Solve Staffing Now with Automation

CPAs cite recruiting and retention as one of the toughest challenges they face. One way to turn the odds? Automate mundane tasks and allow your talent to shine on projects.

In a November article in CPA Trendlines, Jim Boomer, CEO of Boomer Consulting, Inc., noted primary areas the accounting profession will be different moving forward, saying, “I would focus on creating capacity through technology, automation, and the outsourcing of tasks to free up my team to have more value-add conversations with our clients.”

The CPA profession continues to face pipeline issues and those have been compounded during the “Great Resignation.” One way firms can differentiate themselves is to allow their talented teams to focus on projects and growth versus saddling them with repetitive tasks that could easily be automated.

Many firms automate tax return preparation to cope. But with the increasing number of vendors, how do you figure out which one is the best fit for your firm? Accounting technology pro Donny Shimamoto, CPA, CITP, CGMA, believes he has the answer, and he calls them “experience labs.” A learning concept created by Shimamoto, these CPE-qualified courses have attendees work through case studies that allow them to experience what using various software tools would be like for their firm via hands-on exercises, thus giving the opportunity for attendees to test drive various solutions before the threatening grind of the next tax season approaches.

The Center for Accounting Transformation will present Automating & Optimizing Tax Workflow, a six-hour experience lab, on December 17. Attendees can learn how standardized tax return preparation processes are implemented in various vendors’ software to increase efficiency and team collaboration. Because of their interactive nature, experience labs are also a great way to crowd source ideas from fellow attendees on how they plan to optimize their workflow, or how they’ve approached other workflow challenges.

The founder and managing director of IntrapriseTechKnowlogies, Shimamoto also serves as a business transformation advisor and outsourced innovation agent for firms, finance departments, and internal audit departments.  “With the recruiting challenges and staff burnout that firms are currently facing, optimizing tax workflow is an important step for staff retention,” said Shimamoto. “It is especially important if firms are also planning to adopt or have adopted hybrid work—managing all of this via email is asking for things to be missed.”

The Automating & Optimizing Tax Workflow Experience Lab is sponsored by SafeSend, Doc.It, Clarity Practice Management, Tallyfor, and TaxPlanIQ.

The Center for Accounting Transformation provides accounting professionals with a framework for utilizing innovations that are ready for adoption, the training and resources necessary to apply the innovations, and an opportunity to engage the talent and community needed to further the pursuit of innovative accounting practices that drive responsible and mindful business performance.

View additional courses to help #EnableTransformation.