to pay. they are not the typical american who needs tomorrow’s paycheck today.”
in savannah, ga., stuart bromley, a partner with holland, bromley, barnhill & brett, llp, sums it all up rather well. he says, “pandemics suck.”
nuff said.