38 search results for stitely

3 rules for asking great tax-return questions

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preserve your sanity, amaze your clients.question marks

by frank stitely

asking clients great questions is central to ruthlessly efficient workflow management (r.e.w.).

more: there are no easy answers  |  the 3 biggest tech failures of accounting firms  |  debunking the demise of the cpa firm  | how to thrive as a 21st-century firm   |  7 steps to effective project management  | how many tax preparers do you need?   |  wip-ing clients into shape

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great client questions can save hundreds of hours of time during tax season and prevent projects from falling behind schedule. here’s an example of questions done badly.

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where workflow management runs off the rails

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deruthlessly efficient workflow management and the tragic tale of tammy tardy.

by frank stitely, cpa, cva
clarity practice management

tammy tardy was an average tax preparer who owned a typical tax preparation firm. every tax season tammy met with a hundred or so tax clients much like many of us. tammy managed her workload using the piles of files method. after a client meeting, she put the file aside, knowing she would get to it shortly.

“ruthlessly efficient workflow management offers the chance to wring another ten years of profitability out of the 1040 market.”

of course, twenty meetings later, she had no idea what she should work on next. so she just picked up a file from her office floor and began. she felt that it didn’t matter which returns you work on when you are overworked and in a hurry. there’s a fixed amount of work to get done by april 15th, and you just jump in and do it.

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readers sound off: lowballing isn’t worth it

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bullhornwhat do you value most?

in  “lowballing and why it (usually) doesn’t work,” ed mendlowitz ignited a conversation about getting paid what you’re worth.

it started when two cpas with successful firms told ed about clients balking at paying their bills.

frank stitely took issue with one of the questioners, who had set a $30,000 price, done what he called $44,000 of work and then tried to send an additional bill for half the difference.

“lowballing a proposal and then asking for a higher amount after the work is done screams out to a client that you aren’t a very good business person. if you missed an estimate by a significant amount, it’s on you, not the client,” he said. this can be avoided, he noted: “wildly missing estimates is what happens to people with no time records upon which to base an estimate.”

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readers sound off: value pricing vs. hourly billing

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bullhorn
reader sound-off

the gloves come off.

in his recent q&a column, 8 times when hourly billing trumps value pricing, ed mendlowitz addressed a question about moving completely away from time-based billing but noted that as much as he liked and suggested value pricing, he did not believe it could be used in every situation.

our readers’ opinions were both strong and divided. read more →

the pros and cons of hiring entry-level staff

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ed mendlowitz
ed mendlowitz

in “why i don’t hire on experience,” ed mendlowitz explained why he advocates for hiring entry-level staff – and the rare exceptions when he believes hiring experienced staff makes sense.

some readers agreed. some didn’t.

frank stitely said the total cost of employment must be considered. “a lot of ‘experienced’ people need to be retrained almost from scratch. you are paying for experience that may not be valuable,” he said. read more →

true cost of moving to the cloud

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debate erupts at 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 linkedin group.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

one of our regular contributors, hitendra r. patil, coo of pransform inc. in chicago, pointed out an article in a 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 linkedin group post. he noted that katrina geety had posted “i was skeptical about a move to the cloud. what it cost our firm.” on the workflow exchange.

卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 group at linkedin
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she noted that a server crash hadn’t meant any loss of data, since that was backed up, but a new one, related upgrades, downtime and testing meant an unproductive week. “had i hosted my applications instead, i would have paid $219 per month, a total of $3,723 for 17 months, instead of investing well over $30,000.” read more →

three ways your office tech is ruining your firm

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tech monster istock_000024458374smallwhy you can’t afford to wait for the next big thing.

by frank stitely, cpa, cva

technology pundits love to pontificate in absolutes. “you have an absolute duty to protect your clients’ data.”

so they advise taking a pass on new technology, such as mobile devices and the cloud, as being too risky. their recommendation is to wait until tech security stabilizes, which is the same as their recommendation last year, which was the same as their…  you get the picture.

faced with new technology, as cpas, we must fear it. or so we are told. but the pundits misunderstand the risk of the status quo.  read more →

when value pricing works

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what econ 101 and inelastic demand curves teach us about billing rates.

rubber band istock_000009459899smallby frank stitely, cpa, cva

before we turn our hymnal to page 10 and sing that old favorite “we’re not selling time. we’re selling knowledge,” let’s consider if clients are buying what we’re selling.

when you go to the grocery store, do you ask, “i’d like to buy the cow milking knowledge of a farmer?” of course not. you ask for a gallon of milk. customers buy outcomes, not inputs. read more →

the 4 dark clouds hovering over cloud accounting software

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and the two professional remedies you already know.

by frank stitely, cpa
stitely & karstetter pllc

cloud accounting software revolutionizes our relationships with our clients, enhancing our ability to provide real-time and forward-looking tax and accounting services. at the recently concluded sleeter conference in las vegas, cloud vendors promised zero data entry, the editing of transactions in spreadsheet format and seamless integration with best of breed third-party applications.

they didn’t mention, however, that their programmers redefine accounting principles by sacrificing sound internal control at the ease of use altar. before launching your clients into the accounting cloud, evaluate the risks currently ignored by many, if not most, cloud vendors. read more →