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Continuing Education That Adds To Your Bottom Line

Accounting, finance and law are among the most challenging disciplines.  From Enron to Madoff, the climate is getting increasingly more scandalous requiring professionals in these fields to face increasing ongoing education.  Even the new tax preparer’s license will be required to meet continuing education requirements. Whether or not you believe the new continuing education requirements for accountants will protect employees and investors from losses remains to be seen.  Nonetheless, diligent and responsible practitioners must comply or face damaging consequences.

Fortunately, there is no shortage of options for fulfilling your annual requirements.  Here is a look at the advantages and disadvantages of opting for self-study, in-person, or web-based programs.

Live – Live CPE is the preferred method of delivery for continuing education for accountants.  It continues to be the best source of content, interaction with faculty and other professionals and tends to feature more practical application for business owners through the ability to network with other professionals and instructors.  The drawbacks of course are the inconvenience and cost of travel, and the cost of the events tend to run more expensive than less expensive alternatives. 

Online – For those of us with busy schedules, online courses are a good choice.  With improvements in technology, participants can earn CPE credit by following along live online while proving they are “paying attention” through live responses to polling questions and monitoring devices.  Disadvantages lie in the lack of benefitting from other participants interaction, and the one-on-one convenience of interaction with the instructor.  While most platforms allow for questions, many involve an apprentice fielding questions via text which can be difficult for getting the exact answer.

Self-Study – Looking to get credit for hours you spend “skimming” material?  Look no further than self study continuing education.  Self study methods give new meaning to “going at your own pace.”  Most participants enjoy the ability to scan material. So long as the student submits to a course exam with a passing score, full course credits are given despite the fact that the participant may have completed the material in less time.  Benefits of course include the ability to review material from virtually anywhere at any time, providing a nice alternative to busy schedules and less travel.  Disadvantages?  Zero interaction with human beings (unless you happen to call into the provider for assistance), no real way to get answers to questions, and typically zero entertainment value. (in case you’re wondering, YES, I am saying it is boring!)

Earn a Return on Investment for your education!  Have you ever stopped to calculate your return on investment (ROI) on your continuing education dollars?  While they may be informative and required for compliance, most continuing education courses for accountants do not provide a direct ROI for the attendees.  Certified Tax Coaches courses are different.  More than a tax education, the CTC Tax Planning Academy is the only tax course providing a true ROI.  Participants on average recoup their enrollment fees in less than 2 months after our 3-day academy, and over 75% of enrollees see a positive ROI often multiplying their investment ten-fold. 

The Tax Planning Academy is offered both live and through our online system.

Creating a More Efficient and Secure Practice Through Client Portals

Since sending clients their tax returns via email is no longer an option, accountants are searching for alternatives to email communicating and collaborating with clients. 

Not only does this help practitioners comply with federal and state regulations requiring encryption of sensitive information (like social security numbers) but there are real practice management benefits as well. 

Many firms are experiencing significant time savings and increased office efficiency through the use of client portals. 

Portals can be used for many things: receiving client information such as QuickBooks files and source documents typically too large to email, an increased number of accountants also use the portals to post clients’ completed tax returns. 

Many tax software vendors are offering portals built into their software including Thomson Reuters, ATX, TaxWise, ProSystem fx and Drake.  There are also a number of alternative providers in the form of website hosting services for accountants.  Accountants World, CPA Site Solutions, and EMochilla all offer client portals included with website hosting.

Although some portal providers charge a significant amount for the service, small business accountants find that improved efficiency and reduced requests for tax returns copies help to offset the expense.  Others have been able to pass on the cost to their clients either directly or indirectly by padding their fees.

Implementing the portal system can be a challenge as any new way of doing business.  Setup can be accomplished with an all-at-once approach, or by responding with a portal when clients request documents.  This resistance to change appears to be decreasing with the acceptance of online banking practices.  The more taxpayers get comfortable with handling their finances online, the more they expect this level of service from their practitioners.

Creating a TRULY Paperless Office

If you’re like me, you may have thought in the past that creating a paperless office means:

1. Using a traditional paper tax file to complete the tax prep process
2. At the end of the process, scan the tax file to make it “paperless”

WRONG.

While you may cut down on the document storage by “end scanning” your tax files, you are completely missing the benefits of becoming truly paperless. First, you aren’t benefitting from the efficiency paperless work flow brings. Second, you aren’t really helping the environment. Afterall, the amount of paper required to prepare the return stays the same with “end scanning.”

To take full advantage of running a paperless tax practice, I recommend getting a high-speed scanner. In my office, I use a Fujitsu ScanSnap. This compact scanner is affordable, compact, accurate and FAST! My admin team can scan client documents and organizers at lightening speed. Immediately after scanning, we return the original documents to the client. We have no further need for the paper.

A very important tool in a paperless environment is your computer monitor. Ideally you should have more than 1. I recommend at least 3 monitors for efficiency. You can have your tax prep software for both current and prior year open on each monitor, and your source documents open on the third. Essentially, you’ve now recreated the old fashioned paper tax files right on your computer screens. ‘

How many monitors are on your desk? If you’ve got a cool multiple monitor configuration, we’d love to hear about it. Email us an image of your desk and we’ll feature it here on our blog! You might even win our upcoming “Mine is Bigger Than Yours” contest. Be sure to submit your entry right away!

From your multiple monitors, you can copy and paste, and enter data while viewing your information side-to-side, rather than looking down at your desk and up at the screen. Using multiple monitors improves accuracy, and overall increases the speed with which you can find information. Now that I’ve switched, I can never go back to “hunting and pecking” through my paper files looking for information.

Once you’ve converted to a paperless environment as I’ve described, you truly are paperless and can reap all the rewards.

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