Art of Accounting: How do you feel tax season went?

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Tax season is a rough, but also exhilarating, exciting, full of opportunities, and profitable. It also provides chances to assess staff and see how they respond to pressure, new opportunities, and interact with staff and clients. It can also help identify leaders. It is a good time of life.

Now that tax season is over, figure out which of the above applies to you, and how you feel about how tax season went. You do not need meetings or tax season retrospective checklists (included in my tax season checklist file, which I also recommend) or lunch with your staff or partners. You just need to figure out how you feel about how tax season went.

If you feel good or great, then good or great for you, and you are to be commended. However, if you do not feel good, then you should ask yourself what upsets you. Try to look at the big picture of tax season as well as many of the little things that piqued you. You need to do some serious reflection and soul searching. You just spent over two and a half months of hard work, and if you are not happy about how it went, you need to make some changes. 

Some changes can be minor surgery if one or two things stand out as huge annoyances. However, major surgery might be in order if you are angry about the overall tax season performance. Making changes in systems, procedures, personnel or maybe in the way you work is always upsetting and difficult to do. What I found even harder is recognizing that changes need to be made and then identifying what needs to be fixed. That requires some concentrated thought. Once you isolate the problems or areas that need potential change, setting up a plan becomes less difficult. 

I know a lot of practitioners who dread tax season, and I wonder why they never make changes to fix the problems or get out of this business. Being angry and not doing anything to try to fix it is foolish. They are not happy people.

I also know a lot of practitioners who look forward to and relish tax season. These are happy people, content with what they do and pleasant to be with. They seem to always be tweaking something or other, teaching someone they work with something new, and coming up with something extra that could help a client. They also seem to do pretty good in the money department.

Are you a happy camper or do you wish you had a career doing something else? Only you can know how you feel. Figure it out. How do you feel?

Do not hesitate to contact me at emendlowitz@withum.com with your practice management questions or about engagements you might not be able to perform.