The Radical CPA: Seriously, How Did it Get to be Year-End?

I don’t know about you guys, but my after-tax season seems to get shorter and shorter every year. In fact, I’m not even sure if there is still a tax season.

We have moved a lot of work outside of tax season because of the change in our business model. This is not a bad thing. In fact, I think it’s a great thing.  However, our year is BUSY, with tax season really just being six weeks of insanity and then back to the regular flow of work.

Believe me, six weeks is way better than a 14-week tax season.

We have small interruptions for vacations, then extensions, and right into tax planning all the while communicating and talking to small business owners all year.

This is a good thing for the new firm business model, but it also means we need to be working “on” our firm all year. No longer do you have the excuse to say, “Well, I’ll wait till after tax season.” That’s over.

Technology, process, and experience improvements need to be strategically happening all year with just a six-week intermission.

Think about that for a minute.

Now get ready for it: this should especially happen DURING tax season as a way to document what’s right and more importantly what’s wrong. We don’t have the luxury of being in cruise control in the summer or fall or even year-end. The world keeps moving!

So as we wrap up 2015 and start to think about next year, I’m watching how my firm is evolving. I’m embracing tax season as just a short blip in my work life flow. I’m continuing to plan strategically for changes in January and February, with a break in March and April, and right back working toward continuous improvements in May and June.

This is a new way of thinking for me. I hope you’ll join me this year and we can check in together next fall and see how it worked for us. Stay tuned!

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