WAYS TO GET AHEAD
OF THE BUSY SEASON
GAME
Michael Elliott, CPA
• Manager/Principal-in-Transition, Dittrick & Associates, Inc.
• Michael Elliott is a graduate of Franklin University,
majoring in accounting and business administration. He
has been in public practice since 2007 and is currently
serving as the manager/principal-in-transition at the firm
Dittrick & Associates, Inc.
Jason Deshayes, CPA
• Vice President/Shareholder, Butler and Company CPAs PC
• Jason has been serving clients since 2003, providing tax,
accounting and consulting advice to individuals and
closely-held businesses, with a focus on professional
services, medical and veterinary practices, individual
taxation and business start-ups.
• Honored in 2011 as one of New Mexico’s
“40 Under Forty” by NM Business Weekly
Today’s Top 10
• Set The Tone
• Update Your Skills
• Evaluate Staffing
• Review Hardware
• Test Your Software
• Smooth Out the Work
• Document Your Processes
• Be In Your Happy Place
• Think Long Term
• Be Proactive
Set the Tone
• With Staff
• Establish a rough timeline of what needs to be done for year-end
and busy season
• Meet in early January to get everyone on the same page
• Brief on new processes for the year and any potential pitfalls you
are aware of
• With Clients
• Send a letter with your organizers
• Create an extension deadline – “Get in by xxx or we’re extending”
• Have their bill ready with the return
• Communicate situations you are aware of with your clients
Update Your Skills
• Skill assessment
• What did your staff do well in the prior year?
• Are there obvious areas where the firm needs improvement – i.e.
an audit situation, peer review flaws, etc..
• Wasted research time on basic issues
• Year-end technical updates
• Tax staff should receive a full tax update each year – always
changes!
• A&A updates are important as time is often wasted “learning” rules
during crunch time
• Updates should be completed before year end to allow for updates
to be properly disseminated to clients for planning
Evaluate Staffing
• More Time to do the Same Work
• Need to reassess if your staffing is appropriate still
• Hire now and have them trained before it gets nuts
• Seeing across the board – more staff needed to keep client service
up to “snuff”
• Alternative Staffing
• Interns – they want the experience and can do a lot of the grunt
work that takes up a lot of your time
• Part-Time Seasonal – there are a lot of stay-at-home parents
looking to keep sharp, but not commit to full-time
• Remote Staff – if you have a technological system that
accommodates this, take advantage!
Review Hardware
• Update/create a master list of all hardware
• Think about computers, monitors, printers, scanners, backups, etc.
• List should include each computer’s configuration, printer and
scanners capabilities, age, etc…
• Review with staff who use the equipment if the equipment is
appropriate for them to complete their tasks
• Check internet speeds!
• Review system requirements for all software – each year!
• Download system requirement listings
• Check the master list to ensure each piece of hardware will support
any software updates or changes – for each computer!
• All hardware should be not only “above” minimum requirements but
should meet all “recommended” requirements.
Test Your Software
• Review each piece of software – every year!
• Ensure that tech support is what we hoped
• Completed the tasks that are required
• Price is appropriate for firm
• New staff need time to learn software
• Train new staff using easy “dummy” returns from the prior year
• Staff need to be comfortable with ALL pieces of software and how
each piece of software does/does not integrate
• Experienced staff need to conduct training sessions with new staff
to ensure that “tips and tricks” of the software are passed on
• Experienced staff need to update skills
• Experienced staff should complete a complex “dummy” return to
ensure calculations and information flow and correct
• Test electronic filing capability (most vendors have this option)
Smooth Out the Work
• Take advantage of year-end tax planning
• Have your clients’ books 98% “completed” in December
• Know ahead of time what your clients’ situations will look like (so no
surprises during tax season!)
• Like to extend? You will already know what needs to be paid!
• Talk to clients about extending before they HAVE to
extend
Document Your Processes
• Uniformity is important
• Firms should always put out quality work
• All staff should understand importance of processes
• Documentation in case of emergency
• Do you have plans in place in case of loss of staff?
• Could someone come in and run your firm by looking at your
process documentation?
• Are you covering yourself from a liability perspective by having
everyone on the same quality control page?
• Documentation resolves conflicts
• Staff can at time differ in work product quality
• Different administrators process work differently
• Peer reviewers like to see work paper uniformity
Be In Your Happy Place
• “Happy Staff, Happy Busy Season”
• Stock up the office fridge with healthy snacks, caffeine, waters,
etc…
• Three Day Weekend
• Saturday – Monday or Friday – Sunday
• Order out food for lunch or breakfasts
• Chair massages
• Regular weekly staff meetings
• Can be short and sweet
• Keep staff on alert of upcoming work and client needs
• More frequent communication will save work and time later!
• Post Tax Season Debrief
• Easy to forget; but really important to understand areas for
improvement.
Think Long Term
• Do you have a succession plan in place?
• Think about internal versus external transition
• What is your time frame for transition?
• What type of firm do you have – tax heavy?
• Currently have a plan in place?
• AICPA JOA says that it takes 3-5 “touches” to successfully
transition a client
• We may only see our clients once a year
• Using busy season contacts to introduce new staff/successors
• Not billable time, but worth it in the long run
• Build transition time into client meetings for tax-only clients
Be Proactive
• Form 2848 – Power of Attorney
• Have each client sign one along with their e-file paperwork
• 3 years out; 3 years back
• You will be completely in the loop with your clients and proactively
respond to IRS “stuff”
• Helps with transcripts for those pesky extended returns and senior
citizens
• Advance Scheduling
• Figure out what clients like to be on the calendar and schedule
them in advance (call in January)
Questions? Feel free to contact us!
• Michael Elliott, CPA
michael@dittrickcpa.com
440-834-9686
• Jason Deshayes, CPA
jason@butlercpa.com
505-821-0893