learn to read your firm’s culture
bonus: 3 outlooks from our exclusive expert council.
by martin bissett
bonus: 3 outlooks from our exclusive expert council.
by martin bissett
top trends, metrics, benchmarks, and lessons learned. by rick telberg 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 for most cpas, this year’s busy season may have been a marked improvement from last year’s, but that doesn’t mean savvy practitioners aren’t already learning new lessons and … continued
stop devaluing yourself and the profession.
by martin bissett
passport to partnership

government gridlock, partisan politics, and no good choices.
next question: the economic outlook
join the survey; get the results
by rick telberg
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间
cpas are respected and renowned for their impartiality. they can look at the facts and make critical judgments. moreover, they tend to be intelligent and informed. they read books, magazines, and newspapers. they know what’s going on, especially when it relates to business and the economy.
more on tax season for pro members: lessons learned from a bad busy season | 3 ways to save time during busy season | most tax professionals call 2016 busy season much improved over last year | stress less this tax season | is tax season the new fraud season? | 5 tax season motivation tips | recognize your tax season resources | tax season 2016: irs in crisis | eliminate tax season excuses | record pre-season hiring surge: ready for biggest tax season ever? | 16 qualities of a good tax season client
so when cpas opine on politics, they are worth listening to.

6 ways to fix the biggest problems.
the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season survey
next question: accountants’ economic outlook
join the survey; get the results
by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间
we must have struck a chord in our article on the large number of firms suffering through a busy season worse than last year’s, a dreadful depth of bad. several cpas and tax preparers chimed in with comments, most of them constructive.
more on tax season for pro members: 3 ways to save time during busy season | most tax professionals call 2016 busy season much improved over last year | stress less this tax season | is tax season the new fraud season? | 5 tax season motivation tips | recognize your tax season resources | tax season 2016: irs in crisis | eliminate tax season excuses | record pre-season hiring surge: ready for biggest tax season ever? | 16 qualities of a good tax season client
from the discussion, we’ve gleaned six client management techniques that should be in practice at almost any firm.

those who can, do. those who can’t, make do.
next question: who’s succeeding with value pricing?
join the survey; get the answer.
by rick telberg
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间
and that goes double for cpas. we’ve had it hard. when the recession hit, we lost clients. the clients we didn’t lose couldn’t afford fee increases. but the cost of software increased, and most hardware has had to be replaced twice since the recession first hit. salaries have gone up, too, especially among accountants, whose ranks have thinned in recent years. and the tax regulations get harder, the waiting time on the irs line longer, the reporting lengthier.
at long last, economic conditions seem to be improving enough for widespread increases in billing rates and fees. about 85 percent of respondents to the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 study of pricing strategies and trends see an upward trend underway.
more tax season for pro members (go pro here): tax prep fees: the national averages [infographic] | tax prep fees and services | top 12 tax prep errors | the new fraud season | problem clients | irs gives up on vetting 1023-ez not-for-profit applications | 5 tax season motivation tips | recognize your tax season resources | tax season 2016: irs in crisis | eliminate tax season excuses | record pre-season hiring surge: ready for biggest tax season ever? | 16 qualities of a good tax season client
cpa dave murray at his eponymous firm in troy, ohio, is pushing through “significant increases.” he says, “our firm is increasingly being paid for our knowledge.” “yes,” he says, value pricing is becoming an important success strategy. “when it’s worth more to the client we charge more,” he says. and he does it all while maximizing profit margins and retaining clients. “we have a consistent flow of new clients and we no longer have to discount to get them to come in,” he says.
frank stitely, at skc cpas in chantilly, va., and a frequent contributor to 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间, is being more careful, with only slight increases. “personal taxes, specifically, are a commodity, and, in general, compliance services are commoditizing,” he says, with his pricing driven my market forces. on the other hand, the firm bills “per form for personal returns and by proposal for almost everything else.”
brian roark in jenison, mich., likes to say integrity tax’s offices have been doing taxes “since dinosaurs roamed the earth.” but today he’s playing catch-up in the wage markets, pushing through moderate billing increases.
at southwest tax & accounting in elkhart, kan., owner terri ryman, ea and quickbooks proadvisor, is going for significant price increases as clients struggle with the affordable care act and repair regs. she says her business is growing every year. ryman is also a prominent member of the national society of accountants and the national association of tax professionals. read more →

rising economy, no big changes spell more clients, smoother operations.
next question: identity theft?
join the survey. get the answers.
by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间
the 2015 busy season may go down in the annals of accountancy as one of the worst ever. and let’s hope that’s as bad as it ever gets.
more on tax season for pro members: how to stress less this tax season | is tax season the new fraud season? | 5 tax season motivation tips | recognize your tax season resources | tax season 2016: irs in crisis | eliminate tax season excuses | record pre-season hiring surge: ready for biggest tax season ever? | 16 qualities of a good tax season client | 8 ways to delight tax season clients | small tax season leaks can cause great damage | 5 ways thorough beats sloppy in tax season | tax season management: multi-tasking is a myth | digital workflow systems make tax season easier | why cpas need to worry about cyber crime (especially in tax season)
remember a year ago? the roll-out of the affordable care act, the revamped irs forms coming out in february, a widespread need for new software, people getting sick, and then it snowed, and then it snowed some more.
this year’s looking a lot better, according to early responses to the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 2016 busy season barometer.

and what are tax professionals doing about it?
busy season barometer
today’s bonus question
how are accountants confronting identity theft concerns this year?
join the survey; get the answers.
by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间
with data breaches and stolen identities dominating the tax season headlines, today only about a third of americans say identity theft is a concern to them, according to a survey by idt911. meanwhile, about a third of some 600 tax professionals participating in the annual 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season barometer tracking polls are reporting significant concerns about client security, privacy and identity theft issues.
top 10 key findings from the taxpayer survey:
maximizing revenue comes second. profits, third.
by rick telberg
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 pricing strategy study
join the survey. get the details.
raising rates is risky. but so is not raising rates. you have to raise them right and at the right time. and not on a willy-nilly whim. you need to think about it. you need a rationale.
in search of reasonable rationales—rationales that work—卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 is asking practitioners for the rationale behind their pricing strategy. and they are being generous in their response. most say that strategies were lacking or could be improved. read more →

consistently inconsistent strategies.
by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间
if there’s one especially surprising result from the new 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 price strategies and trends survey, it’s that over a third of responding accountants say they lack a consistent strategy for setting rates.
the survey remains open as we continue to gather more in-depth data. join the survey. get the results
but to put it another way, they have a consistent strategy of adjusting rates as necessary to accommodate the needs of both the cpa firm and any given individual client.
colleagues offer tips for busy season.
by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research
hey, just because you get a nice new watch for christmas doesn’t mean you’re going to have more time when busy season rolls around. quite to the contrary, it’s only going to tell you how little time you have.
time is what busy’s all about. so if you can manage time, you can manage busy. and if you manage time well enough – better than last busy season – then maybe next busy season will be more of a breeze-through season. or at least not a pound-head-on-wall season.
the 2015 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season survey asked a good question: “what are your best time management tips for busy season?”
and we got some good answers. the survey turned up all sorts of uncontrollable problems, from the complexity of the affordable care act to the recalcitrance of computers. but of all the stuff that happened, time was the one that everyone could a) predict and b) manage a little better.
bonus checklist: 7 things that trusted advisors don’t need to do.
by martin bissett
passport to partnership
first insights from “how to succeed in the accounting business?” survey.
join the survey; get more answers.
by hitendra patil
although seven personality traits seem closely related to success as an entrepreneur in the tax and accounting business, the vast majority of accountants believe that one stands above all the rest in importance: decisiveness.
preliminary new findings from a 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 survey of more than 300 accountants, more than 80 percent of them owners or ceos of their firms, shows that the biggest success factors are not just knowledge, not just experience, not just problem-solving ability, and not just vision.