Transforming Client Accounting Blog

Here we are again. It’s November, and you are coming to the realization that another tax season is just around the corner. Doesn’t it feel like the 2009 tax season just ended?

Do you remember thinking in the spring that, “Next tax season, my firm isn’t going to …” or “Before next tax season, we better …” Many of those ideas often revolved around investments, such as technology, that would help you, your staff, and your firm to be more efficient, effective, and forward thinking during the 2010 tax season. Anything! As long as it would make the tax season, well…less taxing.

With less than three months until the full-blown tax season gets underway, what can you do at your firm to increase efficiency while continuing to offer the exceptional service your clients have come to expect? Below are some best practices, as well as reference links to tools and resources you still have time to invest in.

Best Practices

• Process Review and Improvement: Streamlining workflow is an ever-neglected to-do item for many CPA firms, especially as client demands and regulations increase. It may prove valuable to have someone internally or externally document your existing business process and identify tasks that can be eliminated or done more effectively. Preparing a graphical workflow of the steps your team takes to complete the process may enlighten you.
  
  Edward V. Jennings, CEO of Copanion, Inc., a tax document automation software company in Andover, Mass. and an AICPA Trusted Business Advisor partner, commented that firms that have moved to a paperless tax workflow, the efficiency gains have been phenomenal—some report time savings of up to 45 minutes per return. With the time saved, tax professionals are focusing on higher value activities and delivering better customer service to differentiate and grow their practices. Achieving results such as these is possible, and it's easier than many think.
  
  

• Create a Single Location for Digital File Storage:  Whether you are using a Windows® file folder structure, or a more sophisticated professional document management system, the goal is to keep digital files organized and easy to find for all your staff. Not only does it save time, it increases efficiency among staff members who need to search for client content throughout the tax season and workflow process. It also reduces the loss of a potential “roving” paper file.
  
  

• Invest in Technology/Hardware: Investing in a high-speed scanner and dual monitors may seem trivial, but think about how often you wished you had electronic files to work from versus paper files. And, remember the last time you had to keep switching back and forth from Excel™ file to Excel file to get the information you needed?  
  
   
• Implementing Worflow Tools—Now is the time to add workflow tools, such as a tax document automation tool and/or a workflow management tool, to help you be more efficient during the looming tax season.
  
  

Additional Resources

There are many resources to research if you’re considering taking the next step toward automating your tax workflow, including process efficiencies, paperless solutions, and technology investments.

• Cloud-Based Tax Workflow Solutions:
  • AICPA Trusted Business Advisor ™ Solutions
    • Copanion GruntWorx – Tax Document Automation Tools
    • XCM Firm-Wide Workflow Solutions
• Books:
  • Managing your Tax Season—an AICPA publication and new edition—This book will give you fresh insight into tax preparation—and very likely result in significant improvements to your current system. You will learn to analyze your existing tax season system and target problems so that work will be more efficient, errors will decrease, and personnel.
    
    
• Articles:
  • Five Tips for Smooth Tax Workflow Management
  • Will You Be Ready for the Next Boom
  • Tax Season is Only a Few Months Away
  • Workflow Automation on the Rise
    
    
• Free White Papers
  • A Tale of Two Firms: Indentifying the Rules of Rolling Out a Successful Paperless Tax Workflow
  • Building Your Bullet-Proof Plan for Paperless Practices
  • 10 Questions to Ask When Considering Tax Document Automation
  • Automating the Tax Process for Maximum Efficiency – Taking a Phased Approach
    
    
• Free CPA Firm Case Studies
  • The Evolution of a Paperless Tax Workflow—Importing Data from Scanned Tax Documents, Marcum LLP
  • Automating Workflow for Firm-wide Productivity, Sandersen Knox & Company, LLP
  • Taking Paperless One Step at a Time to Achieve Maximum Process Efficiency, J.R. Helms & Associates
  • Fuoco: Sharing “Better Practices” for Sustained Growth

As you contemplate the upcoming tax season, consider what you could accomplish if certain tasks were automated, files were structured electronically, client documents were easily accessible by your staff, and so much more. How much would all of that be worth to you?

There is still time to research and evaluate products. Share your thoughts and experiences here.