survey

getting new clients and leveraging technology top list of accountants’ plans

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top 5

survey shows new sense of confidence – and urgency.

get more updates: join the survey; get the results.

by rick telberg
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

tax and accounting professionals are hoping to make 2014 the year of working smarter, instead of harder, according to a new 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 survey.

in general, the goals and objectives as described by more than 200 accountants suggest a new surge of confidence in their business and in their clients’ businesses, and a new sense of urgency in upgrading their practices or moving on.

the survey is part of a 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 project, now in its eighth year, tracking the shifts in strategy and objectives in the profession. it measures sentiment on 21 or more strategies and tactics, and goals and ambitions across firms of all sizes nationwide. read more →

marketing wars to escalate in 2014

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the bigger they are, the harder they’ll fight for new business.

by rick telberg
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

if you thought it’s been tough in 2013 to find and keep new clients, you won’t like 2014 any better. firms of all sizes are planning to escalate their sales and marketing programs in the coming year, according to an exclusive new 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 survey.

join the survey; get the results.

the number of tax and accounting firms battling hard for new business will rise to about 73% in 2014, up from 65% in 2013, according to the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 survey of more than 670 practitioners nationwide. read more →

survey report: busy season 2014 outlook

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click to enlarge
click to enlarge

executive summary

by rick telberg
cpa trendlines

most tax practitioners across the nation are preparing for the 2014 busy season with the hoping it can’t possibly be as bad as last year’s “worst tax season ever,” according to exclusive 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 polling.

about 61% of accountants today expect at least a “somewhat” or even “much” better season this year, according to the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season barometer, a tracking poll now approaching its 11th year. some 26% expect no change from last year, and 13% are bracing for “somewhat worse” or “much worse.”

in the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 special report, responses and comments from more than 400 practitioners surveyed have been tabulated and analyzed. key findings:

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pro member download
  • economic outlook for firms, clients, owners, and the nation in general.
  • practitioners’ forecasts for the upcoming season, compared with the forecasts from the same time a year ago and with 2013 actuals.
  • factors contributing to positive outlooks and factors contributing to negative outlooks.
  • top 10 challenges and concerns to prepare for and examples of how some practitioners are doing so
  • projections for key busy season metrics, including revenue, profit, client counts, extensions, revenue per client, and profit per client; compared with 2013 actuals and year-ago forecasts
  • the four key strategies shared by most practitioners with positive outlooks
  • the four important lessons learned from last year’s “worst tax season ever.”
  • verbatim comments from hundreds of practitioners.

more

read more →

why are accountants pulling back on marketing?

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screen shot 2013-11-15 at 4.26.06 am
source: 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

join the survey, get the results.

by rick telberg
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

it’s too early to draw a final conclusion, but the early returns from the annual 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 marketing and business development survey are startling and may represent a dramatic trend reversal.

after three years of intensifying marketing activity — with 33% of firms last year saying they were increasing their business development efforts “significantly” — today only 19% of accountants tell us they are planning to “significantly” expand their programs. read more →

accounting industry extends two-year growth trend

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but cpas lag behind non-cpas.

get the accountants’ business outlook: join the survey; see the results.

by rick telberg
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

screen shot 2013-08-06 at 7.34.21 pmthe tax and accounting industry is extending a two-year expansion by adding 2,500 new jobs in the latest month, according to 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research.

in this report:

  • employment trends for the public accounting, bookkeeping, tax and payroll sector of the economy.
  • licensed cpa firms are lagging in growth behind non-cpa accounting providers.
  • employees book more hours.
  • but wage growth gets cut back.
  • more jobs and better pay for higher-paid positions and for men; fewer new jobs and smaller pay increases for women and production workers.
  • cpa firms add to headcounts more slowly than non-cpa firms, grant lower pay increases, and hire back fewer women.

read more →

how to turn client surveys into new revenues

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download the sample client satisfaction survey.

by ed mendlowitz

question: is there any value to sending clients a survey?

response: yes.  our firm sends a survey with every deliverable to a client.  we want to know what they think and how they feel about our service.

i think your best friends are the clients that complain.  this gives you an opportunity to correct any deficiencies or exceptions.

one time a long time very good client put on the survey that we were great but our fees were high.  i immediately met with him, reviewed our charges, had the time runs and details of everything extra we had been doing beyond the scope of our engagement, and the value to the client.  in the following year he recommended two clients to us!  i don’t believe we would have gotten the referrals had he not complained.

here is a sample of a survey we’ve used: read more →

tax season survey data on top issues

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seven hot topics that “pushed a button.”

bob jennings
bob jenning

tax guru bob jennings (cpa, ea, cfp, and rtrp) has been polling past attendees of his cpe seminars about tax season 2013.

clearly, tax professionals are still seething. “we sent our survey out and it must have pushed a button because the responses overwhelmed our servers,” says jennings, taxspeaker.com.

the results may not surprise you. but they are sobering nevertheless.

he offers new data on

  1. workloads,
  2. profits,
  3. software,
  4. volume of returns handled,
  5. exit strategies, and
  6. the use of engagement letters and
  7. portals.

here are the highlights so far: read more →

busy season survey shows four key findings

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updated with responses from may 2013.

the latest update to the topline results for the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season barometer shows additional confirmation of four key findings, beginning with the across-the-board problems of a late-starting season and buggy software.

how did your season compare? we’d love to hear. send your comments, rants raves, ideas, or questions to me here. – rick telberg

key finding #1: most practitioners, across all size firms, report a tougher 2013 than 2012. (see chart below for comparisons by size of firm.) read more →

soloist and small firms taking it on the chin this tax season

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the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season barometer
click to join the survey; see the results

how many will survive? join the survey; get the updates.

by rick telberg
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

if you’re having one of the toughest tax seasons in years, you’re not alone. in fact, you’re one in an unusually large crowd.

unless trends reverse in the last four weeks of tax season 2013, many practitioners – mainly those practicing solo or in small firms – should be bracing for significant declines in revenues and profits from last year.

tax season trending:
better or worse than last year?

some 64% of solo practitioners are reporting “worse” trends than last year, with half of them terming it “much” worse. about 16% are enjoying “better” trends overall.

to be sure, small firms may be feeling more than their fair share of pain. but many larger firms are hurting too. among the largest firms surveyed, 30% are experiencing positive trends, with 50% reporting negative trends.

more busy season trends:

practitioners across the nation are reporting severe issues. for one practitioner in monroe, la., the season has been running “slow as molasses!”

for some, tax season 2013 may be the last straw. “between the delays caused by the fiscal cliff, software delays and angry clients, it may be time for retirement,” says one veteran of 35 tax seasons and a partner in an 11-partner firm.

“all the irs delays have put my clients in slow motion mode!,” says liz hegarty, an austin, texas, soloist. “my in-flow is down 25% but all that means is a really compacted ‘extension’ craze in april!   and i already have a crazy extension ‘season’ due to late k-1s.”

the latest analysis of survey data sheds light on key financial metrics, including trends in:

  • revenues
  • profits
  • number of clients
  • number on extension
  • revenue per client, and
  • profit per client

read more →

tax pro’s slammed with sloppy software and federal sequestration

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will this be remembered as another “tax season from hell?”
join the survey; get the updates.

busy season barometer

by rick telberg
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

the last time tax professionals slogged through a tax season from hell, it was 2008, the financial world was crashing into a million little pieces, and 1 in 4 accountants was reporting disastrous operations.

before that, long-timers might recall 1995, when the irs deployed a filing fraud crackdown that delayed millions of refunds.

more tax season research: tax pro’s turn negative on busy season | busy season outlook 2013 | top tax season trends, issues and opportunities

this year, with the irs opening the filing gates not until march 4, could 2013 become another one for the record books?

in the latest update to the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season barometer, topline findings include:

  • the number of practitioners reporting a worse season this year, as compared to last year at the same time, is surging month to month.
  • the top 15 issues causing concern, led by irs operations and software and technology problems
  • verbatim reports from practitioners around the nation, including one who is seeing a 20% fee decline in his practice.
  • how practitioners are responding to clients’ lack of understanding, including resorting to discounts.

survey results: busy season outlook 2013

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what accountants talk about when they talk about busy season 2013

mergers, tech and the economy create a volatile mix in forecasting filing season.

by rick telberg
join the survey; get the updates.

washington gridlock, last-minute tax changes and continuing economic uncertainty are undermining tax professionals’ outlook for the 2013 filing season, according to new 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 survey results.

the new survey results shed light on:

  1. the changing mood of the profession and it’s leading competitors and decision-makers,
  2. the effects of mergers and new technologies,
  3. the chief operational, competitive and economic concerns,
  4. expectations for key financial metrics, including revenues, profits and number of clients, and
  5. the strategies firms are implementing to cope with the issues and opportunities.

despite political gridlock and economic uncertainty, practitioners are trending increasingly confident about how well their firms will perform this season. most are looking at advances in total revenue, net profit, number of clients, number on extension, revenue per client, and profit per client.

for example: read more →

survey results: accountants’ new year’s resolutions — 2013 edition

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‘tis the season for new promises and plans. 

we’ve been asking finance and accounting accounting professionals about what 2013 may hold, and you’ve been answering. to get all the details, click here to join the survey and get the results.

meanwhile, here are a few sample new year’s resolutions from colleagues and peers. some may sound all too familiar from resolutions made in 2012. personally, i’m still working on the lose-15-pounds resolution from 2012, and, er, 2011, 2010, 2009… oh well.

— rick telberg
president / ceo 

new year’s resolutions from finance and accounting professionals:

  • new seo plan for getting higher ranking on google.
  • working with tax resolution professional and preparing returns for them at a split fee.
  • work more on marketing
  • downgrade expectations.
  • get more audits of private companies.
  • work, work and work, because of so much competition and unemployment, the best bet is to keep busy by working and get the maximum out of colleagues/sub ordinates. i will not be carried away with number 13, this is my lucky number so i will capitalize on this number. read more →