outlook & analysis

check yourself: how to reality-test client satisfaction levels

by

arnold sanow
sanow

to keep both your staffers and clients happy, tax and accounting firms need to gain a thorough understanding of their perceptions and perspectives — and to make they align.

customer service guru arnold sanow suggests 15 questions to ask yourself, your staff, and, above all, your customers. servicethe biggest opportunities will surface when you compare and contrast their responses.

be prepared for an eye-opening, sometimes gut-wrenching, exercise in hard truth: read more →

how smart accounting firms use intranets to get smarter

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why you need a dashboard.

by roman h. kepczyk
quantum of paperless

files are usually indexed and accessed in designated directories so there is not much the firm can do about moving these files.

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more on tech spending: unified messaging boosts security | ready for a revolution? your phone is | remote access boosts productivity, requires planning | get ahead of your software updates | blame accounting vendors: accountants stuck with outdated versions of microsoft office | ready or not, here comes windows 10 | back up and check your backup | cloud computing can cost less | laptop-only workers more common | scanners allow data capture at the source | in pc monitors, more is better

firm knowledge and information is usually stored in one of four “buckets.” read more →

how to make staff a team again

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bonus checklist: 5 steps you can take today.

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

question: my staff seems to have “wandered” away from feeling this is a firm – that we are all in this together – to becoming a bunch of people who happen to work at the same address.

more practice doctor q&a: how to make annual staff evaluations work | when staffers stagnate | 7 ways to lose a client’s trust | 18 ways to blow a partnership opportunity | when a staffer stops listening | making meetings more productive | 44 critical criteria for accounting staff performance evaluations

do you have any suggestions to get them to pull together?

answer: yes… read more →

accountants worldwide report business challenges

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chart about nations' business risk aversion

everyone wants their government to get out of the way.

while u.s. accountants certainly rank high in entrepreneurial spirit, with 49 percent calling themselves risk-seeking in the sage accounting index, they were tied by brazil and edged out slightly by their canadian counterparts at 50 percent, with the spanish topping everyone at 58 percent. the four countries also ranked lowest in risk aversion from 27 to 31 percent.

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protect your protégée from flextime saboteurs

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woman sitting at office desk looks at her watchflexible scheduling can benefit everyone, but some people don’t see it that way.

by ida o. abbott
sponsoring women: what men need to know

a talented, ambitious woman who works less than full time or takes extended family leave is extremely vulnerable to being derailed professionally.

whether because she is “out of sight/out of mind,” or because people doubt her commitment, she may be disregarded for promotions or high-profile projects.

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more on sponsoring women for leadership: ‘soft skills’ advice needed, too | use others to promote your protégée | 8 ways sponsors can highlight opportunities | 17 ways sponsors can help protégées | 3 ways to derail sponsorships | 4 reasons women hold themselves back | 4 ways sponsors can help women seek power | bias about women with families lingers | judged on performance, not potential? must be a woman | 3 ways men are favored in the workplace | women need promotions, not just advice | mentor or sponsor? how to distinguish roles | 4 ways women leaders improve firms | cpa firms must ‘man up’ and get women on board

a sponsor can ensure that she has access to those opportunities and support when she accepts them. he can make the difference between this woman staying on track and ascending to top leadership posts or leaving the company for another job. read more →

unified messaging boosts security

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three people speaking by videoconferenceproductivity? you can have more of that, too.

by roman h. kepczyk
quantum of paperless

firms should strive to capture all data in a digital format at its “root” source. this goes for services such as the firm’s fax and voice mail systems as well. traditional inbound faxes are usually printed from a fax machine and then hand delivered to the recipient’s desk. in some cases this image is actually rescanned and emailed to the recipient.

//www.g005e.com/shop/qop/
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more on tech spending: when is the last time you renegotiated your internet rates? | remote access boosts productivity, requires planning | get ahead of your software updates | blame accounting vendors: accountants stuck with outdated versions of microsoft office | ready or not, here comes windows 10 | back up and check your backup | cloud computing can cost less | laptop-only workers more common | scanners allow data capture at the source | in pc monitors, more is better

read more →

enhancing client financial health through collaborative services

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clients benefit when cpas and investment advisors work together.

by martin e. levine, chfc, cpa, mba
4thought financial group, inc.        

martin levine 4thought
levine

even if the client isn’t always right, helping clients understand and make the best financial decisions is always the right course of action. 

cpas understand the implications of financial decisions and strive to advise clients in ways that improve their financial well-being.  however, clients frequently have multiple – sometimes conflicting – financial goals, and use other financial professionals, including financial advisors, attorneys and business consultants, to achieve them.  read more →

if you thought tax season 2015 was bad…

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…the irs says 2016 could be even worse.

irs projects even worse taxpayer service for the 2016 filing season (fy 2015).
irs projects even worse taxpayer service for the 2016 filing season (fy 2015).

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

the 2015 filing season was akin to a tale of two cities, according to the irs’s own watchdog.

“for the majority of taxpayers who filed their returns and did not require irs assistance, the filing season was generally successful,” according to the report issued to congress by the national taxpayer advocate’s office headed by nina olson. “for the segment of taxpayers who required help from the irs, the filing season was by far the worst in memory.”

meanwhile, olson urges congress to undertake “fundamental tax reform,” pass a “taxpayer’s bill of rights” law, and boost irs funding.

“everyone is in collective denial about what inadequate funding for the irs means to taxpayers,” olson says. read more →