TRANSFORMATION TRENDS TAX SEASON READINESS Three Levers You Can Still Pull Before January BY DONNY SHIMAMOTO, CPA, CITP, CGMA, INSPIRATION ARCHITECT, CENTER FOR ACCOUNTING TRANSFORMATION Feeling behind on prep? You’re not. With a focused push on workflow, well-being, and cyber hygiene, you can still meaningfully change your firm’s tax-season trajectory this December. TAX SEASON PRESSURE TENDS TO ARRIVE IN TWO WAVES: the operational crunch and the human cost. Most firms over-optimize for the first and underestimate the second—then a phishing email or file-sharing mistake takes both down at once. Good news: you still have time to move the needle on all three. The following is a preview—and a practical checklist—you can start using today. 1. WORKFLOW WINS YOU CAN IMPLEMENT IN DAYS (NOT MONTHS) 5Map your tax platforms ecosystem at a glance. List the core stack you’ll use from January to April: engagement letters, onboarding/intake, document exchange, OCR/scan, tax prep, e-signature, e-file, payment, and analytics. Note the handoffs. Wherever people re-key, you have friction and error risk. 5Quick-install automations to reduce touches. Client intake to organizer: Turn on portal requests with required fields; auto-generate organizers from last year’s return and lock down missing-item reminders on a cadence. Document normalization: Configure scan/OCR rules to auto-rename and route W-2s, 1099s, 1098s, and K-1s into the correct client/year folder; push exceptions to a triage queue. E-signature + payments: Bundle EL + 8879 + invoice with one e-sign packet; auto-send a secure payment link on signature completion. Status transparency: Stand up a kanban board by return type and complexity; add Service Level Agreement (SLA) tags (e.g., “Client Waiting,” “Prep,” “Review,” “Ready to File”) visible to the whole team. 5Scheduling and load leveling. Block focused prep windows on shared calendars (no meetings) three mornings per week. Implement intake gates: anything received after 2 p.m. is tomorrow’s work unless tagged “critical.” Assign a daily triage lead to resolve blockers, reassign work, and communicate client updates. 5Metrics that matter. Cycle time by return category, percent organizers returned complete, rework rate at review, percent portal adoption, and “days stuck” in each stage. If a metric isn’t helping you make a same-week decision, park it until May. 2. RESILIENCE IS A SYSTEM—NOT A SLOGAN Dr. Katelyn Hopson, an accounting professor at Arkansas Tech University, recently completed research on “state hope,” the short-term, event-specific resource that rises or falls during busy season.1 Hope isn’t fluff; it’s built on three components: a) Goals (what success looks like), b) Pathways (realistic ways to get there), and c) Agency (motivation + belief we can do the work). Accountants with higher state hope are less likely to burn out and less likely to quit during stressful periods. The kicker: leaders can influence it. 16 Nebraska CPA
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