today's features
busy season management

picking up the phone helps retain tax clients

businessman talking on phone in the office

personal touches matter.

by ed mendlowitz
tax season opportunity guide

clients are not numbers on a list that needs to be reduced. they are all individuals and consider themselves very important people and want professionals who treat them accordingly.

more by ed mendlowitz
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it is attitudinal and accountants must adopt that mindset and transmit that through to their culture. so you need to know when it’s essential to pick up the phone.
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featured video

art werner: you can still help clients reduce tax burden | quick tax tip

look for silver linings in tough situations.

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quick tax tip
with art werner
cpe today

with tax season in full swing, many accountants are deep in the trenches, sorting through clients’ paperwork and preparing returns. while proactive tax planning is ideal, there are still opportunities to help clients optimize their tax situation—even in february and march.

tax expert art werner stresses that while year-end planning is crucial, tax professionals can still take strategic steps to ensure clients don’t overpay.

click here for more art werner

“sometimes, we have to make the best of bad situations,” werner explains. “if something unexpected happened to a client—whether it’s a financial loss, a major expense, or a shift in income—there may be ways to maneuver the tax code to lighten the load.”

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charts & graphs

tax refunds up 18% early on

data chart

most other tallies are down by around 7 percent.

by beth bellor

once again, refunds are up and everything else is down in the world of individual income tax returns.

more: first tax filing reports are in
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at the close of the second week of tax season, the irs had received 23.6 million returns, down 7.7 percent from the same week in 2024. it had processed 23.5 million returns, down 7.6 percent, which includes returns received in 2024 or 2025 and processed this year.
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client service opportunities

survey: which client industries will grow this year

business hand holding hot chart in crystal ball

respondents tell us what they’re watching. does it match what you’re seeing?

join the busy season barometer. get the results.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

it looks like 2025 is going to be a year of obstacles (a.k.a. opportunities), instability (change), potential (good and bad) and surprises (just wait) – not just for the accounting industry but for the industries of its clientele. and the biggest opportunities for accountants will be in their most successful clients.

more barometer: tax preparers share advice for your clients | staffing, tech, prices top tax pros’ concerns | tax pros gear up for a better busy season | tax season 2025 begins. ready or not.
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where will growth occur? the 2025 busy season barometer is asking, and 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 members are answering. here’s where they’re telling us to expect growth:
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busy season management

you don’t have time for every client question

businessman with eyes closed, head on hands

not this time of year.

by frank stitely
the relentless cpa

a well-known practice management expert, whom i greatly respect, advises cpas to never tell clients that you don’t have time for them. i disagree with the never part. you know how it starts. on march 25th, the call comes in.

“i know you’re busy but …”

more by frank stitely
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a request follows that could most certainly wait until after tax season. you are hip deep reviewing all the personal tax returns that got stuck in process while you climbed out of the march 15th corporate tax ditch.

“i need to know if i’m paying unemployment taxes to the right states. i think i should be paying taxes to the people’s republic of california, but i’m not. i’ve been paying unemployment taxes to uzbekistan instead.”
read more →

client accounting services

tina mcgill: how to create lasting client impact | the disruptors

meet your clients where they are.

this is a preview. the complete 1-hour video episode, with commentary and transcript, is first available exclusively to pro members | go pro here
sponsored by “holistic guide to wealth management,” by rory henry – see today’s special offer

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the disruptors
with liz farr

when tina mcgill, founder of mmas cpa, transitioned from working as an assistant cfo at a university to public accounting, she first noticed “how segmented we were from the client experience.” she was delivering the data the partners told her needed to be delivered, “but the client didn’t necessarily understand what i was delivering.” for seven years, in her conversations with clients, she followed the “checklist of what i’m supposed to give you.” while she felt good about achieving what she was supposed to do, she realized that she “wasn’t creating meaningful impact.” 

more podcasts and videos: stefan van duyvendijk: develop operational mindset | steve evans: why traditional hiring methods fail | roger knecht: can you be an accountrepreneur? | beth whitworth: focus on outcomes not hours | mike sylvester: learn to say no | salim omar: identify your client’s $100,000 problem | jackie meyer: earn more with fewer clients | jack fleherty: don’t be a ‘yes’ person | greg adams: from finance to storytelling | the disruptors | jody padar: make radical changes now if you want to be relevant in 2030 | rebecca driscoll: amplify reach by helping other firm owners | rory henry: create the return on relationships | mike maksymiw: be the leader you wish you had | terrell turner: build a solid business showing up as yourself | kelly mann: be the bull in the china shop | alicia katz pollock: create a human-centric business |  nancy mcclelland: be the one your clients ask first |alan whitman: stop accepting the status quo | sean duncan: discover your own genius | ingrid edstrom: true wealth is not financial |

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that insight inspired her to start her advisory journey to provide clients with the information they need for success. “what business owners are really looking for are actionable insights,” says mcgill. she points out that, as accountants, “there’s so much value that we can bring to the table with these numbers and analytics and data, but we’re not providing it in a way that’s efficient and effective for them to make decisions.”   read more →

pro member exclusive

why people struggle with communication

two things to demonstrate with existing clients.

by martin bissett
passport to partnership

ultimately, when we have to interact with clients, subordinates, superiors or peers, the questions are always the same: who do i need to deliver this information to and what approach would they respond most favorably to?

more by martin bissett
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in arriving at “communication” we come to the most intangible of all the components to obtain a “passport to partnership.”
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innovation & change management

grow leaders to transform accounting

letter blocks flip between the words "lead" and "learn"

create a culture where leadership can be learned and practiced.

by donny c. shimamoto

series note: this article is part of a series of articles inspired by “joy, inc.”, written by richard sheridan, cofounder and ceo of menlo innovations. while his book is about the software industry, there are many direct analogies applicable to the accounting profession. we must #transformaccounting and bring joy back into the work we do to sustainably address our profession’s people crisis.

when we talk about leadership in accounting, we often think about the partners in accounting firms, the controller or cfo of a finance department, or the chief audit executive of an internal audit department. we also talk about “young leaders” or “emerging leaders” when referring to those we think have “leadership potential” and could aspire to the positions described above.

more: transform accounting by fighting fear and embracing change | tear down towers of knowledge to transform accounting
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however, i have always held the belief that everyone in an organization can be a leader, and we need to equip people within our organizations to lead when an appropriate situation arises. part of empowering employees is enabling them to take action or make a decision, even when “the leader” isn’t present. the organization’s values, policies and culture should help employees make the right decisions – or know who to escalate an issue to make the decision. what we don’t want is total inaction.
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audit & assurance

put people without degrees on your audit team

four businesswoman having a meeting around a table

plus best practices for year-round and remote audits.

by alan anderson, cpa
transforming audit for the future

firms these days are throwing technology at audit and calling it innovation. but if you try to roll out too much at one time, that’s a disaster. your people won’t have any time to talk to the client and figure out what’s going on in the business if they’re too busy trying to figure out how all the pieces of technology all work together.

more by alan anderson
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a better approach is to prioritize the technology rollouts and cut those in half. focus on the two or three that are the most important. if you try to do too much, your implementation will fail. a partial implementation won’t get you anywhere. partial implementations tend to result in complicated workarounds, so the new tech not only doesn’t save time or effort, but it actually makes it harder to get the work done.
read more →

featured video

steve yoss: master excel integration and enhance productivity | quick tech talks

level up your skills with powerful lookup formulas.

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quick tech talk
with steve yoss
cpe today

for professionals wrestling with massive datasets, finding specific information in excel can feel like searching for a needle in a haystack. whether it’s a customer id, transaction number, or check number, pinpointing related details like totals, names, or dates can be daunting without the right tools. enter excel’s powerful lookup formulas.

more steve yoss
more tech
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among the trio of essential lookup functions—vlookup, index-match, and the modern xlookup—the latter emerges as the star. while vlookup and index-match have long been staples for data retrieval, xlookup combines their strengths with enhanced features, offering users a faster, more versatile solution.

read more →

outlook & analysis

maybe the pipeline problem is technology

bar chart
the percentage of accounting, finance and other business majors working in each occupation. the occupations chosen are the five most common for finance majors, according to the census. the sample period spans 2009 to 2021.

 

advances may have had an unintended effect.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

alarms have long been sounding over the dearth of new accounting professionals entering the field. the pipeline of talent running from colleges to entry-level jobs has been trickling just as it needs to gush.

more: what if the staffing shortage is just a myth? | staffing, tech, prices top tax pros’ concerns | five ways to fill the staffing gap | top 10 red flags to watch for in accounting offices | arc | deals 2024: over 100 cpa firm mergers and acquisitions | barry melancon: private equity and the partnership | gear up for growth | does your firm suffer cultural deficiencies? | audit fees continue to climb | cfos see ai as top risk and opportunity | does accounting belong in stem? | accounting arc | opportunity awaits incoming aicpa ceo
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since 2015, the number of graduates with accounting majors has been in steep decline. the number of incoming professionals is by no means keeping up with those who are retiring or switching professions. the vectors point toward an imminent crisis in available talent.
read more →

pro member exclusive

how wealthtech is reshaping the future of holistic advice 

portrait of david knoch
knoch
 david knoch has 20+ years of high-profile leadership in the financial advice industry. he joined docupace as ceo in april 2020 and has spearheaded the company’s strategic transformation – marked by double-digit revenue growth, product/capability expansion, multiple acquisitions and numerous industry accolades.

five key areas where firms can make inroads; three areas in which wealthtech has a disproportionate impact.

by david knoch and ryan george
the holistic guide to wealth management

leveraging the power of technology has never been more accessible, or more important, for wealth management firms. as client priorities and goals shift, old delivery models and outdated tools are no longer enough to keep up in the current market.

so how does a wealth management firm differentiate itself? they lean toward technology and embrace the right wealthtech solutions to deliver holistic advice.

 

portrait of ryan george
george
 ryan george is the chief marketing officer at docupace and a leader in both financial services and marketing communications. he is a member of the forbes communications council, an invitation-only, fee-based organization of senior-level communications and public relations executives and the cmo council.

more: seven tech keys to a holistic service model | profile of a modern firm: putting the vision into practice | toward a 21st-century cpa: a dynamic vision | what multiples mean to accounting firms | tsunami of m&a, pe is disrupting the accounting profession | how wealth management has evolved | introducing you to a fulfilling return on relationships
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read on as we break down the context, problems and solutions of wealthtech in the financial services space.

why wealthtech?

the last few years have brought a world of change to the financial advice and investment industry. between volatile markets, shifting client demands and an ever-growing technology landscape, the entire wealth management ecosystem is evolving.
read more →