Art of Accounting: 142 free checklists for tax season and more

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I just finished updating my annual tax season checklists, including many about practice management, getting affairs in order and a bunch of other checklists. There are two sections: one with 117 checklists and the other with 25.

The checklists are in a very usable Word file comprising over 250 pages and 72,000 words. I added 22 checklists to last year’s file and also had to read, edit and update all of them. It’s getting a little overwhelming and is taking much more time than I ever imagined. I need to rethink how I will do this next year, but for now, it’s all done and available to you for free. Last year, my checklists were provided to almost 7,000 colleagues via this column, postings on open forums, and my CPA Academy tax season webinar attendees. I expect to distribute even more this year.

The checklists have been grouped in sections for tax season, client relations and billing, post-tax-season retrospectives, staff management, controllership, bankruptcy, succession planning, business valuations, mergers and acquisitions, financial planning, entrepreneurship, practice management, some personal type of checklists and a getting your affairs in order toolkit. This year there are many more checklists for accountants in the industry and some really cool bankruptcy and M&A checklists that some partners helped me with.

Every checklist has been used by me. This year, with my virtual consulting and over 25 different webinars, my checklist file has expanded even more.

They are in a Word file, so they can be copied and pasted and used as you want in your practice and with your clients. You can identify the checklist you want to use and search the name to get to the full checklist. To download the checklists, click here. If you have trouble with that, email me at GoodiesFromEd@withum.com and just put “Checklists” as the subject.

Enjoy them and have a good tax season.

Do not hesitate to contact me at emendlowitz@withum.com with your practice management questions or about engagements you might not be able to perform.

Edward Mendlowitz, CPA, is partner at WithumSmith+Brown, PC, CPAs. He is on the Accounting Today Top 100 Influential People list. He is the author of 24 books, including “How to Review Tax Returns,” co-written with Andrew D. Mendlowitz, and “Managing Your Tax Season, Third Edition.” Ed also writes a twice-a-week blog addressing issues that clients have at www.partners-network.com along with the Pay-Less-Tax Man blog for Bottom Line. Ed is an adjunct professor in the MBA program at Fairleigh Dickinson University teaching end user applications of financial statements. Art of Accounting is a continuing series where Ed shares autobiographical experiences with tips that he hopes can be adopted by his colleagues. Ed welcomes practice management questions and can be reached at (732) 743-4582 or emendlowitz@withum.com.