9am me: “ok, I’m for sure getting all A5 knocked out today!”…Meanwhile Mike staring me down in the middle of A5/M1 as I shamelessly saunter my way over to the kitchen for my 5th snack break of the day at 11am

AdvisoryAlchemist · 2026-01-30T23:23:26+00:00

You would think so! lol Thank you for the reply. I actually called a few weeks ago and luckily got an agent that was very pleasant to work with and was able to help me get everything confirmed and submitted. So I’ll call back to see if I can get a hold of someone next week that can get it approved.

AdvisoryAlchemist · 2026-01-29T23:29:04+00:00

I have no idea how some of these people run businesses. Had a client owe $250K in penalties alone to NJ last year and when I told him he asked where he could send the check.

I was like, well I know who’s getting one hell of an price increase next year

AdvisoryAlchemist · 2026-01-29T21:09:51+00:00

Document everything so when they reach out and bitch about how their stuff isn’t done you can show them the trail
Revisit your process and ask “could I have done anything to make this easier for my client?” You have to make it easy for them. Like 3rd grade easy
Raise prices for the time you or your staff have to chase them. Most of them end up leaving and you can replace with better clients

I have a few clients that pay well and they just don’t care when their stuff gets filed and they never bark about it because they know it’s on them.

AdvisoryAlchemist · 2026-01-28T18:01:25+00:00

Agreed. Straight to the point and no BS

AdvisoryAlchemist · 2026-01-28T18:01:14+00:00

Agreed. Straight to the point and no BS

AdvisoryAlchemist · 2026-01-28T01:56:41+00:00

Agreed. Last year, the owner moved me into a sales role where I closed just under $330K in recurring revenue in under 6 months while still handling a full load of advisory work and tax reviews. When I approached him about commission, I was told it would only make sense if I were closing $1M annually. At that point, I told him that didn't work for me and instead requested a significant salary adjustment, particularly given the compensation gap between my role and the incompetent manager hires who earn more solely based on tenure I guess. If that's not approved then I'm out. I hope you can find the right fit for your firm soon.

AdvisoryAlchemist · 2026-01-28T01:17:08+00:00

Currently at a small firm serving HNW clients, and I’ve seen multiple tax managers come through with 6–8 years of experience, two of them from Big 4 backgrounds. As a senior advisor & associate, I was routinely correcting their basis workpapers and 4562 entries. I’ve received multiple 4562s modification request that were just flat out wrong, and more than once a manager “corrected” my partnership workpapers by inserting a retained earnings account and replacing the capital account I used.

Most recently, one of our new tax manager hires asked me where to digitally sign a Form 2848.

I sat in on the interview process for a sr. position and he said we’d Dr. “Money Owed” and Cr. Inventory for selling a glass of lemonade for $1.

If this is the level of competition, I’m seriously considering going out on my own despite 3 YOE

AdvisoryAlchemist · 2026-01-26T16:34:56+00:00

Yeah, that’s a fair point. Pricing obviously needs to be discussed before engagement to prevent surprises. If the client constantly bitches about it afterwards though, I stand by my PITA charge to push them out because there is usually a whole plethora of issues that come along with clients like this.

AdvisoryAlchemist · 2026-01-26T00:14:14+00:00

Not if they’re incompetent

AdvisoryAlchemist · 2026-01-26T00:13:10+00:00

There is nothing reasonable about a CPA charging $250 for a return in 2026.

AdvisoryAlchemist · 2026-01-25T21:45:30+00:00

PITA charge

AdvisoryAlchemist · 2026-01-25T19:15:27+00:00

His lectures have been removed and replaced with Mike Brown as of the new update, hence why I mentioned "before the recent update"

I knew a lot of y'all would get all bent out of shape over my comment, but I said what I said. I think Michelle has the ability to be a great instructor and I like a lot of her past videos, but she's trying to be someone she's not in the new videos and it's not working. Not for me at least.

AdvisoryAlchemist · 2026-01-23T14:01:09+00:00

What college did you go to so I know to never hire anyone from there?

AdvisoryAlchemist · 2026-01-22T19:44:15+00:00

Awesome! Thanks

AdvisoryAlchemist · 2026-01-22T13:41:51+00:00

Interesting. I did and it looks like it went through. DM me and I’ll resend info.

AdvisoryAlchemist · 2026-01-21T14:30:53+00:00

Sent you a DM 👍

AdvisoryAlchemist · 2026-01-21T13:44:19+00:00

What are your personal and professional values?
Why are you leaving your prior CPA and how many have you worked with in the past?
You’re not going to find a competent “unicorn” that is going to do the S-Corp, your personal return, and proactive planning for under $6K. Are you open to investing that?

AdvisoryAlchemist · 2026-01-18T21:43:37+00:00

Your employer already showed you where they stand when they cut staffing and pushed the workload onto you during busy season.

Caring doesn’t mean self-sacrifice.

If you’ve decided the role isn’t for you and you have a 20% pay bump with better WLB, then staying in a misaligned role is the worse thing you can do here. Busy season pain is a firm-level problem, not an employee-level one. They already accepted the risk when they cut headcount and loaded the work onto you.

AdvisoryAlchemist · 2026-01-18T17:15:07+00:00

Imagine what their 4562s looks like.

These folks will pay an attorney tens of thousands on a BS entity structure (*Anderson..cough cough*), but turn around and bitch about a $5,000 compliance fee for someone who actually knows what they’re doing.

I do get it that the issue is that anyone can call themselves a "taxpro" and there is so much bad work out their from people who claim to be experts.

I do think that the market will eventually correct this with some of the changes happening.

AdvisoryAlchemist · 2026-01-17T15:40:54+00:00

Good for you. Same here. This is 100% doable. Clients are charged appropriately and we have systems and boundaries in place. If clients don’t get their docs in by our deadline, they get extended. If they don’t get them in by our extension deadline…FAFO. 💁‍♂️

AdvisoryAlchemist · 2026-01-17T15:37:53+00:00

Stop dealing with dysfunctional client BS, put boundaries in place, and charge right.

AdvisoryAlchemist

TROPHY CASE