marchternity: the solution is community

before another grueling tax season, find your tribe.

more on marchternity:
just say ‘no,’ by seth fineberg

by liz farr

the last several years have been rough on accountants, to say the least.

i left public accounting at the end of 2017, so i have been spared the never-ending chaos of the last five years, starting with the last-minute sweeping changes of the tcja, and continuing on through the pandemic. however, thanks to social media groups like #taxtwitter and accounting firm influencers on facebook, i’ve had an idea of the misery, confusion, exhaustion, and sheer frustration of tax pros trying to maintain sanity in the face of complete insanity.

more liz farr: donny shimamoto: future firm growth requires a mindshiftjennifer wilson: empower young workers to build the firm everyone lovesmike whitmire: re-think your hiring and training practiceshector garcia: success strategies of a quickbooks youtube superstar | blake oliver: why tax work yearns to be freeprivate equity explodes in u.k. | brannon poe: the status quo must go  | accounting nerds, unlock your super powers  | disruptor: jason statts shakes up the status quo | think small to think big with matt wilkinsonwhen financial statements go extinct with corey schmidtcan geraldine carter save accountants from themselves?re-inventing accounting with tyler anderson

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in 2020, adam markowitz, a razor-sharp ea and active member of the #taxtwitter community, coined the term marchternity, for the month of the 2020 tax season that never seemed to end. ultimately, thanks to the mad coding skills of chris hervochon, the marchternity bot was born, providing “daily updates on what day of marchternity it is because march 2020 will never end.”

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you don’t need this, but your survivors do

bonus checklists: 16 steps to reviewing a buy-sell agreement and 20 issues to consider.

by ed mendlowitz
77 ways to wow!

nobody needs an estate plan, exit plan or a buy-sell agreement. but their families and survivors do.

more: due diligence is in the details | simple controls can prevent fraud | charity directors must take theft seriously | forensic techniques can be fraud deterrence | the hazards of poor internal controls | rule #1: start with cash | the priorities were backward | how to read a financial statement | 77 thoughts about client needs
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estate plans are done so that the remaining family members can have liquidity, minor children will have guardians of your choosing with a dependable cash flow, children won’t fight (too much) over the money, people of your choice will collect and distribute assets and make transfers in an orderly manner, and estate and inheritance taxes can be minimized as can the costs of settling the estate.
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seven keys to becoming an equity partner

hand using key to unlock doorexpectations are high. as they should be.

by august j. aquila
what makes a great partnership

with the recent turn in the economy, equity partners are finding that there is no longer a lifelong tenure guarantee. senior managers and non-equity partners are wondering whether or not they even want to become equity partners.

more: how to create firm accountability | eight criteria for partnership | how to achieve partner unity | five questions to ask your partners about accountability | how you can get partners to change | the seven building blocks of a great partnership
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for the most part, firms have been selective about who they take into the partnership. however, when the economy was running hot and finding a warm body to fill spots was a real challenge, the partnership bar was certainly lowered in many firms. today, that bar is being raised again.
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how marketing in accounting has evolved

from the 1.0 of bates to putting the client first.

by bruce marcus
professional services marketing 3.0

editor’s note: 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 was privileged to have a long relationship with bruce w. marcus, who was ahead of his time in his thinking and practice in marketing for accounting. we are publishing some of the late expert’s evergreen work, which retains wisdom for the present.

we live in a dynamic world, in which constant motion of events and social and economic structures continually alter the state of many activities and circumstances. for example, the advent of the personal computer in 1981 changed the way trade and commerce were done. this altered the nature of financial structures, industrial practices and communications. but it also gave rise to new laws and new needs in accounting and finance. it created a new business environment that affected all participants in the cycles.

more: how marketing evolved to 3.0 | why value pricing works | accounting marketing 3.0: new rules | accountants don’t sell soap. | why competition matters most | nine fundamentals for a healthy marketing culture in an accounting firm
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it’s an ongoing cycle that generates new problems and needs in many disciplines, including law and accounting. new financial instruments, new laws and regulations, new technology that accelerates the pace of doing business, growing internationalism, the expanding body of knowledge in so many areas and the rapidity with which it can be organized and retrieved, new demands from client – all substantially change the demands upon lawyers and accountants, and therefore, the structures and practices that professionals must adopt to stay abreast of their own clients.
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six ways new partners differ from managers

two businessmen talking across a deskbusiness development is a determining factor for some firms.

by marc rosenberg
how to bring in new partners

this is one of the grayest areas in bringing in new partners. it has perplexed cpa firms for decades.

more: sixteen duties of a partner | seventeen basic expectations of partners | the four essentials for every new partner | five people to keep out of partnership | nine ways to woo a prospective partner | tell potential partners what it takes
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here is the typical scenario. the firm has had one or more managers on board for 10 to 20 years. they have made their mark primarily with their technical skills, doing great work with clients, showing tremendous loyalty and work ethic. they generally lack business development and to a lesser extent, leadership skills, but they have become indispensable to the partners, who rely on them heavily to service their clients. the partners would have heartburn if these managers left the firm.
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five emotional skills for entrepreneurs

latina woman working at desk and smilingthis goes deeper than leading and communicating.

by sandi smith leyva
accountant’s accelerator

there are courses and conferences to help you build the technical skills you need to succeed in accounting. but if you think about it, there is no cpe to help you with the emotional side of your business, and there are plenty of times on a daily basis that the emotional side of business comes into play:

more: four tips for tough times | now’s the time to clean up your email list | five lessons my clients taught me | five tips for virtual team member happiness | boost your cross-selling in two easy steps | beyond bookkeeping: five value-add service areas | 11 kinds of wealth
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1) making a price increase or setting your prices in the first place

2) firing a client from you-know-where
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why the irs is still doing data entry by hand

young businessman sleeping on the keyboard in the officefive recommendations are offered to improve processing. start with scanners.

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by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

here’s something you’d better explain to your tax clients, lest you get blamed:

more: news on irs is maybe sort of a little bit good | why we all hate the tax code | how bullish are you this tax season? | accountants’ top problems for tax season 2023 | tax season 2023: better or worse?
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three ways to improve tax returns

think “quality control,” not “review.”

by ed mendlowitz
how to review tax returns: the field-tested update

it occurs to me that there is a difference in the quality between the returns someone does for himself or herself and the returns they do for their clients.

more: tax follow-up worksheets can mean more revenue | tax: the procedural checklists your firm needs | don’t use eyes, use brain | stop tax return review shortcuts | the best way to review a tax return | three types of tax return reviews | routine is key to reviewing tax returns | why you can’t skip checklists | tax review procedures are your quality control | seven types of tax return reviews | how to turn tax returns into new business
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an informal survey by me showed that the percentage of returns with errors of sole practitioners and partners in cpa firms is less than 2 percent, while the percentage of errors by their staff ranges from a low of 25 percent to a high of 95 percent! why the difference? note that preparer errors are measured by the completed returns they submit for review. and sole practitioner and partner errors are measured by whether a notice was sent by a tax agency or an error is discovered when the following year’s return is being prepared.
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make fewer mistakes, increase revenue and capacity

businessman horrified by what he sees on computer screentackle the four error categories.

by frank stitely
the relentless cpa

determining the workflow harm that errors cause should be second nature now. errors cause rework. rework adds to work in progress (wip) and, thus, increases turnaround time.

this happens in two ways: as wip increases, capacity decreases. it’s a double whammy.

more: how small firms can win the talent wars | easy ways to avoid ‘done but’ tax returns | six ways to create a millennial-friendly firm | do you know your turnaround time?
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when a reviewer spots errors on a tax return and sends it back to the preparer, the preparer wastes at least 15 minutes, and probably more like 30 minutes, fixing the errors. the return then goes back to the reviewer, who spends another 15 minutes re-reviewing the return. we have added 30 to 45 minutes to the wip for this tax return. we know that adding to our wip numerator increases turnaround time.

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why federated search matters

cluttered computer screen
take a look at your team’s desktops.

no more subfolders! just imagine.

by penny breslin
it’s not just the numbers

much has been done to help people deal with information overload. desktop search tools have made it easier to find a piece of data hidden among all the other data stored on your system. but what about all the data available on portals, stored in shared drives, and trapped in business applications, let alone the valuable information stored in various employees’ heads?

more: how to develop procedures for bos | proper workflow demands consistency | workflow tools can deepen client relationships | going viral: today’s top marketing strategies | top ten types of clients (and 24 more reader suggestions) | which kind of team do you have? | meet the new bos
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this information is vital to your firm. employees need this data to do their jobs, and they need it quickly.

the key to finding information quickly is a mighty search engine. enterprise search engines can find information stored almost anywhere in your system. whether looking for data stored on the desktop, tucked away on an intranet site or locked in a line of a business application, an enterprise search tool can help you find it. the search solution combines desktop search with fast intranet searching capabilities.
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five reasons firms don’t thrive

plant seedlings growing out of coin stacks , both increasing in size… and how to solve them.

by martin bissett
passport to partnership

a big concern in recent years has been how the incoming partners will purchase equity or fund the capital account and exit of a retiring partner.

more: prioritize your prospects | would you make yourself a partner? | a list is not a pipeline | prepare the next generation now | are you committed to your firm? | nine points to check before hello | why clients struggle with growth | nine biz-dev metrics for making partner
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much has been written that examines the mathematical complexities of this topic but the bottom line is simple. would-be partners in the age demographic of 28-42 are part of a generation who are already heavily borrowed in the form of credit card debt, mortgage debt and other forms of personal loans.
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news on irs is maybe sort of a little bit good

number 10but. there’s always a but.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

every year, national taxpayer advocate erin m. collins submits to congress a report on the 10 most serious problems taxpayers face in dealing with the internal revenue service.

more: why we all hate the tax code | how bullish are you this tax season? | accountants’ top problems for tax season 2023 | tax season 2023: better or worse?
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this year, reporting on the frustrations of 2022, the nta had no shortage of bad news, but collins did note a glimmer of hope. “we have begun to see light at the end of the tunnel,” she wrote. “i am just not sure how much further we need to travel before we see sunlight.”
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due diligence is in the details

every team member must do their part.

by ed mendlowitz
77 ways to wow!

in 2012, hewlett-packard announced an $8.8 billion deduction claiming that they overpaid for an acquisition because of the failure of many other people who were responsible for due diligence. i don’t know many of the details, but it seems that someone screwed up big-time.

more: simple controls can prevent fraud | five ways to ward off fraud in not-for-profits | client hires new manager: you need a plan | anatomy of a fraud | how to explain internal controls to clients | organization minutes too often overlooked | the seven-minute financial statement | the kpi an absentee manager needs
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due diligence is an essential activity in an acquisition that involves confirming the representations made by the seller, evaluating the strategic fit and terms and conditions of the deal and validating financial, legal, operational and technological aspects of the transaction. keen due diligence can even help determine the final price.
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