before another grueling tax season, find your tribe.
more on marchternity:
just say ‘no,’ by seth fineberg
by liz farr
the last several years have been rough on accountants, to say the least.
i left public accounting at the end of 2017, so i have been spared the never-ending chaos of the last five years, starting with the last-minute sweeping changes of the tcja, and continuing on through the pandemic. however, thanks to social media groups like #taxtwitter and accounting firm influencers on facebook, i’ve had an idea of the misery, confusion, exhaustion, and sheer frustration of tax pros trying to maintain sanity in the face of complete insanity.
more liz farr: donny shimamoto: future firm growth requires a mindshift | jennifer wilson: empower young workers to build the firm everyone loves | mike whitmire: re-think your hiring and training practices | hector garcia: success strategies of a quickbooks youtube superstar | blake oliver: why tax work yearns to be free| private equity explodes in u.k. | brannon poe: the status quo must go | accounting nerds, unlock your super powers | disruptor: jason statts shakes up the status quo | think small to think big with matt wilkinson | when financial statements go extinct with corey schmidt | can geraldine carter save accountants from themselves? | re-inventing accounting with tyler anderson
exclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.
in 2020, adam markowitz, a razor-sharp ea and active member of the #taxtwitter community, coined the term marchternity, for the month of the 2020 tax season that never seemed to end. ultimately, thanks to the mad coding skills of chris hervochon, the marchternity bot was born, providing “daily updates on what day of marchternity it is because march 2020 will never end.”
unofficially, markowitz called marchternity over on oct. 18, 2022, after “961 painful days,” in a masterful tweet thread that lays out the days, weeks, months and years of ppp, ffcra, cares, arpa and the rest of the alphabet soup of quickly enacted but poorly executed pandemic measures. let’s not even mention the dumpster fire that the irs has been in. markowitz ended the thread by saluting the community that came together on #taxtwitter to support each other, share information and vent about the irs, challenging clients and life in general.
officially, in response to a poll on twitter, the marchternity bot was decommissioned on nov. 26, 2022, after 1001 days.
as i review the early results from the latest 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 survey, i’m struck by the comments from practitioners who felt despair and exhaustion from the tax season that seemed to go on and on and on. those comments echo what i see over on #taxtwitter, with posts about preparers being exhausted to the point of ghosting good clients and having a hair-trigger reflex to fire the pita clients at the drop of a hat.
.
in the face of chaos, grueling hours, and confused and demanding clients, what can accountants do to counter the next (and, yes, there will be a next one) marchternity?
i suggest the power of community.
as a freelance writer, i’ve worked out of my home, largely alone for nearly five years now. but i’m never isolated. i stumbled on #taxtwitter and the verasage & friends and the accounting influencers groups on facebook a few years ago. i’m also in a few groups for freelance writers. these free groups offer a low-commitment avenue for connecting with others and meeting tax pros around the country who are dealing with the same issues you are.
what can you find in these free groups?
- moral support and an outlet for frustration with the irs, difficult clients and the increasingly compressed filing season;
- advice for dealing with confounding tax situations and how to fire or disengage from less-than-ideal clients;
- suggestions for what tech to use, including the basic tech stack you need to go out on your own;
- ideas for running your firm, from pricing advice to time management strategies;
- career advice. i’ve seen multiple people describe conditions at their firms and receive incredible support when they decide to leave;
- on twitter, jason staats puts out a steady stream of hilarious videos on dealing with the irs and clueless prospects. tiktok queen lorilyn wilson riffs on the bad tax advice that runs rampant across the internet. in accounting influencers, jeffrey thompson serves up a regular stream of takes on the work of a tax pro.
my favorite part of these groups is the connections i’ve made. recently at digital cpa, i met some people whose names and faces i’ve seen online.
i also submit that being a member of cpatrendlines offers community, especially if you make an effort to comment and discuss articles.
if you crave more, and are willing to invest, there are also paid communities and mastermind groups. ryan lazanis, jason staats, and jackie myer, among many others, all lead groups. the financial commitment plus the group accountability make these best for those willing to invest time and resources into creating the firm of your dreams.
community won’t make the next marchternity go away, but it will make it less painful. there’s no need to suffer alone.