CPA Practice Advisor - 7

FROM THE TRENCHES

RANDY JOHNSTON

EVP & Partner
K2 Enterprises &
CEO of Network Management Group, Inc.
randy.johnston@cpapracticeadvisor.com
@RPJohnston

These extended and compressed
seasons will make it harder to select
and implement strategic technology
this year. Throughout the years, I
have emphasized the importance
of team member experience and of
client experience. For us to do tax
in the most effective way possible,
our tax document automation has
to be right.

SO, WHAT IS THE
RIGHT TAX DOCUMENT
AUTOMATION?
Many pundits and advisors to
the profession suggest the same
strategies to all their clients and are
very consistent in their messaging
and presentations. While I want
you to be consistent in your firm,
I'm far from a one-size-fits-all
recommender. The goal of each
column is to give you two, three,
or more ideas that you can apply to
your practice. Plus, I recognize that
not every idea fits you or for that
matter is a "good one." I do try to
eliminate ideas and products that
I consider blatantly bad.
When it comes to tax document
automation, there is some lowhanging fruit that most firms have
reviewed, considered, and adopted,
while later abandoning the adoption
because the technology didn't
provide the benefit expected. This
benefit could be reduced costs,
less time invested, ease of use,
providing a service not available
with any other tools and more. It

is hard to believe that automated
1040 workpaper products for tax
compliance source documents are
over 15 years old!
What are your firm's tax
compliance document issues, and
how can you address them? Consider
these issues with software solutions
named in my June column (www.
CPAPracticeAdvisor.com/21137397) :
■ Personal Tax source documents (and
entry) - 1040 workpaper products
■ Business Tax source documents
(and entry) - Audit tools and trial
balance tools
■ Inefficiency internally - workflow
software, scheduling software, Six
Sigma process optimization
■ Gathering client documents of all
types - Prepared by Client (PBC)
software, which has grown to
almost 20 options in four years!
■ Por t als to del iver f i nal work
products - Standalone, integrated
w it h pr ac t ic e m a n ag e me nt ,
or integ rated w it h document
management
■ eSignature products - to gather
client signatures where permissible,
such as completing 8879s
■ Review tools - to optimize valuable
reviewer, senior and partner time
Note that I'm not trying to
name products in the prior list, but
rather categories of inefficiencies in
your tax practice. The most heartbreaking report this season was
from a firm that was all paper based,
that had no remote access, and was
locked out of its offices for 60 days.
The work simply piled up and the
tax professionals had a once in a
lifetime holiday during tax season.
Unfortunately, they didn't really
get to vacation anywhere. Another
firm had to send clerical staff in
to scan client documentation, and
this team was fearful of contracting
COVID-19 from their commute or
from each other while they were in
the office. (By the way, that did happen in more than one firm.) You see,
there are other issues to consider

to make your tax department work
effectively. And while most firms
do pull together to complete tax
seasons year after year, perhaps
partners could make the situation
more livable for everyone involved.
Consider this list:
■ The ability to work remotely as if
you are in the office
■ Computer hardware that is fast
and reliable
■ Scanning paper documents in the
office and at home if needed
■ Multiple monitors of the right size
for efficiency
■ Hav ing the r ight level of staff
handling the right returns or work
■ Scheduling time so team members
can comfortably participate in
family events
■ Providing really good and healthy
meals (not pizza!) on a regular basis
■ And many more
Please ask yourself what are
the key problems my team faces
and what can be done to address
the issues?

AND WHAT TOOLS
ARE MOST EFFECTIVE,
PROVIDE THE HIGHEST
ROI, OR ARE EASY TO
MISS?
I'm sticking with my June column
tax software recommendations,
but the lack of other supporting
tools continues to bother me. For
example, we'll discuss document
management and portals more next
month. Other tax tools to consider
include:
■ Business Trial Balance software
with OnPoint PCR, CCH Axcess
Financial Prep, or Tallyfor
■ 1040 Workpapers with CCH Scan
with Autoflow, Doc-It, GruntWorx
Populate, SurePrep 1040Scan, or
Thomson Reuters Source Document
Processing
■ Workflow with XCM, CCH Axcess
Workstream, or FirmFlow
■ Scheduling with ProStaff, WSG
Empire Resource, or XCM

AUGUST 2020 ■

Please ask
yourself what
are the key
problems my
team faces and
what can be
done to
address the
issues?
■ PBC document gathering with CCH
Axcess Client Collaboration, Citrix
ShareFile, Doc-It Connect (or their
whole Suite), or Thomson Reuters
Onvio
■ And more
You can choose all the software
solutions you'd like, but if you aren't
stepping up to identify and manage
operational problems in your tax
department, which could include
uncontrollable partners, all the
technology in the world won't make
you more efficient.

DECIDE THE RIGHT THING
FOR YOU, YOUR FIRM,
AND YOUR CLIENTS!
What experience do you want your
team members to have? What
experience do you want your clients
to have? Tax compliance is still
commonly 40-80% of firm revenue.
What are you doing to protect and
improve your tax department?
While we discuss many
technologies and service alternatives
for CPA firms, we recognized just how
critical tax remains as a service and a
revenue stream today. What have you
done to improve your tax operations
lately? ■

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CPA Practice Advisor

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