busy season barometer

irs vs. fraudsters

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the endless war is not going well.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

the fraudsters of the world continue to see the u.s. treasury as a bountiful chest of riches just waiting to be plundered.

it doesn’t take much. a taxpayer’s name, a social security number, a bank account number, maybe an email address, a phone number and a little luck.

more: imagine! the national tax advocate does | art werner: maximizing fringe benefits | is the irs mismeasuring phone service? | irs makes big progress but … | business booming, but not as much as last year | busy season barometer offers clues for better business | tax practitioners say happy days are here … again | the irs is coming! get your clients into compliance | end tax season meetings with clients … seriously | brandon hall: firms try to make too much on tax prep | eight steps to getting started with ai: a guide for tax professionals | ftc nails turbotax for ‘free filing’ scam | if only the irs’s tax pro were useful | tax pros file 33% of early returns | can’t irs online accounts be more useful?
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

the irs is used to this. it knows what to do about it.

it just doesn’t do it very well.
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imagine! the national tax advocate does

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(you may say she’s a dreamer, but she’s not the only one.)

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

one word keeps popping up in national tax advocate erin m. collins’s introduction to her annual objectives report to congress.

the word is “imagine,” and collins’s dream depicts an irs that is a only bit more feasible than john lennon’s dream of a world with no countries or religion.

more: art werner: maximizing fringe benefits | is the irs mismeasuring phone service? | irs makes big progress but … | business booming, but not as much as last year | busy season barometer offers clues for better business | tax practitioners say happy days are here … again | the irs is coming! get your clients into compliance | end tax season meetings with clients … seriously | brandon hall: firms try to make too much on tax prep | eight steps to getting started with ai: a guide for tax professionals | ftc nails turbotax for ‘free filing’ scam
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

but you can still sing along …

“imagine a taxpayer or a representative receiving a text message

… or email referring the taxpayer to their online account,
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is the irs mismeasuring phone service?

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unhappy man waiting on phone in office

bad metrics are hiding problems.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

if there’s one nice thing about phoning the irs, it’s the opportunity to take a nap.

taxpayer naps were a little shorter this year, especially for those calling 35 of the 102 toll-free lines, known as enterprise lines, that taxpayers can call for assistance. those 35 lines are for accounts management (am) issues.

more: is tech causing both cpa shortage and low salaries? | audit firms nervous about new tech | what accountants can learn from t-ball | staffing tops list of woes at cpa firms | to replenish the talent pipeline, go back to the classroom | beware the work-life/workload doom spiral | why the dry pipeline? it’s about time | business model transformation: do it or die | misperceptions, corrections, accountancy and lemonade
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

thanks to a mandate from the secretary of the treasury, the irs hired 7,000 customer service representatives to handle the am lines.
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bissett bullet: complacency breeds failure

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today’s bissett bullet: low client attrition rates are not necessarily a barometer of great service.

by martin bissett

never allow your retention rate to lull you into a false sense of security. in truth, no one changes their accountants unless they need to, and very few feel that need because they are not often educated very well by competing firms as to the compelling reasons for change.

however, your clients are perpetually at risk from the advances of your proactive competitors, so minimize the liability with exceptional service. deliver more of whatever it is that they value the most about you rather than what you think your firm does well.

today’s to-do

ask the next 3 clients you speak to what it is they value the most about the service you offer. find out what exceptional service means to them. it may not be what you expect.

see more bissett bullets here

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accountants’ advice: be careful, quick, creative … and lean

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businessman giving advice to female coworker

survey respondents look beyond tax season.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

just about every small business has an accountant, and smart business owners tap their accountant not just for tax prep but for general business advice.

and smart accountants offer smart advice. because what’s good for the client is good for the accountant.

more: seven steps to a stronger future | accountants bullish locally, bearish nationally | firms culling clients as staffing woes persist | are accountants charging too little? | revenue growth is top priority for small firms | is the cpa business model the clog in the pipeline? | accountants cozy up to clients with cas
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 2024 busy season barometer has harvested quite a bit of smart advice with an open-ended question about the best advice for small businesses.

responses bounced all over the business ballpark, but a lot of them warned of change and economic turbulence.
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accountants bullish locally, bearish nationally

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one-quarter of accountants see trouble ahead for the source of their bread and butter.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

the trendlines 2024 busy season barometer is unearthing a perplexing paradox.

it seems that most cpas think their firm and their clients will do better this year – or at least no worse than last year, which itself was a pretty good year.

more: top performers lead in leverage, culling, outsourcing | auditing standards ‘yellow book’ updated | compensation’s up, but up enough to retain staff? | cpas needed to help small biz adopt ai | survey shows that tech remains the great divide | will unclogging the accounting pro pipeline kill mobility? | accountants bullish on income | survey: which niche’s the best niche?
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

at the same time, they tend to see things getting worse for the national economy and small businesses in general.

what’s going on?
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top performers lead in leverage, culling, outsourcing

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two hands on keyboard, two hands doing other work with calculator

the causative difference? look at the amount of work delegated downward.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

the aicpa’s 2023 national management of an accounting practice (map) survey has detected some of what distinguishes firms that stand out as top performers.

the survey defines top performers as the top 25 percent of firms based on net remaining per partner.

more: business booming, but not as much as last year | busy season barometer offers clues for better business | end tax season meetings with clients … seriously | ftc nails turbotax for ‘free filing’ scam | can’t irs online accounts be more useful? | taxpayer assistance centers: a good idea that should be better | tax pros are expanding and earning more
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

more, more, more

what makes a cpa firm a top performer? in a nutshell, more:

  • more leverage of partner expertise
  • more culling of clients
  • more cpas in the firm

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business booming, but not as much as last year

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how does your firm compare?

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

if the early results from the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 2024 busy season barometer: emerging issues, opportunities, and trends hold true through april, this will be a pretty good year for the vast majority of accountants and tax practitioners – not quite as good as last year, but still, pretty good.

more: busy season barometer offers clues for better business | tax practitioners say happy days are here … again | brandon hall: firms try to make too much on tax prep | if only the irs’s tax pro were useful | id theft a problem for irs even when it doesn’t exist | irs still falling short on service | eight ways the irs can speed up processing tax returns | treasury ig sees progress at irs | how tax practitioners became cybersecurity risks
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

despite difficulties finding staff and professionals, 45 percent of respondents say they have increased their client list by at least 5 percent. (last year, it was 65 percent.)

in fact, 14 percent have seen an increase of over 10 percent. good, but not as good as last year’s 22 percent.
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busy season barometer offers clues for better business

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workers in busy office

take a tip from a peer.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season barometer: emerging issues, opportunities, and trends is more than just a survey of the state of the industry at cpa firms across the nation. it also offers clues to what firms are doing to make the busy season better, easier and more profitable.

the clues are in the comments – open-ended answers where practitioners tell us what they’re doing, how they’re feeling and where they’re going.

more: tax practitioners say happy days are here … again | the irs is coming! get your clients into compliance | end tax season meetings with clients … seriously | brandon hall: firms try to make too much on tax prep | eight steps to getting started with ai: a guide for tax professionals | ftc nails turbotax for ‘free filing’ scam | if only the irs’s tax pro were useful | id theft a problem for irs even when it doesn’t exist
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

one of the best questions is “what are you doing differently this year?” each answer reflects an attempt to make the best of a stressful situation – the annual tax season.

here are a few quotes to think about, categorized by how well various respondents’ seasons are going this year. each is an idea that might make your year better.
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firms culling clients as staffing woes persist

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man in suit exiting office building

others tap outsourcing, training clerical staff as solutions.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

early results from the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 2024 busy season barometer: emerging issues, opportunities, and trends are showing a painfully persistent problem with staff shortages, though it seems the hardship may have improved a bit since last year.

more: revenue up at 59% of accounting firms … and more good news | compensation’s up, but up enough to retain staff? | are accountants charging too little? | chatgpt for the reluctant accountant | cpas needed to help small biz adopt ai | revenue growth is top priority for small firms | is the cpa business model the clog in the pipeline?
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

this year, like last year, survey respondents are reporting staffing as the second most common concern. last year, it was reported by 47 percent, almost tied with the main concern: late or unprepared clients.

this year, uncooperative clients still rank first, at 50 percent, but staffing concerns have dropped to 37 percent.
read more →

tax practitioners say happy days are here … again

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bar chart
seventy percent report as good or better year than last year.

 

for most, anyway.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

the first results of the 2024 busy season barometer: emerging issues, opportunities, and trends are in, and so far, halfway into the tax season, accountants and tax practitioners are reporting another pretty good year.

that’s two in a row!

more: the irs is coming! get your clients into compliance | end tax season meetings with clients … seriously | brandon hall: firms try to make too much on tax prep | eight steps to getting started with ai: a guide for tax professionals | the nightmare of non-credentialed tax preparers | tax pros are expanding and earning more
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

last year, 58 percent of survey respondents said their year was much better or somewhat better than 2022, which, as you may recall, had been a rather rotten year.

so when only 32 percent of this year’s contributors say this season is better than 2023, it doesn’t mean fewer are having a good year. it means almost a third are reporting a year better than a good year.
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five ways to separate accounting winners from losers

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two women looking at laptop screen

how many of these are you expert in?

by marc rosenberg
the rosenberg practice management library

if cpa firms did everything “right,” they could easily double or triple their income. doing things right includes effectively bringing in clients, charging high billing rates, maintaining strong realization, high leverage of staff to partners and keeping expenses down. it’s the rare firm that does well in all of these categories.

more: two factors determine firm profitability | don’t make firm profitability a goal | top 20 tough choices for the partner comp committee |tell potentials what partnership takes | disturb the present to improve the future
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

the path to profitability is different for every firm. but the truly profitable firms are successful at achieving one or more of the following:
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six keys to getting a proposal accepted

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stressed businessman, heads on hands

plus seven things not to do.

by martin bissett
 business development on a budget

what makes a written proposal become accepted by the potential client – every time?

more: six keys to turning prospects into clients | seven mistakes in winning new fees | how to develop your communication abilities | five questions for measuring partner potential | five ways to rally your firm to its culture | when would-be partners aren’t candidates | make your expertise a new-client magnet | don’t think of it as selling | experts: what it takes to become partner
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

proposal writing is a micro-science in its own right but here are the proven principles that it takes to get proposals accepted.
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