Hello!
What a wild ride the past few years have been for the accounting profession. We’ve been called on like never before to be a trusted advisor to our business clients, a reliable resource for individuals who need our expertise when dealing with the financial fallout of the pandemic, and of course, being the conduit between the government and the rest of society when it comes to communicating and interpreting the tax code.
I think for many of us, this feeling of being overwhelmed and out to sea has become our new normal, and to me, that’s not the way anyone should live because life is too short! I wrote The Designated Motivator for Accounting Professionals as a lifeline for those of you who are struggling, and for those of you who want to find an easier path to achieving the success in your practice and your personal life that you so richly deserve.
Over the next several months, I’ll be sharing The Designated Motivator for Accounting Professionals philosophy and practical strategies from my Team Brolin All-Star Playbook at events and in partnership with many of my Starting Lineup solution providers. I invite you to attend a webinar, listen to my podcast The DM Disruption, and read the book. My goal is to make it easier for you to succeed with a proven path to a more profitable and productive practice.
I’d love to hear from you about the struggles and the successes you are having, so please drop me a line and we can connect via email.
Join Dawn on November 10 at 2 p.m. for the premiere of The Designated Motivator for Accounting Professionals: Reassess Your Success to Maximize Tax Season Profits webinar.
Based on the new book, The Designated Motivator for Accounting Professionals, Dawn leads this strategy-focused session to help you implement key changes for more productivity and profitability this tax season. Register now!
During the webinar you will go through a reassessment process to help you determine the path for your firm moving forward, post-COVID, and in the face of ongoing changes for regulations and filings. We need to be sure we are prepared for whatever may come next. This will be an interactive session where you will use the time to lay out your firm’s business strategy and integrated technology ecosystem to become more profitable, more efficient, and most importantly, happier with your professional life this tax season and beyond.
I recently participated in Accounting today’s webinar panel for The Technology Foundations of a CAS Practice. It was an awesome opportunity to connect with so many of my fellow practitioners. Not surprisingly, we ran out of time to answer all of the questions during the webinar, so I am following up here with some responses to the key questions that we still need to address.
If you were on the webinar live (you can listen to the recorded version here), thank you for attending!
If you want to join the Team Brolin list, please do! We’d love to keep you in the loop since we have a lot of exciting things coming up so stay tuned!
Here we go with our FAQs:
Q: Can these applications mentioned be integrated into the accounting application that the client carries without affecting their cybersecurity.
A: Yes. The open API allows various apps to connect securely. Local anti-virus is critical. This is why I host all of my apps so that I don’t have an issue with my local security.
Q: Where can I get training for these applications?
A: Typically you will refer to the application developers/support for training. It is typically free and something you definitely should look into.
Q: What is the best app for scheduling work such as returns like 1120, 1120s, 1065, etc?
A: I use Karbon for all of my scheduling and tracking of tax returns.
Q: What is a good tool for tracking expenses?
A: Concur is a great tool for expenses.
Q: What is a simple time management/billing system app for a small firm?
A: QB Time & QuickBooks® Online. I simply use QuickBooks Time and QBO for my time management and billing. It is so easy to create invoices from QB Time.
Q: Norton 360 has a password manager. Why is LastPass better than Norton?
A: Lastpass is not necessarily better, it is just my preferred way to store passwords.
Q: Are there benefits of using Last Pass as opposed to managing passwords with Google?
A: Are there drawbacks to using the internet browser for managing passwords? I would never use Google as it is not meant to be a secure site for passwords
Q: Are there form you do NOT charge for?
A: My 1040 rate covers schedule 1& Schedule 2, 3. I do not charge for the simple Schedule 1, 2 or 3 because technically those are primarily flow through schedules that are created from things like a Schedule C, Schedule E or Schedule E page 2, etc.
Q: Do you like Bill.com for AP/AR.
A: Yes
Q: What is Qbox?
A: Qbox is a way to have your client have a local QB desktop file that can sync to a servicer where you can access it locally. You can view the data if the client is working in it but then when they close out of QB you can work in it. Hosting is always the best solution but this does work for those who don’t want to host.
Comment: Ramp is the coolest new app/service. It’s 1000x better than AmEx.
DB: Ramp is a fully-integrated credit card solution with it’s own coding interface, integrates with the major accounting systems like IntAcct.
Comment: My fav app is the DEXT accounting app it links receipts to QBO.
DB: Yes, Dext is a great solution. Another favorite app is TOGGL (for time tracking on projects)
Q: What was your hosting recommendation?
A: I recommended Recur 360.
Q: What is the name of the IRS transcript app?
A: IRS Transcript app is Canopy
DB Comment: PaySimple ADP it is how I get paid from my clients.
Q: What are your thoughts on Practice Ignition?
A: I just found practice ignition klunky and not easy to jump in and get started easily.
Q: What was the spelling of Call NQ?
A: It is EnQ.
Q: Can you use Karbon as a scheduling software?
A: No, I wouldn’t use Karbon for that purpose.
Q: Do you know of a scheduling app?
A: Calendly of course. I just use Outlook.
Q: Does Karbon integrate with tax software?
A: Lacerte for sure
Q: How does Quotient compare to Practice Ignition?
A: I like it because it is affordable and super easy to use.
Q: What is the difference between SmartVault and Liscio ?
A: SmartVault is meant to store documents and Liscio is meant to assist in client communications.
Q: Don’t Liscio and Karbon overlap?
A: In my view, apps solve a problem, and they may solve other problems that you didn’t intend them to in your specific case. I use Karbon for project management, and Liscio for client communication. I always tell people to let the app to what it was intended to do. Liscio was meant for client communications and Karbon was developed as a project management tracking system.
Thanks again everyone for participating. If you have other questions, feel free to send them to me using this form.
