At first blush: It may be too early to tell.
Based on the first 100 or so responses to the straw poll we launched in “Whistle-Blower Wins Key SOX Ruling,” CPAs are split three ways over how this season compares with last year’s.
The polls will be open all week.
(or cut-and-paste into your browser www.zoomerang.com/recipient/survey.zgi?p=WEB2246JR8KNCY)
So, How's the busy season going so far?
Better than last year: 36%
About the Same: 27%
Not as Well as Last Year: 37%
But who’s doing the best?
Answer: Half of all managing partners, and firms of 50 or fewer people.
If you have a theory on why that might be, we’d love to hear it, at rtelberg@telberg.com.
What's different about this year?
SAMPLE VERBATIM COMMENTS
· More work from larger firms
· Plenty of new business opportunities this year however the challenge is in finding enough qualified staff. Our current staff is dedicated and has a tremendous work ethic however they are getting burned out early in the season this year. The challenge is trying to keep the staff motivated to stick it out while asking them to put in more hours than ever before.
· Implemented new software
· More schedules for 1040's
· 2004's first-year staff now have some experience under their belts. 2. We have a new supervisor on board with extensive 1040 experience. 3. We were lucky enough to snag an intern with strong skills. He's working 30 hrs. per week.
· taxpayers seem more organized and are getting an earlier start than last year.
· 404 sucks.
· Obviously, the focus on SOX and finalizing the certifications for the company.
· Clients are not getting their tax material in as early this year.
· Earlier filings
· A merger right before tax season started has all of us learning to roll with the punches, since we are all trying to figure out who does what, how we as a newly merged group will do things, etc.
· Short handed at work, no replacement of employees leaving prior to tax season
· More SEC audit work.
· client work came in earlier, I was "buried" earlier, and hopefully April won't be quite as crazy. Even though we had major tax bills passed in the fall, they aren't creating hiccups as in past years with changes that were taking effect as tax season progressed. This makes work much more efficient.
· Busier
· SHORT STAFFED
· Do not have enough skilled staff!
· staffing
· I, the CEO, am getting better at my time management, and e-filing is saving us much time.
· Too much work, not enough people
· More organized offset by less experienced individuals.
· More new clients
· same people returning familiar with clients
· IT improvements have backfired.
· New job, better boss.
· more work...
· Different staff members, lack of brokerage house 1099s due to their extensions.
· E filing very helpful
· Tooooooooooooooooo busy (70+ hour weeks)!
· STAFFING
· New software (road to paperless); lack of staff especially on the senior level; state regulatory changes; practice merger.
· I am better prepared this year.
· E-filing
· More knowledge.
· More difficult to find qualified people to do taxes and auditing
· Almost no business! Down 75%
· 50% increase in client load...good for work...bad for workload.
· Sales tax deduction in WA state is a burden
· Things seem to be running more smoothly. Last year I think the biggest additional time drain was for the change in the capital gains in mid-year. This year, without any glitches, my tax practice is running ahead of schedule despite additional business. Pre tax-season planning has paid off. With a week to go my staff and I have just about filed every S corp, C corp and partnership we do, with few extensions.
· More clients
· More work, less productivity
· Review bottlenecks, no interns, staff cuts, and not enough hours in the day.
· I have my own office this year, and can control my hours better. I can also control the type of accounts I want as clients.
· Working longer hours. Our office has increased billable minimums from 55 to 60 hours per week
· Better team moving the work very well. Fired some problem clients.
· I have a larger number of clients and, the repeat clients are far better organized than in previous years
· 2 area preparers are moving out of town so we are getting a lot of their clients. Plus the usual migration of clients from H&R Block.
· VOLUME
· More staffing
· Better coordination of work flow within the office, e-filing capability, tardiness of taxpayers in coming in, later rather than earlier, has allowed us to focus on audits and reviews more thoroughly.
· Information is in slower and new clients with difficult returns taking extra time
· For the first time in 25 years we had not one but two employees leave the firm for industry jobs during tax season.
· Lower level staff cuts, more workload.
· Cut out large corp returns and focusing on individual returns. What a relief!
· Clients are slower than usual. More work--types of work, including divorce planning & litigation, general tax planning.
