Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Where am I??
I thought a little information about my practice would be helpful.
I practice as a sole proprietership. Most of the returns have been prepared by my mom (from whom I purchased the practice) and me. We process 1,100+ returns a year. Our practice is primarily individuals. Many have investments, rentals and small businesses. We do a small number of corporations, partnerships, trusts and non-profits. Jet Tax has been in business since the late seventies. I've been doing tax returns since the 1994 filing season. I took and passed the Enrolled Agent (SEE) exam in 1996.
We have one year round employee (besides my mom) who, this year, will begin seeing clients of her own. During tax season I hire two full time and three part time employees to deal with clients. We're open fifty nine hours a week during filing season. We limit our office hours during off season, but are open year round.
There are five work stations in our office. All have at least two monitors. There are four at my desk (and I long for six). I will try to post a picture later of my monitors.
I have one laptop workstation. I am installing two more this year. My goal is to have all laptop workstations. We are running Server 2003. And we use Exchange 2003.
Currently our income tax processing software is Lacerte. I like Lacerte and find it easy to navigate. I think the output product is attractive.
I have tried to stay with an Intuit product family for compatibility, but find them slow to provide the interconnectivity I would like.
I have been intrigued with the Thomson Reuters suite of products, but unwilling to go through the learning curve of change. Until now.
This year we are staying with Lacerte for income tax processing, but using Practice CS, File Cabinet CS, Client Portals and the ability to run programs through Virtual Office. We will continue to use QuickBooks for most of our bookkeeping clients. I do subscribe to Spidell and am a Checkpoint user for research. I use Outlook for scheduling and contact management, but am assured Practice CS will integrate Outlook and my tax information all while helping me with workflow. (this causes me SO MUCH excitement, I can't even tell you)
I procrastinated the installation of Practice CS until now. I have been over-whelmed with some family issues. I'm also told Practice CS can work with ALL your priorities, not just office workflow. I have HUGE expectations. I'm pretty sure I will be satisfied ... eventually.
At this point I've installed Practice CS on my server and my desktop. No where else. I haven't set any of the program specifications up, but today is the day! I will work on this for much of the day. I see clients every day except Wednesday and Sunday during filing season. So Wednesday is my "big, accomplish everything" (including meal planning, laundry, grocery shopping besides the office needs) day.
I'm an enrolled agent. I belong to East Bay Association of Enrolled Agents, California Society of Enrolled Agents and National Association of Enrolled Agents. I belong to a few other professional organizations (NSA, NATP, Rotary, Chamber of Commerce) but am most active with the Enrolled Agents.
Today I will be brainstorming with members of East Bay's board to do some strategic planning for next year. EBAEA, CSEA and NAEA are a source of networking and support for me that is unequaled anywhere. Join a professional organization if you don't already belong. The help of your peers is invaluable.
Okay, no more procrastinating. Off to try to make Practice CS work.
I'm so happy to have you following me!!!
More tomorrow.
I practice as a sole proprietership. Most of the returns have been prepared by my mom (from whom I purchased the practice) and me. We process 1,100+ returns a year. Our practice is primarily individuals. Many have investments, rentals and small businesses. We do a small number of corporations, partnerships, trusts and non-profits. Jet Tax has been in business since the late seventies. I've been doing tax returns since the 1994 filing season. I took and passed the Enrolled Agent (SEE) exam in 1996.
We have one year round employee (besides my mom) who, this year, will begin seeing clients of her own. During tax season I hire two full time and three part time employees to deal with clients. We're open fifty nine hours a week during filing season. We limit our office hours during off season, but are open year round.
There are five work stations in our office. All have at least two monitors. There are four at my desk (and I long for six). I will try to post a picture later of my monitors.
I have one laptop workstation. I am installing two more this year. My goal is to have all laptop workstations. We are running Server 2003. And we use Exchange 2003.
Currently our income tax processing software is Lacerte. I like Lacerte and find it easy to navigate. I think the output product is attractive.
I have tried to stay with an Intuit product family for compatibility, but find them slow to provide the interconnectivity I would like.
I have been intrigued with the Thomson Reuters suite of products, but unwilling to go through the learning curve of change. Until now.
This year we are staying with Lacerte for income tax processing, but using Practice CS, File Cabinet CS, Client Portals and the ability to run programs through Virtual Office. We will continue to use QuickBooks for most of our bookkeeping clients. I do subscribe to Spidell and am a Checkpoint user for research. I use Outlook for scheduling and contact management, but am assured Practice CS will integrate Outlook and my tax information all while helping me with workflow. (this causes me SO MUCH excitement, I can't even tell you)
I procrastinated the installation of Practice CS until now. I have been over-whelmed with some family issues. I'm also told Practice CS can work with ALL your priorities, not just office workflow. I have HUGE expectations. I'm pretty sure I will be satisfied ... eventually.
At this point I've installed Practice CS on my server and my desktop. No where else. I haven't set any of the program specifications up, but today is the day! I will work on this for much of the day. I see clients every day except Wednesday and Sunday during filing season. So Wednesday is my "big, accomplish everything" (including meal planning, laundry, grocery shopping besides the office needs) day.
I'm an enrolled agent. I belong to East Bay Association of Enrolled Agents, California Society of Enrolled Agents and National Association of Enrolled Agents. I belong to a few other professional organizations (NSA, NATP, Rotary, Chamber of Commerce) but am most active with the Enrolled Agents.
Today I will be brainstorming with members of East Bay's board to do some strategic planning for next year. EBAEA, CSEA and NAEA are a source of networking and support for me that is unequaled anywhere. Join a professional organization if you don't already belong. The help of your peers is invaluable.
Okay, no more procrastinating. Off to try to make Practice CS work.
I'm so happy to have you following me!!!
More tomorrow.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
A new blog?!
Why?
My income tax office is going through some practice management growth. Thought it would be helpful to see my struggles as I navigate this tax season. Inplementation of the software, society news (that I want to stress), tax law. I would also like this blog to reflect my (super wierd) personality, so you will get some personal info as well. Looking forward to getting used to writing regularly ...
So, I purchased Practice CS from Creative Solutions. I have NO DOUBT that this program will make my life so much more organized and help me be more effective to my clients. I haven't set it up yet, though. How dumb is that??? Let's start something new DURING tax season ...
Candy Cross (the lady who knows ALL at Creative Solutions) has been very encouraging. I am going to take an online class tomorrow. And my good friend, Gordon Dito, has sent me his lists to help me find a starting point.
I'm booked all day today, so starting this blog is the best I can do today.
More tomorrow.
Thanks for following me!!
Cherry
So, I purchased Practice CS from Creative Solutions. I have NO DOUBT that this program will make my life so much more organized and help me be more effective to my clients. I haven't set it up yet, though. How dumb is that??? Let's start something new DURING tax season ...
Candy Cross (the lady who knows ALL at Creative Solutions) has been very encouraging. I am going to take an online class tomorrow. And my good friend, Gordon Dito, has sent me his lists to help me find a starting point.
I'm booked all day today, so starting this blog is the best I can do today.
More tomorrow.
Thanks for following me!!
Cherry
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