With tax season coming to an end this week, the next 60 to 90 days offers firms a chance to take a deep breath, consider the high and lows of tax season, and come to some conclusions about what they need to do to make it better the next time around. A tax season postmortem will help your firm learn from the past to build a more efficient firm.
Tax Season Postmortem: Five Questions to Ask Yourself
For example, here are five questions to consider:
- Did tax season go as smoothly as it could have?
- If the answer is yes, was anything different than year’s past?
- If the answer is no, is there a reason why that you can identify?
- Did we have enough staff to get the job done?
- If the answer is yes, how did you keep your staff happy and provide a work/life balance?
- If the answer is no, did you consider taking advantage of outsourcing or temporary staff to meet client demand
- Were clients happy with the service they received?
- If yes, can you point to a reason why?
- If the answer is no, what are you going to do to ensure they remain “your” clients?
- Did the technology the firm utilizes create new efficiencies, help staff save time and be more productive, or eliminate the need to work in disparate systems?
- If yes, can you point to an end result (e.g. new, additional, unexpected revenue?)
- If no, are you considering making a change?
- What changes — if any — do we need to start thinking about and/or implementing in the short term vs. the long term to ensure the future success of the firm?
- Is it staffing?
- Is it a technology upgrade?
- Should we be moving to the cloud?
- Should we be more proactive and responsive to clients? And if so, how?
- Should we schedule best practices software training for employees to ensure they’re using it correctly?
As you can see, there are a lot of things to consider before you just flip the page on tax season and start addressing the extension season. So before you do so just that, take a little time to think about the tax season you just finished.
Find out what other firms are doing to improve their tax processes. Dozens of firms share their experiences: The Many Faces of CCH Solutions
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