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Press Release - AICPA Publishes Guidance on Next Generation of SAS 70

New Reporting Options Respond to Growth in Cloud Computing 

Increase Your Tax Workflow Through Automation

Here we are again. It’s November, and you are coming to the realization that another tax season is just around the corner. Doesn’t it feel like the 2009 tax season just ended?

Do you remember thinking in the spring that, “Next tax season, my firm isn’t going to …” or “Before next tax season, we better …” Many of those ideas often revolved around investments, such as technology, that would help you, your staff, and your firm to be more efficient, effective, and forward thinking during the 2010 tax season. Anything! As long as it would make the tax season, well…less taxing.

With less than three months until the full-blown tax season gets underway, what can you do at your firm to increase efficiency while continuing to offer the exceptional service your clients have come to expect? Below are some best practices, as well as reference links to tools and resources you still have time to invest in.

Best Practices

• Process Review and Improvement: Streamlining workflow is an ever-neglected to-do item for many CPA firms, especially as client demands and regulations increase. It may prove valuable to have someone internally or externally document your existing business process and identify tasks that can be eliminated or done more effectively. Preparing a graphical workflow of the steps your team takes to complete the process may enlighten you.
  
  Edward V. Jennings, CEO of Copanion, Inc., a tax document automation software company in Andover, Mass. and an AICPA Trusted Business Advisor partner, commented that firms that have moved to a paperless tax workflow, the efficiency gains have been phenomenal—some report time savings of up to 45 minutes per return. With the time saved, tax professionals are focusing on higher value activities and delivering better customer service to differentiate and grow their practices. Achieving results such as these is possible, and it's easier than many think.
  
  

• Create a Single Location for Digital File Storage:  Whether you are using a Windows® file folder structure, or a more sophisticated professional document management system, the goal is to keep digital files organized and easy to find for all your staff. Not only does it save time, it increases efficiency among staff members who need to search for client content throughout the tax season and workflow process. It also reduces the loss of a potential “roving” paper file.
  
  

• Invest in Technology/Hardware: Investing in a high-speed scanner and dual monitors may seem trivial, but think about how often you wished you had electronic files to work from versus paper files. And, remember the last time you had to keep switching back and forth from Excel™ file to Excel file to get the information you needed?  
  
   
• Implementing Worflow Tools—Now is the time to add workflow tools, such as a tax document automation tool and/or a workflow management tool, to help you be more efficient during the looming tax season.
  
  

Additional Resources

There are many resources to research if you’re considering taking the next step toward automating your tax workflow, including process efficiencies, paperless solutions, and technology investments.

• Cloud-Based Tax Workflow Solutions:
  • AICPA Trusted Business Advisor ™ Solutions
    • Copanion GruntWorx – Tax Document Automation Tools
    • XCM Firm-Wide Workflow Solutions
• Books:
  • Managing your Tax Season—an AICPA publication and new edition—This book will give you fresh insight into tax preparation—and very likely result in significant improvements to your current system. You will learn to analyze your existing tax season system and target problems so that work will be more efficient, errors will decrease, and personnel.
    
    
• Articles:
  • Five Tips for Smooth Tax Workflow Management
  • Will You Be Ready for the Next Boom
  • Tax Season is Only a Few Months Away
  • Workflow Automation on the Rise
    
    
• Free White Papers
  • A Tale of Two Firms: Indentifying the Rules of Rolling Out a Successful Paperless Tax Workflow
  • Building Your Bullet-Proof Plan for Paperless Practices
  • 10 Questions to Ask When Considering Tax Document Automation
  • Automating the Tax Process for Maximum Efficiency – Taking a Phased Approach
    
    
• Free CPA Firm Case Studies
  • The Evolution of a Paperless Tax Workflow—Importing Data from Scanned Tax Documents, Marcum LLP
  • Automating Workflow for Firm-wide Productivity, Sandersen Knox & Company, LLP
  • Taking Paperless One Step at a Time to Achieve Maximum Process Efficiency, J.R. Helms & Associates
  • Fuoco: Sharing “Better Practices” for Sustained Growth

As you contemplate the upcoming tax season, consider what you could accomplish if certain tasks were automated, files were structured electronically, client documents were easily accessible by your staff, and so much more. How much would all of that be worth to you?

There is still time to research and evaluate products. Share your thoughts and experiences here.

What does being a Trusted Business Advisor really mean?

Recently a discussion topic was posted on the AICPA Trusted Business Advisor Solution LinkedIn group about what it means to be a trusted business advisor and how to best keep an open communication stream with clients.

When thinking about marketing strategies for trusted business advisors, one of the LinkedIn group members said, “It’s all about positioning yourself as not only your client’s trusted financial advisor, but also as their trusted business advisor.” He went on to say that advisors need to focus on general management issues, not just tax and accounting matters, and to visit with clients at least once quarterly to ensure you are kept abreast of what’s happening in their business.

Another member concurred that one of the most valuable techniques a trusted business advisor can employ is the “human touch” method of checking in regularly, outside of the service cycle.  She wrote, “Nothing says I’m thinking about you and I care about your success more than an outbound e-mail or phone call out of cycle.”

“Avoid being on the wrong side of the price/value curve,” commented another member. “Now more than ever, we need to communicate value.”

Some of the marketing strategies several people mentioned included:

• Webinars to communicate legislative/regulatory changes and how those changes may impact your clients’ business;
• Client newsletters and white papers on broader, general management topics demonstrating your command of not only the profession, but of the business world overall;
• Speaking engagements aimed at value-added services and issues clients face  in the current economic climate; and
• Hiring marketing, communication, and/or public relation staff to assist the firm in establishing its position as a trusted business advisor.

You might consider joining the AICPA Trusted Business Advisor Solutions LinkedIn group to learn more about best practices in the profession, to share advice, to ask questions, and to become a member of a 1,000+-person group of professionals like you.

Additionally, “Becoming a Trusted Business Advisor: How to Add Value, Improve Client Loyalty, and Increase Profits” was recently released. Find out how to uncover critical client needs in ten minutes or less; how to help your clients prioritize their wish lists; and how to help them quantify the value of addressing each of the issues that keep them awake at night!

Further, CPA2Biz is also here to help you build your Trusted Business Advisor brand and relationship with your clients by offering several marketing programs to help keep your firm’s trusted business advisor status prominently in the marketplace, including:

• CPA Client Bulletin is a monthly newsletter designed by the AICPA as a marketing and communications tool for your practice. Choose to send as an email newsletter, print newsletter or as a pdf file you can post to your site. Your firm stays top of mind, and your clients and prospects will appreciate the tax, business, and financial planning ideas. Build your reputation as a trusted business advisor with CPA Client Bulletin.
• Google AdWords provide you with expert Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and consulting services to help you target local, regional, or national clients in a cost-effective way with your own customized online Google advertising campaigns.
•  Ready-to-use and customizable emails, flyers, and web site content and PowerPoint slides that you can download and share to help explain the benefits of cloud-based accounting services directly to your clients.

If you have trusted business advisor tips and marketing techniques, please share your thoughts and comments here.