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 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.
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 →
tax and accounting professionals of all shapes and sizes, ranging in size from the soloist to the regional leader, are reporting a filing season markedly more problematic than the year before, according to the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season barometer. the data for april, still coming in, shows majorities of firms in all class sizes reporting “somewhat worse” or “much worse” performance and results this year.
busy season barometer
the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season barometer, now in it’s tenth year, is a real-time tracking poll of tax and accounting professionals’ sentiment, performance and results. as a reward for joining the survey panel, participants get early previews of top-line results and notifications.
in this report, we present the first wave of in-depth details, starting with a chart that shows the number of respondents reporting on busy season conditions.
those reporting a “worse” season include:
66% of solo practitioners
60% of firms with 2 to 10 professionals
70% of firms with 11 to 50 professionals
72% of firms with 50 to 100 professionals
53% of firms with more than 100 professionals
and:
we gather verbatim comments from the solo practitioners who reported a season “much worse” explaining their rating, and
we present their comments assembled into a word-cloud infographic that reveals at a glance the most oft-repeated issues and concerns.
for complete busy season coverage, click here. and stay tuned to 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 as we report on new developments in the data and analysis.
with tax season 2013 finally (gratefully) at an end, the latest soundings from the field show conditions continuing to deteriorate into the final hours, according to the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season barometer.
in this report:
practitioners’ top five problems during the season (chart)
practitioners rate tax season from “better” than last year to “worse” (chart)
reports and analysis from practitioners around the nation, including florida, illinois, michigan, maryland, and pennsylvania.
workflow at tipping point; xcm solutions prepares to meet demand mike sabbatis joins xcm solutions’ board to aid in execution of aggressive growth strategy braintree, mass. – march 25, 2013 – xcm solutions, llc, the leading provider of cloud-based workflow … continued
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.
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:
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.
with tax season 2013 delayed by last-minute code changes, staffing problems and software glitches, the mood of the profession is turning markedly sour.
“irs delays will cause confusion and errors, and many upset clients,” says charles postal at santos postal, a five-partner firm in rockville, md. “more extensions will depress cash flow.”
at the same, postal adds, “clients will have more tax needs, but the struggling economy will depress their ability and desire to pay for services.”
in order to battle the business pressures, postal’s firm is “pushing back on fees, using standardized billing by product rather than hours, and adding on charges for technology, audit and tax notice insurance.”
the 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.
