whether marchternity continues depends entirely upon you.
more on marchternity:
the solution is community, by liz farr
by seth fineberg
at large
after nearly three years of what many tax pros consider one of the longest tax seasons on record –- a.k.a. ‘marchternity’ –- one would think this season would be different.
more fineberg: what bogs down accountants | your classic business model won’t allow growth
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to be sure, plenty of tax practitioners in late 2022 did indeed call the end of marchternity and look forward to some sense of normalcy, as much of what caused the extended tax season in the first place appears to have subsided. so, do tax pros expect this season to be different?
i still do a fair bit of social listening and regular conversing within the profession, and even decided to do a bit of polling. granted, social media polls are far from any kind of a bellwether, but combined with live conversations on instant chats, i’ve gleaned some insight into how tax pros view the upcoming busy season.
while somewhat disappointed and not entirely surprised, most tax pros really don’t expect to see anything different this tax season.
granted, a few i heard from are looking for marchternity to continue, but most don’t see a huge amount of change in their tax business in 2023. it was, however, encouraging that some said they are expecting to work a bit more efficiently this year. what was even more encouraging was seeing a nearly even amount saying they’ll likely work fewer hours this year.
let’s be honest, most small firm tax pros let busy season and all of its charms happen to them. it happens by making ore than just incremental changes in your workflow, delegating, or simply saying “no” to working long weekend hours or on the weekend at all. it happens when we don’t plan for capacity or use available technologies to take some work off our plates. so, to the pros who have actively decided to do less this season, cheers to you.
aside from the hours we put in year in and year out, sadly, the biggest problems plaguing tax professionals are problem clients. to this end, a few indicated they’d have less of those. why is it so hard?
look, i get it. you don’t want to turn down business. maybe you’re just financially recovering from the past few years when it was difficult to take on anything new. but allowing problem clients to continue to eat your time and bog down your staff is not helping anyone.
take a first step. politely refer some of your problem clients to others, even if it’s just a few. easier said than done, i know, but you owe it to yourself to rid your business of future headaches and time-suck by letting even a few go.
my point is that busy season will always be in control until you take control back. it doesn’t mean changing everything you do, but some aspect of your tax practice needs to be different if you don’t want more marchternity. i’m only speaking from a place of seeing so many of you wanting to leave accounting altogether over the sheer unhappiness of tax season.
go forth. do better. say “no” to something in your professional life, and have a better 2023 this season.
3 responses to “marchternity: just say ‘no’”
john iacopi
slow pay clients and those that have messes and “last minute” clients are to be ditched….but get paid first. j
frank stitely
the economics of the once per year personal tax clients have changed. they are no longer profitable as new tax laws and rebates have caused them to need help after tax season that most won’t pay for.
liz farr
the constant advice i give to my local accounting friends is to fire the worst clients and raise prices on the rest. you can’t provide white-glove service when you’re overworked and underpaid.