330 search results for mendlowitz

consulting with a client who is also a friend

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question: i have a close friend who is also a client. he went through a rough time with his wife threatening a divorce and we spent a lot of time talking about it (out of office settings).  i sent him a bill and he returned it with a notation that “we spoke as friends and not as a professional consultation, and the bill should be cancelled.”  what should i do? read more →

when staffers don’t listen to you

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15-item checklist on effective staff management.

ed mendlowitz, cpa, abv, pfs
author of “implementing fee increases”

question: my staff doesn’t listen to me.  to be able to manage and control my business i need them to prepare a monthly schedule of what they plan on doing that month.  i further need to know each morning if they did what they were supposed to do the previous day, and whether there was anything not done, or anything extra that wasn’t planned on.  my problem is that they don’t give me the schedule and then don’t call or email me to tell me what they did. i really need to know this stuff and can’t figure out how to get them to do it.  what can you suggest? read more →

questions and answers on selling a practice to staff members

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by ed mendlowitz
author of “implementing fee increases“

i received two related questions, which i’ll answer together.

first question: i am nearing retirement and want to sell my practice to two longtime staff people, but they don’t get along, and i’m afraid to sell to them. what should i do?

second question: i have a large individual tax practice, but also have an audit practice that is handled by different staff in my firm. how do i sell this practice? none of the larger buyers want the tax clients and none of the smaller buyers want the audit clients. read more →

what to think about before you start thinking about merging your practice

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plus: key considerations in evaluating a practice continuation agreement

by ed mendlowitz

question: what i should do about merging? i need a specific answer.

answer: i can’t give you an easy answer. i can give you a process to follow that should provide an answer. actually, this works pretty well and i’ve gotten good feedback from many colleagues. i’ve also rethought it many times, and still think this is the way to go about it.

read more →

worst tax season ever? “it’s supposed to get better!”

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hoisted from comments.

in this article, ed mendlowitz takes issue with worst tax season ever and suggests five strategies for continuous improvement year after year.

barry melancon, ceo of the aicpa, and tom hood, ceo of the maryland society of cpas, both said that they heard this was the worst tax season ever.

i don’t know if it was or wasn’t.  for us it wasn’t that bad.  this raises a thought.  it’s supposed to get better – if not, then why do it, or why not make a serious effort to change what you are doing so it gets better?  i am reminded by a remark by jack nicholson in “as good as it gets.”  he said, “maybe this is as good as it gets!”  i don’t buy that.

here are five things that should be done to make tax season (and the rest of your practice or any business) better. read more →

12 good reasons for obtaining extensions

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those who know ed mendlowitz, author of the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 tax season opportunity guide, know that he doesn’t like extensions.  however, there are valid reasons for extensions.

ed grudgingly admits to 12:

  1. you did not receive k-1s or 1099s or other documents with information that you need to report.
  2. you did not receive letters confirming charitable contributions that are required to be in your possession by the due date of your tax return.
  3. there is pending litigation and reporting certain transactions might prejudice your position, or you are awaiting resolution that might cause or affect an adjustment or estimate made for last year. read more →

terrible service and failure of management

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this time, i have a question for you. but i’ll start with a story.

last sunday evening my wife and i went into a reasonably upscale restaurant and we had terrible service from everyone we interacted with.

when we were seated, the table wobbled and we asked if they could do something or move us to another table. ten minutes later someone showed up with a wad of napkins that made it worse. five minutes later they asked if we were okay, and put us at another table. ten minutes after that they took our order, but we asked for some drinks right away, which we only got after we complained to the manager. read more →