Today's Technology for Tomorrow's Firm.
Issue link: https://cpapracticeadvisor.epubxp.com/i/53322
VOLUME 22, NUMBER 2 MY PERSPECTIVE 800-456-0864 • www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com Publisher: Jim Baker Executive Editor: M. Darren Root, CPA.CITP Technical Editor: Brian Tankersley, CPA.CITP Editor: Isaac M. O'Bannon Managing Editor: Jill Burnett Associate Editor: Taija Jenkins Columnists: David McClure Doug Sleeter Kristy Short Jason Blumer, CPA.CITP Randy Johnston Rene Lacerte Roman H. Kepczyk, CPA.CITP Art Director: Rhonda Cousin National Sales Manager: Robert Akert Site Manager: Rhonda Dennis Media Production Representative: Barb Evenson Audience Development Manager: Angela Kelty Editorial Advisory Board: Bob Cedergren, CPA.CITP, CISA, CISM, CISSP, CGEIT Chris Fraser, CPA.CITP, CISA, MCP Jason Lawhorn, CPA.CITP Gary A. Masino, CPA Ryan McCowan, CPA.CITP Linda O'Neal Troy Patton, CPA David Primes, CPA.CITP Donny Shimamoto, CPA.CITP Doug Sleeter Sandra L. Wiley CYGNUS BUSINESS MEDIA CEO: John French CFO: Paul Bonaiuto EVP, Digital: Tom Kohn VP, Human Resources: Ed Wood VP, Audience Development: Julie Nachtigal VP, Technology: Eric Kammerzelt CYGNUS PUBLISHING Executive Vice President: Gloria Cosby Vice President of Production Operations: Curt Pordes A Reprints - To purchase article reprints, please contact Foster Printing, Attn: Jill Kaletha, 4295 Ohio Street, Michigan City, IN 46360, 866-879-9144 ext. 168, jillk@fosterprinting.com or 1-800-875-3251, email sales@fosterprinting.com The opinions given by contributing authors are their own and are not the opinions of our staff. All trademarks used are the property of their respective owner. —————————————————— —————————————————— ———————— Practice Advisor, (ISSN #2160-8725; USPS #017-576) is published eight times a year (January, May, June, July, August, September, October, November and December) by Cygnus Business Media, Inc., incorporating two editions known as CPA Practice Advisor and NSA Practice Advisor, 1233 Janesville Avenue, Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin 53538. Periodicals postage paid at Fort Atkinson, WI 53538 and at additional mailing offi ces. Printed in the U.S.A. Send all subscription inquiries or change of address to: Practice Advisor, PO Box 3258, Northbrook, IL 60065-3258. Phone: (877) 382-9187 (toll free); 847-559-7598 (local) Fax: (847) 564-9453 Email: Circ.CPA@omeda.com Subscription Policy: Individual subscriptions are available without charge in the U.S. to qualifi ed subscribers. Publisher reserves the right to reject non-qualifi ed subscriptions. Subscription prices: USA-$48; CAN $70 GST; INTL $99 GST #13191068 POSTMASTER, please send address changes to: Practice Advisor, P.O. Box 3258, Northbrook, IL 60065-3258. Canadian address changes to: Canada Post PM40612608. Return Undeliverable Canadian Addresses to: Practice Advisor, PO Box 25542, London, ON N6C 6B2. Electronic Tax Workfl ow for the 2012 Busy Season At Root & Associates, we put a lot of thought and discussion into fi nding the ideal plan for our 2012 tax workfl ow. Over the past year, I had the opportunity to speak with and gain insight from hundreds of fi rms about their 2012 tax season plans. So as I began to think about our plan, I started with these basic premises in mind: • I want to promote and encourage as many clients as possible to use online client access (portals). • I want to use up-front scanning to get documents digitized as early as pos- sible in the process. • I want to electronically fi le all returns. • I prefer to print as few paper copies of returns as possible. • I want our workfl ow system to elec- tronically track the process and status of each return. With these ideas in mind, we mapped out our 2012 tax process and began to discuss ways we could improve upon our existing processes. From tax organizer creation to fi nal return delivery to the signature on the e-fi le form, we diligently discussed every detail of the process. Organizers We fi rst thought about the organizer. We wanted to print as few organizers as possible. In 2011, we emailed the majority of our organizers sensitive information such as SSN, bank account information and birthdates redacted. I've always felt a bit uneasy about emailing organizers due to the lack of security with email. I realize we redacted the sensitive information, but I still felt uneasy about it. T is year, our plan is to put all organizers in our portals for online client access. T e goal is to get clients to go to our website early in the tax process to encourage adoption. Clients can choose to print their orga- nizer from their portal or just fi ll it out online. Source Documents Source document processing was next. In order to get to front-end scanning, we needed a solution that would provide us the tools to do all the things with docu- ments digitally that we could do on paper. T is requires more than just a scanned PDF. T ere are solutions in the market- place that are geared toward an electronic 1040 workpaper model. I believe it's important to implement such a solution if you are truly going to get to front-end scanning. We are encouraging our clients to scan and digitally submit their docu- ments to our offi ce, as well. Practice Management Implementation of a practice manage- ment application is critical to project tracking, due date monitoring, database management and billing. For several years, our offi ce has had the ability to electronically track projects from cre- ation to completion. In my conversations with fi rms, I've found that this area of their practice has been slowest to adopt the latest technologies. Electronic Filing Electronic fi ling is a must today. T e IRS made sure of that in 2010. Our fi rm has electronically fi led all returns for many years and can't imagine not doing so today. T e issue we continue to struggle with is the best way to get the e-file forms signed. We have, for the past several years, hoped the IRS would begin accepting electronic signatures on the form to better facilitate the process. And although the Service recently issued additional guidance on the topic, I don't feel their solution gets us to where we need to be to make the process more effi cient. Electronic Deliverables Finally, our goal is to continue adoption across our client base of the electronic delivery of the client copy of the return. This means we need to continue to educate and encourage our clients to use our website, via the online client access, for the delivery of their returns. Close to 90% of our clients have already adopted this method of delivery from us. My goal for 2012 is to continue to make this form of delivery the preferred method. Evolving Our goals and processes are continually evolving. Some things work as antici- pated, and some have to be tweaked along the way. T e key is to realize that the path to continual improvement involves planning, executing and re- evaluating. I hope you take your fi rm down the path to improvement this year. M. Darren Root, CPA.CITP Executive Editor Darren is the Executive Editor of CPA Practice Advisor. He remains in public practice as the principal of Root & Associates, LLC, in Blooming- ton, Indiana, and is president of his consulting practice, RootWorks. He formerly served on the Board of the AICPA's CITP Credentials Committee and is a former member of the Board of Directors for the Indiana CPA Society. He speaks at dozens of professional organizations each year and frequently serves as a guest lecturer at Indiana University's Kelley School of Business. February 2012 • www.CPAPract .CPAPracticeAdvisortiiceAdAdviisor.com 3