Having recently gotten my final dose of the Pfizer vaccine, I am fully prepared — as I’m sure many of us are — to declare an end to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Such a declaration would be a little premature, of course: As I write this, just over a third (37%) of people in the U.S. have been vaccinated, and we need to reach at least 70% to achieve herd immunity. So while I may be ready, there is still some time left beforeAccounting Todaycan declare victory over the coronavirus and go home (or leave home, in this case). The upside is that the extra time gives us a chance to think through the many questions that will arise once the declaration of victory is made.
How, for instance, will we dispose of the 38 boxes of surgical masks stacked by the front door? Or our 17-year stockpile of toilet paper and ramen noodles? More important, should we return to our offices? What’s the best use of our regained ability to meet in person? How soon should our editors begin attending conferences in person?
With the beginning of the end of the pandemic in sight, these are the kinds of questions we’re looking at, and accountants need to be answering their own set of forward-looking questions. Now is the time for all of us to begin planning for the transition to the “next normal” — and you need to do that planning not just for yourselves and your firms, but for your clients as well.
One place to start is by finding out how your staff want to work once things fully open up. The great experiment we’ve all had with working remotely may have changed their idea of what’s possible, and you’ll want to accommodate that as much as possible (it may also give you a chance to cut down your real estate needs). You should also begin reviewing all the ad hoc workflows you adopted to keep your practice going through the pandemic: Which should you discard? Which should you keep? Which should you improve?
Perhaps most important, having likely taken your client relationships to a new level during the pandemic, you want to start figuring out how to maintain that intensity, and to build on their heightened sensibility of how crucial your advice and guidance is to their success.
One way to start, obviously, is with helping them plan their own exits from the pandemic. Among other things, this means figuring out their next sources of financing, and making sure they can bridge any gaps that may arise as stimulus packages wind down and regular lending ramps back up. It also means preparing for potential massive shifts in demand; car rentals, for instance, are skyrocketing already as millions of people with cabin fever line up wheels for long-delayed and much-needed vacations. Hotels and airlines may be next, while medical and dental practices may find themselves swamped with deferred appointments. Makers of PPE, on the other hand, may need to manage serious declines in demand. You should be working with all your clients now to analyze their industries and prepare scenarios for when the end of the end arrives, and our new beginning starts.
Finally, you should find out if your clients have any interest in locking in a 17-year supply of toilet paper at a reasonable price. In-person delivery is available.
