You are busy, as is your firm, and everyone you work with. Success is much easier when everyone works together and does their part. That means no one holds up anyone else. Here are some suggestions on how not to be the holdup.
During tax season (and also the rest of the year), everyone is part of the team. One person lagging or falling behind or not meeting their due date commitment holds back everyone else. Tax preparation needs smooth coordination between the admin staff, schedulers, preparers, reviewers and partners. Each person should be tasked with following up on missing information and making sure everything is moving as it should. Within the process may also be tax specialists who are asked to research issues that develop during the preparation process. Anyone who doesn’t respond in a timely way is holding up the return.
Holdups fall into a few categories:
- Someone, such as a partner, has unique information that is needed to have a return completed;
- Information is missing;
- Someone is not qualified to either prepare or review a particular return;
- Someone needs help completing a return or just to be able to move forward; and
- A technical question needs an answer from a specialist.
There are probably others, but let’s work with these. Many partners are notorious for not sharing information they learn. This can be a continuing problem. Some firms lack an adequate system to capture this data, leaving it to the “memory” of the partner to divulge it when it’s needed, though it should have been divulged earlier to the preparer. This delays the prep process. Some firms have workflow software that can house this info, but staffers need to be trained to look there, and they must look there. Some partners receive documents during the year that will be needed for the tax prep such as a closing statement for a vacation house that was sold. This would be properly stored in the client’s file, and if a memo is also entered in the workflow software, there are two shots at the preparer finding it to use when working on the return.
Missing information is never the fault of the client. It is the fault of the preparer not following up enough to get the missing info. I tell my staff that if I do not get a complaint from a client that the staff person is calling them too many times for the missing info, then they are not doing their job well. If a client becomes “impossible” to deal with, then the supervisor or partner should be asked to call the client to get it. The return needs to be kept moving. Getting stuck with missing data is a prescription for a rush crisis just before the due date. If a staff person speaks to a client once, and the client acknowledges the missing data and says they will send it to us, it’s not adequate if the data is not received within a few days.
Staff training is a management issue and staff should be properly trained. Beginners should start with easier returns and gradually move up. Staff should be sent to the appropriate level of CPE courses, supplemented by in-house sessions and, my favorite, on-the-job training. Scheduling unprepared people to work on something they shouldn’t is a waste of firm resources, money and parts of each person’s life. It’s not fun and has a debilitating effect on everyone.
Technical questions always arise, and each firm needs a Mr. or Ms. Answerperson for the preparer to consult. However, this should not be instead of the preparer trying to find out the answer for themselves. I suggest a half hour budget for this. If preparers don’t have the answer by that time, they can ask for help. When they do, they should say where they looked and what they found, or did not find, but I feel that half-hour effort must be made. I also suggest the requests be made in writing, with the question clearly presented. Writing out the question makes it clear what they are looking for. Many people answer the question themselves while writing it out.
Firm management should monitor the workflow to detect bottlenecks and then work to alleviate them. This should be done at a set time every day. How it is done is up to each firm, but it should be done. Even with staff spread out or working remotely, it can be done in less than 10 minutes. Sometimes someone is just stuck on something, and a friendly review of their workload status can get them unstuck. I know this works.
The overall concept is pretty simple: No one works completely alone. There is continuous interaction, and the firm is really a team with a common goal. Each person has to step up and make sure they’re not holding up anyone else.
I hope you are having a good tax season. Do not hesitate to contact me at
Edward Mendlowitz, CPA, is partner at
