Accounting
How CPAs can manage deadlines, optimize client communication and reduce year-end stress
Time management is critical in every industry and for all organizations. Budgeting employee resources, managing workflows and hitting deadlines are all part and parcel to doing business. But in the accounting world, time management isn’t just important – it’s elemental.
CPAs and accounting firms live (or die) by calendars and clear communication, with daily and annual deadlines — and many more intermediary checkpoints in between — dictating their day-to-day activities and priorities. Most of you in the field have an intrinsic understanding of this standard, and you have likely adapted your work rhythms to meet those demands.
But here’s a thought: What about your clients?
No matter how meticulous your team may be about managing time and meeting deadlines, clients can always be counted on to complicate the process. A CPA can only work as fast as their client does, and every delay and missed deadline has the potential to shift workflows and introduce new complexities that threaten to affect business — including that of other clients. Pick your metaphor — slippery slope, snowball effect, house of cards. None of them bodes well for an accounting firm trying to stay on task and satisfy a plurality of clients whose tax and accounting needs often culminate simultaneously.
So what’s the answer for accountants and auditors hoping to reduce work stress, promote smarter time management and reliably communicate deadlines and workflows to all stakeholders, especially when industry-related chokepoints inevitably arrive?
Start with communication best practices
The office can be a wild place, with a diversity of cognition and communication patterns — not only among colleagues but also clients. It’s an ecosystem like any other. But without rules in place to dictate how, when, why and to whom we convey information to one another, much of that communication is at risk of being lost in translation.
For instance, who handles your firm’s social media account? It may be a single employee or a team, but everyone involved must be on the same page about the goal, or goals, of social media. (For instance, is it community outreach? Marketing? Lead generation? All of the above?) That includes a plan that outlines precisely what information should be communicated, what forms they will take and clear direction about voice and tone.
At the end of the day, the crux of a firm’s communication best practices should be overcommunication. Careful consideration should be given to what needs to be covered in every face-to-face, Zoom call, email and marketing campaign. After each client interface, for example, a bullet-pointed list of next steps that includes key dates and deadlines can be a useful reminder to all stakeholders that also helps appropriately prioritize workflows for all. Building in regular communications, often via automation, through email updates, social media, SMS and text messaging helps ensure that clients are aware of and striving to meet the deadlines that are so critical to your business.
Create a better calendar
Hopefully you’re no longer relying only on the old-school broadsheet calendar tucked into the vinyl corners. There simply isn’t a desk big enough to hold the paper calendar you would need to denote every task and deadline coming down the pike. But even the standard-issue digital calendar built into your computer or handheld device likely isn’t sufficient when it comes to maintaining your busy schedule, let alone aligning it with those of a team and a long list of clients. In the mission of time management, streamlining and simplifying is the name of the game — and a truly dynamic calendar is your game-changer.
The key: high-quality calendar tools — including add to calendar widgets and subscription calendar features. A quick look under the hood reveals the kind of horsepower delivered by what could be mistaken as standard or basic offerings:
- Help CPAs, auditors and their teams stay organized by easily adding important deadlines and events to their personal calendars.
- Add events to clients’ calendars to help ensure that all stakeholders involved in a project are on the same page, while reducing the risk of missed meetings or deadlines.
- Subscription options that allow for clients and teams to follow those calendars and receive synced updates, making it easier for teams and clients to stay informed and manage their workflows.
Does this feature seem like something nearly every business and individual employee could benefit from? Quite likely, yes. Especially considering the time crunches accounting firms routinely face at specific points every year, like everyone’s favorite — tax season.
Given the full-stop necessity of receiving client paperwork within deadlines, a dynamic and easy-to-use calendar features are a CPA’s and auditor’s best friend.
The value of creating free informational resources
The usefulness of setting, changing and sharing deadlines with teams and clients in real time should be self-evident, particularly for accounting firms. But an integrated, dynamic and shareable calendar is just a single piece of the puzzle.
Getting clients to your conference table on time is a necessary step, but you’ve got to give them a reason to show up in the first place – and to then keep coming back. Creating informational content is an excellent way to showcase your firm’s expertise, introduce topics and concepts that spur conversation with clients and drive additional business. Readily accessible landing pages, blog posts and infographics — featured statically on your firm’s website, but also shared on social media and via email and message campaigns — build confidence in your firm’s capabilities and help promote and sell offerings that clients otherwise may not have even realized they needed or wanted.
Levels of attentiveness and tech savvy differ widely among prospects and clients. Make your tools and campaigns as simple, accessible and user-friendly as possible, whether that’s a straightforward “add an event” button or informational content that clearly aligns with your firm’s marketing materials and business offerings. Your frazzled, overworked future self will thank you for it later.
Sweating the small stuff to avoid chronic stress
You may be sensing a theme here: a monastic attention to the details of work communication. And while the approach might be cynically viewed as micromanagement, the alternative — leaving stones unturned — is the quickest path to a snarl of missed deadlines, long nights of making up for lost time and a work-life balance for an entire staff that feels like a never-ending case of collective vertigo.
The best antidote to that worst-case scenario is a blend of established communication goals, best-practices development and the organization-wide employment of tech-based communication tools. In the case of CPAs, the old adage of failing to plan holds true: Take decisive and deliberate steps toward building a communication infrastructure that can be understood and adhered to by all involved stakeholders, or you might as well be planning to fail.
The 2024 elections are nearly upon us, with the fate of the tax world hanging in the balance. Of course, other important issues loom as well, including open borders, crime, inflation, and conflicts in Europe and the Middle East, as well as the style and personality of the candidates themselves. But for tax nerds, these are eclipsed by the positions offered by the candidates on taxation.
The tax landscape is highly dependent on the fate of the election, according to Marc Gerson, a member at Miller & Chevalier and former majority counsel at the House Ways and Means Committee.
“Obviously the fate of the 2017 tax cuts is at stake,” he explained. “But also what happens during the lame duck session is critical. The focal point will be to extend the 2017 provisions which were enacted on a temporary basis. Some have expired, while others will expire at the end of 2025, so it’s safe to say that regardless of the election results, we will see some tax legislation next year. Neither party wants to see higher taxes on all Americans. What is to be determined is the length and scope of any extension and how it will be paid for.”
They also have to pass a budget, he observed: “And regardless of formal requirements, there will be incredible pressure on Congress and the White House to pay for legislation so there will be no increase in the deficit. Some Republicans assert that the tax cuts ‘paid for themselves,’ since revenue increased after enactment of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.”
“There are Republicans that take the position that the extension of the TCJA should not have to be paid for because under dynamic scoring they will lead to greater revenue,” Gerson observed. “But some Republicans prefer deficit reduction to tax relief, and some Democrats believe that tax cuts will add to an already overburdened deficit.”
Dynamic scoring assesses the effect of tax legislation not only in terms of its direct effect on the budget, but also the indirect effects of tax on economic growth. It projects a positive or negative effect on jobs, wages, investment, gross domestic product and revenue.
The reconciliation process allows the passage of the budget without the impediment of a filibuster by the minority party. The post-election “lame duck” Congress will return to Washington November 12.
“So much depends on the election. If either party has a sweep, they will try to do tax through reconciliation. Then the extreme policies of either party will get tempered down,” said Gerson. “The other thing to keep in mind is that Congress and the White House next year will have immediate ‘must pass’ legislation so they will have to deal with the deficit, government funding and tax law. They really have a full agenda of ‘must pass’ legislation from the beginning of the year. It will be very challenging right from the start.”
Perhaps foremost among that must-pass legislation will be some kind of solution for funding the government (the current arrangement ends December. 20).
“The productivity of the new Congress is dependent on the election results, which may result in a change in control of both the House and the Senate,” said Gerson. “This may result in the delay of any real consideration in the lame duck session. The new Congress will have to deal with the debt limit, government funding, a farm bill and the TCJA tax cuts. Meanwhile, the current continuing resolution expires December 20. There could be disaster-related legislation in the lame duck session, which could involve targeted disaster tax relief and may start the discussion of a 2024 tax bill. And they may pass either an omnibus appropriations bill if they can agree on it, or another continuing resolution bill into the new year.”
Global confidence among accountants and finance professionals globally declined moderately in the third quarter of this year and is now at its lowest level since Q4 2023, although confidence increased in North America, according to the quarterly
The survey, released Tuesday, found CFOs’ confidence also declined globally amid a sharp deterioration in their assessment of new orders. Even though confidence improved in North America, it recovered less than half of its previous decline. In contrast, there was a significant decrease in confidence in the Asia Pacific region. Concerns about the continued weakness of the Chinese economy probably weighed on sentiment, with the survey being completed before the authorities announced a pivot to a more aggressive policy stimulus. Confidence also fell significantly in Western Europe, driven by a decline in U.K. confidence, amid concerns about tax hikes in the upcoming budget.
The survey also asked accountants to rank their top three risk priorities and for the second consecutive quarter, regulatory change ranked at the top for respondents in financial services, while the economy remained in first place for those in the corporate sector. Both public sector entities and small and medium-sized practices cited cybersecurity as their largest concern. But for the first time, climate change claimed a spot in the top three, with the public sector placing it third. Another first-ever was by region, with Western Europe ranking talent scarcity and retention first.
“The global economy has been quite resilient so far in 2024, but the latest survey of accountants points to some easing in growth at the current juncture,” said ACCA chief economist Jonathan Ashworth in a statement.
The proportion of respondents reporting increased operating costs remains elevated by historical standards in most parts of the world, although the share of global respondents reporting problems accessing finance moved lower again amid policy easing by central banks.
“While the increase in confidence in North America is welcome, the key indicators are consistent with some slowing in the U.S. economy and significant caution on behalf of businesses,” said
Alain Mulder, senior director of Europe operations and global special projects at the IMA, in a statement. “But with the job market showing resilience and the Federal Reserve beginning its rate-cutting cycle, the most likely scenario for the U.S. economy still looks to be a soft landing.
In North America, confidence improved somewhat in Q3, but recovered less than half of Q2’s decline, and remained below its historical average. The New Orders, Capital Expenditure and Employment indices all declined in different degrees and are well below their historical averages. The proportion of respondents reporting increased operating costs eased to its lowest since Q1 2021, while remaining high by historical standards.
“All in all, while the increase in confidence is welcome, the key indicators are consistent with some slowing in the U.S. economy and significant caution on behalf of businesses,” said the report. “But with the job market showing resilience and the Federal Reserve beginning its rate-cutting cycle, the most likely scenario for the U.S. economy still looks to be a soft landing. Nevertheless, given the uncertainty faced by firms amid the election, and sharply heightened geopolitical tensions, one cannot rule out a sharper-than-expected slowdown.”
Materia’s platform can answer accounting queries in plain language and embed citations so users can verify the information. It also functions as a document workspace, complete with analysis templates that can be saved and shared with a team, allowing for standardized work, as well as automatically generated insights. The platform can also be loaded with the firm’s own guidance and policies, client documents and contracts, and engagement files, as well as create templates based on the firm’s own checklists. There is also a dedicated search engine for authoritative sources like the SEC, IRS and FASB, which also includes documents and integrations within the library. Finally, the platform features an accounting engine that can handle large-scale accounting workflows, from running templates to multi-stage planning.
“Our vision is to provide each professional we serve with a Gen AI assistant. Materia will further accelerate this vision for our tax, audit and accounting customers,” said David Wong, Chief Product Officer, Thomson Reuters. “Once fully integrated, Materia will transform work and unify the entire customer experience with applications across our tax, audit, and accounting portfolio. We are excited by the potential of combining Materia with Thomson Reuters content, know-how, and solutions.”
Thomson Reuters Ventures, an early investor in Materia, led the effort to launch a proof-of-concept initiative that allowed select Checkpoint Edge users to engage with certain Checkpoint content through Materia’s AI assistant. The promising initial results from this work provides confidence that Thomson Reuters and Materia together can best leverage generative AI to deliver value for Thomson Reuters tax, audit and accounting customers.
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