The Receipt Bank Blog

We all know Tax Season isn't a sprint, it's a marathon. To keep you going on your journey, here's our second dose of tax season tips from a range of cloud accounting pros. This week, we talk process, progress and productivity. Keep an eye out for our next instalment, when we'll be grilling more thought leaders for their top tax season advice. Check out Part 1 here.

1. TAKE A BREAK

It's essential to take time for yourself. It's easy at this time of year to work 70 or 80 hours a week, which many of us do. BUT, I also make a point to take time to do the things I like to do. Even more at this time of year than during the rest of the year. Happy people tend to be more productive. Remember to make some time for yourself and give your team the chance to do the same!

Bruce A. Phillips, CPA, CEO, HPC @Bruce_HPC

2. Future-Proof Your Business Model

Tax returns are soon to be a thing of the past, so start using data to look forward and change your business model. In 2017 we will see the rise of automated data entry, with IFTTT tools allowing for rules to define the input of most, if not all financial information in our industry. It's the prelude to a tax return becoming "automatic" in coming year. So, we as accountants need to look forward and get into lead analytics, not just focus on what happens, and our business model needs to follows. The only way the technology and labour costs will work in the new model is to have recurring work billed monthly, with value add-on projects. We as accountants will need to run firms in a connected manner to understand our position and measure in a similar way to how software companies run.

Guy Pearson, CEO and Co-Founder, Practice Ignition, Chairman, Interactive Accounting @Guy_Pearson

3. Map Your Processes, Repeat, Repeat, Repeat

1. Define exactly what services you sell,
2. Document every step involved in performing each service
3. Organize these steps for all clients and all staff in a web-based workflow management system so that you can sleep at night.

Laura Redmond, Cloud Accountant, Redmond Accounting Inc. /LauraRedmond

4.Trust Your Gut

Tax Season is all about trust. Trust the processes that have been developed. Trust the investment in staff training.Trust your instincts because they are probably right. And don’t sweat the small stuff!

Mary Hollister, CPA, PC, President, Mary P Hollister CPA PC /MaryHollister 

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