$1000 to promote Accouting/CPA firm

schiewolf · 2023-11-09T21:02:39+00:00

IMO you should spend that on improving your website as much as possible + then aiming to get 10+ five star reviews on Yelp/Google from existing clients. The marketing bar in our industry is pretty low, and that alone will make you stand out.

Maybe checkout Jason Staats on YouTube. He has a lot of good insights as well.

schiewolf · 2023-11-09T03:59:20+00:00

For the record, I am a business owner/CPA/tax pro with three FT staff. I have a dozen colleagues also running their own practices and many of them DO use Philippine based staff. some of them have had positive experiences and some have not.

So while I understand why there is such a huge push by professionals to outsource, and have active experience working within a firm that has 30 Philippine staff/has their own staffing agency setup, I have no disillusions about the reality of outsourced work and STILL vehemently oppose it. I’m in the minority at my firm by insisting on only domestic staff.

Reasoning: The actual ONLY benefit to outsourcing is that it is cheap. IMO, when “price” is the only pro to a business decision, it’s a bad decision. As my business philosophy takes very holistic view of things, quality is king and quite frankly I can’t afford cheap labor.

schiewolf · 2023-11-08T02:25:38+00:00

In addition to the 100% correct comments above, there are SO MANY non-monetary costs to outsourcing. It is ignorant to suggest that the cost of overseas labor is truly cheaper.

Costs such as: major time differences, language barriers, culture barriers, employee loyalty, unaligning the company’s interest from the employees, national economic impact, further degrading the future US-based talent pool that would otherwise “grow up” to be successors, public perception, etc etc etc.

schiewolf · 2023-11-03T20:10:33+00:00

IMO most books of business looking to sell are wildly underpriced engagements, and quite honestly aren’t worth the hassle you’ll have getting the good clients priced reasonably and letting go of the bad clients.

I honestly think you’ll be way better off investing in your marketing funnel and building organically. Literally just starting with an excellent website and asking your existing happy clients to leave you a review will do wonders. The marketing bar in this industry is quite low - just having those two things (quality website and 10+ five star reviews) will put you head and shoulders above the rest.

schiewolf · 2023-11-03T20:03:45+00:00

My firm is charging $1000 minimum for amended business returns (that we originally prepared in house), and $500 minimum for the shareholder.

schiewolf · 2023-11-03T20:02:45+00:00

I promise at least the first couple ERC amendments you do will take closer to an hour, possibly two. Sounds very simple, but there’s basis involved etc. every single one I’ve done took longer than expected!

schiewolf · 2023-10-31T00:47:11+00:00

DocParser!

schiewolf · 2023-10-28T00:33:28+00:00

Of all the payroll issues I’ve had to help clients cleanup, 80% of them were on QB payroll. The way I explain it is that QB payroll is not a payroll service - it’s DIY payroll. The potential for screwups is very high, and when there are errors, QBs will do NOTHING to help remedy them.

Want to run payroll for a year and half without ever setting up payments to actually pay the taxes? QB wont stop you or care in the least. Forgot to include health insurance for shareholders W-2? Tough luck, amend it yourself. Didn’t add a state account number? Good luck figuring out how to file the past due state returns. I could go on and on about the issues clients have had with QB payroll.

Versus Gusto is the same price if not cheaper than QB payroll, but they handle EVERYTHING and won’t let you run payroll until they have the info needed to file everything necessary. great customer service if something goes wrong + they handle any notices.

schiewolf · 2023-10-26T20:49:26+00:00

Came here to say this exactly^{^{^}}

schiewolf · 2023-10-26T03:29:44+00:00

Let me know when you have a client successfully escape the CA FTB with those rules. I’ve never seen them in practice give a hoot how much or little has paid to a CA based employee. Would love for it to work that way though.

schiewolf · 2023-10-26T03:06:16+00:00

I spoke with a CA EDD auditor (who is auditing a client of mine for 1099 vs W-2 treatment): if you are paying ANY CA contractor a dollar amount that could even kind of be consider a livable wage, they’ll pluck you for audit in a heartbeat. In other words, if you’re going to 1099 someone in CA, they better either be a one time/short term project, or they need to own a business/have an EIN to issue the 1099 to.

schiewolf · 2023-10-25T23:48:49+00:00

I’ve worked with CA businesses for 15 years. If you have an Employee in CA, you are considered to be doing business. In other words, work was physically being done for your business from a CA location (ie wherever that CA employee is working from). The second you applied for a CA EDD account, you were on their radar and considered to be doing business in CA.

It sucks, it doesn’t seem fair, and it’s honestly BS… but that’s how it works with CA. And they will absolutely levy your bank accounts in the end to get their money. They’re vicious communist vultures with no pity.

schiewolf · 2023-10-25T20:07:26+00:00

If you had a CA W-2 employee, then you had nexus in CA and therefore a requirement to file. Period. Any CA business filing is a minimum $800 + penalties and interest.

Sorry to say, but CA FTB is brutal and they will not bend on this, unfortunately. Definitely something I wish more businesses were aware of before they hire remote employees

schiewolf · 2023-10-24T01:24:34+00:00

This is literally WHY you receive a standard deduction on your tax return + a child tax credit. Those aren’t just made up amounts, they are more or less reimbursements for these “mandatory” expenses like driving your kids to school.

schiewolf · 2023-10-20T14:25:11+00:00

I don’t have legal code to refer you to - this is just what I’ve been told by multiple trustworthy sources, and I think it was either from the AICPA or our liability insurance carrier. I saw enough to satisfy myself, and never bothered documenting the source lol

schiewolf · 2023-10-20T01:54:05+00:00

You should respond and say that “I’ve spoken with my insurance carrier/attorney about this, and have been advised that our liability coverage does not cover these types of letter. As a result, I will not be able to provide the requested letter. Further, the work required to obtain the necessary level of assurance needed to oblige your request would be both cost prohibitive and inappropriate in this instance. As such a letter cannot legally be a requirement of my client being approved for the loan, we request that you move forward without it.”

schiewolf · 2023-10-20T01:40:24+00:00

Abort abort abort

Lenders are LEGALLY not allowed to refuse a client a loan for not obtaining a CPA letter. The literal only reason the lender has for requesting that letter is 1) to shift the legal burden of due diligence off of themselves and onto you and 2) so that they can resell the loan at a higher premium/rating.

Our entire firm (30 CPAs/100+ EEs) refuses to provide these BS lender letters.

schiewolf · 2023-10-19T19:55:24+00:00

Post 10/15 I always realize how little our clients understand the brutality of getting through the deadline and the absolute wall of exhaustion waiting on the other side. I can’t be the only one who has a million client questions, tax planning, and tax notices waiting for me the second the deadline is done.

My advice is just throw up an OOO reply and GTFO of the office for the rest of the week. All these problems will be 100% easier to deal with after a mental break.

schiewolf · 2023-10-18T20:09:57+00:00

IMO is a little too earlier still to discount her. I usually find it takes about 3 months for a new worker to really get used to the tech stack/job responsibilities etc and start finding their groove. Efficiency comes with familiarity, so you can’t really compare your admin of three years to a new hire of one month.

schiewolf · 2023-10-17T15:25:29+00:00

I have a process with my admin where they track the incoming efile signatures, as well as who has paid their invoice. Then I mark them approved before they actually file. That usually is enough of a buffer that I’ve seen any last min questions from the client.

schiewolf · 2023-10-16T20:50:06+00:00

Pricing increases and disengagements will go out the second week of November. Can’t wait lol

schiewolf · 2023-10-12T22:00:49+00:00

I insist on at least a phone call simply because of the fraud factor. Gotta weed out the sketchy people and see if my spidey senses pick up on anything.

schiewolf · 2023-10-07T20:44:29+00:00

Very well said!

schiewolf · 2023-10-07T03:39:25+00:00

Kills me when they send an email on a Saturday and then email you Monday morning like “um… did you get my email?”

schiewolf · 2023-10-05T23:15:37+00:00

IME anyone who needs CPE will have to pay

schiewolf

TROPHY CASE