special

pause to praise the tax pro volunteers

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two businesswomen meeting in an office

they prepared 9.3 percent more returns this year.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 hereby calls for a pause in the post-season doldrums to salute the 67,000 tax pro volunteers and other concerned citizens who helped the needy file their tax returns this year.

more: irs vs. fraudsters | imagine! the national tax advocate does | art werner: maximizing fringe benefits | is the irs mismeasuring phone service? | irs makes big progress but … | tax practitioners say happy days are here … again | the irs is coming! get your clients into compliance | end tax season meetings with clients … seriously | brandon hall: firms try to make too much on tax prep | eight steps to getting started with ai: a guide for tax professionals | ftc nails turbotax for ‘free filing’ scam | if only the irs’s tax pro were useful | id theft a problem for irs even when it doesn’t exist | the nightmare of non-credentialed tax preparers | taxpayer assistance centers: a good idea that should be better | irs still falling short on service | must the irs be a dark hole?
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

yes, 67,000. that’s really an impressive number of people. not only are they coming to the rescue of people who, despite their problems and limitations, really want to pay their taxes, but they are doing so during the tax season.
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irs vs. fraudsters

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the endless war is not going well.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

the fraudsters of the world continue to see the u.s. treasury as a bountiful chest of riches just waiting to be plundered.

it doesn’t take much. a taxpayer’s name, a social security number, a bank account number, maybe an email address, a phone number and a little luck.

more: imagine! the national tax advocate does | art werner: maximizing fringe benefits | is the irs mismeasuring phone service? | irs makes big progress but … | business booming, but not as much as last year | busy season barometer offers clues for better business | tax practitioners say happy days are here … again | the irs is coming! get your clients into compliance | end tax season meetings with clients … seriously | brandon hall: firms try to make too much on tax prep | eight steps to getting started with ai: a guide for tax professionals | ftc nails turbotax for ‘free filing’ scam | if only the irs’s tax pro were useful | tax pros file 33% of early returns | can’t irs online accounts be more useful?
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

the irs is used to this. it knows what to do about it.

it just doesn’t do it very well.
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what makes a great website? 

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two women looking at a screen as they design a website

nine things to ask as you build.

by august j. aquila
price it right: how to value accounting services

don’t kid yourself: creating a great website takes a lot of time and creative talent. websites must also be constantly updated with new material.

more: losing can help you win more | three more strategies for growing your practice | understand the 10 steps of the buying process | calculate the cost of losing clients | eleven possible pitfalls of mergers | six ways to expand your client services checklist | ten questions to refine your successful marketing plan | four questions for choosing your marketing audit strategies | four steps to a successful email marketing campaign
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

if you plan to update your current website or prepare one for the first time, or if you plan to do it yourself or just hire a marketing communication specialist with website-building experience, make sure you have clear answers to the following questions:

  • who is your target market? accounting firms usually have more than one market they are going after. consider how your various markets will find themselves on your site.

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150 credit hours: helping or hindering?

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one study suggests there is little if any upside but plenty of downside.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

four decades ago, the american institute of cpas promulgated a rule requiring accountants to complete 150 credit hours to qualify for certification, an increase from 120 hours. basically, it required a fifth year of college education.

more: can’t recruit? retain! | the accountant as a strategic business partner | report: efficiency still the top priority for accounting firms | is tech causing both cpa shortage and low salaries? | staffing tops list of woes at cpa firms | to replenish the talent pipeline, go back to the classroom | beware the work-life/workload doom spiral | why the dry pipeline? it’s about time | whole person retention: when it’s not just the money | global trends show many dissatisfied cpas | more big firms shut their doors to new college grads | seven enticements to keep talent on board
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

state boards of accountancy had discretion over when to enact the rule. by 2015, all states and u.s. territories had adopted it.

fun fact: the national rule did not impose any requirements on what courses the students had to take. it didn’t have to be courses on tax law or accounting standards. philosophy, music theory or basket-weaving would do. state boards, however, often mandate specific course requirements.
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five areas to ground new metrics other than time

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you need to measure your progress and success, but not by the hour.

by jody padar
radical pricing – by the radical cpa

it may sound ridiculous, but the only people who are married to timesheets are professional services firms staffed by people who spend their professional lifetimes building their knowledge. every other company in the world has figured out how to sell and price products or services without relying on timesheets.

more: five reasons to ditch timesheets for good | productize services for consistent client value | four ways automation pushes the paradigm shift | how value pricing impacts your employees | why pricing is so disruptive | accounting disruptors are heading your way … with deep pockets | advisory work must be priced by value, not hours
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

why do professional services firms believe you should sell knowledge in increments of time? ron baker, an accounting visionary and author of “firm of the future,” once asked, “when you’re a knowledge worker, should you be selling your time?” i don’t think so.

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can’t recruit? retain!

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bar chart

other options: outsourcing, m&a, even freelancers with different skill sets.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

there’s no good news coming out of the talent pipeline. there are fewer accounting majors coming in at the college end, and fewer coming out at the cpa exam end.

the reasons are legion. kids these days have little interest in a career reputed to be boring and exhausting. they can make more money in some other area of finance or business. the extra credit hours take too long and cost too much.

more: the accountant as a strategic business partner | report: efficiency still the top priority for accounting firms | is tech causing both cpa shortage and low salaries? | audit firms nervous about new tech | what accountants can learn from t-ball | staffing tops list of woes at cpa firms | to replenish the talent pipeline, go back to the classroom | beware the work-life/workload doom spiral | why the dry pipeline? it’s about time | business model transformation: do it or die | misperceptions, corrections, accountancy and lemonade
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

the 2024 thomson reuters state of tax professionals report sums it up with illustrative stats.

  • 39 percent say recruitment will be “highly challenging” in 2024.
  • another quarter say it will be “somewhat challenging.”
  • 33 percent of firms with four or more employees say talent will be a top priority.

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startup creates legolike brick that can store air pollution

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could something so simple save the planet?

by rick richardson
technology this week

a business supported by bill gates, graphyte, is bringing the pipe dream of carbon capture one step closer to reality by burying bricks made of plant material.

more: ai displacing more jobs in banking than other sectors | your brain can store 10 times more than anyone thought | how many ev charging stations will we need? | google launches new private space feature | microsoft discovers a security flaw impacting android apps | what is an ai pc, and should i get one? | fool’s gold may not be so foolish now | ai-engineered enzyme could be solution to plastic pollution
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

the washington post described graphyte’s “deceptively simple” process for sequestering blocks of rice hulls and wood chips as “a game-changer” for the sector, which has been hindered by the high cost of alternative approaches.

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move to advisory and assurance with relevance

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relevance protects you from technological obsolescence.

by alan anderson, cpa
transforming audit for the future

the days of delivering an audit report months after year-end are numbered. how relevant is an audit report when it’s months after the fact? even when we move to continuous audit – which will happen sooner than you think – it will still be historical information. but what will make it more relevant is that it will be delivered more timely, even if we don’t change much about how we perform the audit.

more: how ‘business expert cpas’ get their own business wrong | say adios to audit fee pressure | eight items to cover in the audit exit to deepen client relationships and prove value | know your three audit w’s | planning lays the foundation of audit relevance | how do we drive relevance in audit? | before the audit: more than just planning | are you correctly identifying the relevance intersection? | lack of relevance drives audit commoditization | five crucial attributes for successful audit leadership | traditional audits don’t deserve premium billing | four basic understandings every auditor must master
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

if you’re taking the time to understand the workings of the business, how that business works in relation to the industry, and how it serves its customers, you’re on the path to providing true relevance. that’s how you move into advisory and assurance. if you provide that baseline level of relevance and then build more real-time techniques and tools, you can expand on that knowledge base of the industry and the operating environment. then you can give your clients even more advice and suggestions for what they do.

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the accountant as a strategic business partner

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woman pointing to laptop screen while talking to man

shift from transactional to advisory to become vital to your clients’ success.

by katie thomas

traditional accounting roles are evolving, now more than ever, as client needs change. ask 10 of your friends, and most will assume that an accountant is a number cruncher and focuses on compliance issues.

and, to some degree, these people are correct.

more: is tech causing both cpa shortage and low salaries? | audit firms nervous about new tech | what accountants can learn from t-ball | staffing tops list of woes at cpa firms | to replenish the talent pipeline, go back to the classroom | beware the work-life/workload doom spiral | why the dry pipeline? it’s about time | business model transformation: do it or die | misperceptions, corrections, accountancy and lemonade | whole person retention: when it’s not just the money | global trends show many dissatisfied cpas | more big firms shut their doors to new college grads
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

certified public accountants know a lot about numbers. they analyze them, forecast them and “crunch” them, but over 50 percent of firms now offer client advisory services and have become strategic partners with clients. accountants are doing a lot more today than even a few years ago.

why?

client needs are evolving, and you, as their accountant, are in the perfect position to serve them. after all, you’re viewed as a trusted advisor and have access to the data to help your clients reach their goals faster and make better decisions.
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losing can help you win more

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man, woman, man having serious discussion around conference table

someone else got the client. do you know why?

by august j. aquila
price it right: how to value accounting services

this is not another sermon that tells you that each “no” gets you closer to a “yes” when you are selling. the purpose of this post is to improve your proposal success ratio so that you get fewer “nos” and more “yeses.”

more: three more strategies for growing your practice | four strategies for building your practice | market technology services through workshops and training | the secrets of great business developers | dodge the four curses of a production orientation | client acquisition never stops | ‘sales’ is not a four-letter word | maybe what you need is a marketing audit | three types of marketing message, and which is best
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

i am an advocate of doing client and prospective client satisfaction surveys. if you aren’t doing followup surveys with lost prospects and clients you have lost to other firms, i suggest that you start now. you can gain a better understanding of why you lose prospects and clients, and then you can change whatever it is that you are doing wrong and be more successful in bringing in new business and keeping it.
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