accountants forecast a dreary, difficult 12-18 months ahead. with the exception of the promise held in leveling up tech stacks and seizing on automation.
your best advice for small businesses? taylor: “understand your financials, know your kpis, and you’ll inevitably thrive in any recession. do not hire employees unless you have a clear plan for how hiring will benefit you.” stocker:“monitor results. hang in there! this too shall pass.”
by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research
cpas and tax practitioners tend to know what’s happening in business. more than any other professionals, they have their fingers on the pulse of companies large and small. they understand numbers, they listen to their clients and they have the wherewithal to see where micro- and macroeconomies are headed.
when the 20223 cpatrendlines busy season barometer survey asks cpas and tax practitioners about the business and economic outlook from their view in the trenches of american business, the responses show a curious contradiction.
generally speaking, the earliest respondents are confident at the micro level – their own firms and families – but less so for their clients. they are notably concerned about the macro level – the national economy and the outlook for small businesses in general.
it probably won’t surprise the average tax practitioner to learn that in the american customer satisfaction index of federal agencies, the internal revenue service ranks dead last.
when the 2023 cpatrendlines busy season barometer asked practitioners what advice they’d give small businesses, most of the responses boiled down to two essential messages:
the 2023 cpatrendlines busy season barometer generally looks for the status of firms as they dig into this year’s tax filings. practitioners tell us how things are going, how well they’re doing, what their main concerns are and what they see happening in local and national economies.
at the end of the survey, we ask what else we should know about their firms. this year, we’re receiving hints of firms in transition – slowing down, branching out, shifting gears, moving on, revamping business models and generally looking for a better business life. read more →
let’s say the odds of prosecution are low … lower still for business entities.
by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research
accountants are often the first to notice white-collar crime. they’re also the ones with access to the evidence. contrary to the cliché, numbers can lie, though not forever. when there’s something fishy in the figures, it’s an accountant who first notices.
accountants have a unique view of economies – local, national and micro. more than anyone else, they scrutinize numbers, the real numbers, the numbers that real companies and real families report. they see what’s really happening in black and white … and red.
every year, national taxpayer advocate erin m. collins submits to congress a report on the 10 most serious problems taxpayers face in dealing with the internal revenue service.
this year, reporting on the frustrations of 2022, the nta had no shortage of bad news, but collins did note a glimmer of hope. “we have begun to see light at the end of the tunnel,” she wrote. “i am just not sure how much further we need to travel before we see sunlight.” read more →
over 46 percent of respondents expect a five to ten percent expansion of clientele, and another 13 percent say theirs will swell by more than ten percent.
in van nuys, calif., steve glick came up with a new concern: “now the software companies—turbotax, intuit, etc.—are competing against their customers by preparing tax returns.”
gretl siler, at succentrix business advisors, in panama city, fla., has the problem everyone wishes they had, plus the one everyone wishes they didn’t. she says, “note that i am not having any problem with increasing prices or with competitors. the problem is too many new clients and staffing… plus the irs is still terrible.”
to be sure, there’s bob langworthy, the founder of southern maine’s management accounting. he couldn’t name a single concern. “none!” he says. “we served 1,000 clients last year and already have more than 200 committed new clients this season.”
for 2023, the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season barometer expanded the list of possible concerns, 24 in all, plus an “other” option. it’s our longest list ever, and accountants checked off each and every possible worry.
outlook 2023: two-thirds of tax professionals forecast a better busy season this year, including 14 percent who hope for a “much better” year. (via 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research)
join the 5-minute survey. get the best ideas from thousands of working professionals. start here.
by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research
on the front lines: mcguiness (left) admits, “it’s just a guess…” rhoden worries about “so many unknowns…”
are we in for a good busy season?
so far, so good, say more than half the early birds who have responded to the 2023 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season barometer survey.
yes, it’s only beginning. any clients already delivering their income docs in early january are the type who are organized and easy to process. and so far, new apps haven’t been stressed, the irs has changed any rules, partners and staff are still fresh from the holidays, and as long as you aren’t working in california, the south, the northern plains, buffalo, or upper new england, the weather’s been nice. right now, it’s about as good as it’s going to get.
better than last year
results from the first wave of polling show 55 percent of accountants think this year will be “somewhat better” than last year. on top of that, an optimistic 12 percent tell us their season will be “much better.”
with 18 percent figuring 2023 will be about the same as last year, less than 15 fear things will be somewhat or much worse.
were the predictions for 2023 to come to fruition, it would mark a dramatic turn-around from 2022. the final 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 tally for the 2022 busy season, measured after the last returns were filed in october, shows more than half reporting a worse year than in 2021, including 23% reporting “much worse.”
going into last year’s busy season, most accountants were already expecting an even worse year than 2020, with 40 percent bracing for “somewhat worse” and 11 percent girding for “much worse.” the final 2022 readings, however, show a much better performance than they feared. almost a complete reversal.
final 2022 results: mostly negative.
some of the optimism may be only relative to the troubles of the past couple of years. it’s hard—but not impossible—to imagine things getting worse.
paula rhoden is unsure, maybe a bit worried, but senses that the season might be much like last year. “so many unknowns for this tax season,” she tells us. “too difficult to plan.”
jaclyn j. mcguinness, offering a host of accounting services in the dallas area, admits, “it’s just a guess at this point.”
others, however, are seeing enough clues to predict improvement.
evidence of what’s to come
here’s some of the evidence:
• “we have more clients because cpas in the area are either retiring or not taking on new clients because of staffing/capacity restraints.”
• “last year was dreadful from a state perspective with new law changes, 7203 and k-2/3 issues, along with pte issues.”
• “we’ve added a handful of returns, and raised prices, so we’re optimistic that there will be limited extensions.”
• “i think this year should be smoother without the child care credits & ppp & erc.”
chief concerns
this year’s chief concerns are clients late or unprepared, reported by 55 percent, a number that swells by another 28 percent if you include late or erroneous k1s, 1099, etc.
as always, irs operations are predictably problematic, a justifiable fear for 51 percent.
that perpetual problem, staffing issues, is nearly as worrisome, hitting a new high of 47 percent.
despite these concerns, which at this point are more imaginary than real, 59 percent say they expect some increase or a significant increase in their pool of clients.
to the extent that total revenue can be predicted, a heady 76 percent see more revenues coming their way, though only 64 percent think it will result in higher net profits.
practitioners are divided on the economic outlook for 2023. while 63 percent see the national economy sliding downhill, only 14 percent believe happy days are here again. twenty-eight percent feel anxious for their clients, though under 12 percent feel the same for their own businesses.
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