tax season

vcs plunk $60 million into ai-powered ‘autonomous’ tax prep

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black ore emerges from stealth with $60 million in funding to launch tax autopilot, an “autonomous” tax prep app for cpas and accounting firms.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research
via black ore

black ore.ai, an austin, texas-based ai platform for financial services, bolts out of the gate with $60 million in financing led by a16z and oak hc/ft. the company plans to use the funds to onboard new customers, grow its team and accelerate the development of additional ai products across financial services.

kapovski
shinar

black ore was founded by veteran entrepreneurs, ceo eyal shinar and cto pavel kapovski, who have proven track records building and operating global fintech brands with ai and machine learning technologies. shinar previously founded fundbox, a $1 billion fintech unicorn powering payments and lending solutions for smbs. kapovski previously led r&d at cme group and spearheaded the development of machine-learning technology used by globally regulated banks and financial institutions. they are joined by a powerful team from leading companies such as adobe, baker tilly, cisco, ey, google, goldman sachs, grant thornton, nasa, pwc and ramp.

black ore offers an ai and automation platform that accelerates core workflows for financial services businesses and simplifies the experience for their clients. as part of its launch, black ore also announced its flagship product, tax autopilot, which combines its proprietary ai technology with federal and state tax codes and regulations to simplify the tax preparation and review process for cpas and accounting firms. future product offerings will target wealth management, financial advisory and planning, insurance services and more.

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train now before it costs you down the road

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your time investment now could reap dividends during tax season. 

by frank stitely
the relentless cpa

we’ve all heard it.

ask if an assigned project has been completed and get the, “it’s done, but …” followed by a few reasons why said project is still – let’s be honest – incomplete.

more: keep clients from “balance due” shock | stop clients from performing “favors” | control your time: avoid ambush meetings and calls | make fewer mistakes, increase revenue and capacity | six ways to create a millennial-friendly firm
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

let’s examine how we got a “done but” society. a lot of this will sound like, “back in my day, sonny …” old man nonsense, and a lot of it is.

however, i promise you a solution after my sociological exploration of 21st-century culture. you won’t need a degree in sociology to understand this.

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“done” only has one meaning

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“done but” increases wip and turnaround time. profits go … well, you know.

by frank stitely
the relentless cpa

in my last book, i recommended hiring younger staff. in that book, i cautioned that you might have to teach very simple tasks like breathing and using the bathroom to your newbies.

more: keep clients from “balance due” shock | stop clients from performing “favors” | who needs fall tax planning? clients … and you | it’s okay to say no to clients (even the large ones) | control your time: avoid ambush meetings and calls | make fewer mistakes, increase revenue and capacity
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

one reader posted that she didn’t believe it was the responsibility of an admin department to teach bathroom use. she was new to this hot new writing technique called sarcasm, but she did a great job making my point that you have to teach your staff a lot of basic things.

one of those teaching tasks is the meaning of “done.”

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uncooperative partner might not be the problem

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why are they unwilling to help?

by ed mendlowitz
202 questions and answers: managing an accounting practice

question: my tax partner gives me a hard time when i ask her for assistance. is there anything i can do to get her to be more responsive?

more:  merge in lower-priced work without losing out | 20 things you need for a business valuation
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

response: this can apply to every research question asked by anyone in the firm. besides tax, it can be for audit, internal controls, succession planning or any other client service area.

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keep clients from “balance due” shock

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with just a little advanced marketing, you can get paid year-round and have more satisfied clients.

by frank stitely
the relentless cpa

when i talk with prospective clients in any medium, i lead with tax planning. i don’t care if i’m meeting them, calling them or emailing them. i lead with tax planning. the number one complaint clients have about cpas and tax preparers is a lack of planning. they get tax returns and nothing else.

more: stop clients from performing “favors” | who needs fall tax planning? clients … and you | get clients to bring tax docs early…yes, early | why time tracking still matters | make fewer mistakes, increase revenue and capacity | six ways to create a millennial-friendly firm
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

the fun part is seeing the reaction when i mention planning. i tell them that they can know the results while there’s still time to change the results. tax season is no longer stressful because they know the answers in advance about refunds and balances due.
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merge in lower-priced work without losing out

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businessman sitting in office chair, covering his face with his hand

you bought a tax practice! but they charge less than you do. now what?

by ed mendlowitz
 the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 practice doctor

question: i bought a tax return practice in december from a person who was charging $180 per hour. my rate is $300 per hour so i did not make money and i would like to know what i could do to raise fees so i don’t continue to lose on it.

more: want more tax clients? here’s how | bundle tax services with financial planning | how to begin a business valuation | how to offer conflict resolution | get your clients talking about retirement | when clients remarry | four reasons to perform tax projections
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

answer: after a long discussion, it appears that he bought a good practice with good fees charged for the returns. his problem is that he has no employees and did all the work himself – about 750 tax returns, and was totally overwhelmed with non-stop work.
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