June 2005 Circle Update

There were, of course, a number of timely and interesting presentations given.  Several Circles devoted time to reviewing the tax season recently completed.  Several interesting trends came out of those discussions.  Across the board the use of outsourced tax preparation was flat or even a little down, but electronic filing was way up in most firms.  Some firms are now to the point where nearly every eligible individual return is being filed electronically.  Transitions to paperless operations continue to make progress, although most firms still seem to rely on traditional paper-based tax preparation, with digital image conversion coming late in the process and focusing on final archiving with some on-screen digital review. 

Another topic of interest was a review of the financial metrics collected over the past several weeks.  We currently have data collected from over 60 firms, making this a robust and valuable source of information.  Each Circle was shown trends for all Circles, and a detailed display of data from their own Circle.  The rules remain as they have been in the past:  detailed data is available to all members of a Circle, but only aggregated totals and averages are available outside of each Circle.  The complete data forms are available on each Circle’s unique page on the Boomer Knowledge Network, and can be downloaded for review and analysis by Circle members.  A new twist this year was an inventory of major hardware and software categories, reflecting brands, versions, and models in use.  This is designed to aid members in finding other firms who have or use configurations similar to their own for cooperation and information sharing.  These tables are available now on the Circle websites in spreadsheet format.  Our goal is to eventually convert the data into a searchable online database.

Each member firm attending a Circle meeting in May also received a copy of the new Boomer Advantage Guide to Succession Planning.  This latest addition to our continuing series of Guides was prompted by the recurring interest our clients express to us in dealing with the issues of partner retirement, buy-out, and the buy-in of a new generation of shareholders.  This Guide was written by two attorneys specializing in business succession, and follows a similar format to previous Guides, including a One Page Succession Plan

Perhaps the most memorable program for each Circle was a presentation by Dave Wyle from SurePrep LLC.  SurePrep is probably best known as a tax outsource vendor, but Dave’s presentation had nothing to do with outsourcing; instead it was focused on a product called SurePrep Express which is a revolutionary way to redistribute the work effort in preparation of individual tax returns.  In brief description, SurePrep Express allows the separation of knowledge tasks to be done by qualified tax professionals from pure data entry which can be done by anyone who can operate a 10-key input device.  After demonstrating how the system works, Dave had accounting firm partners from each group come forward and play the role of data entry clerks.  The system is indeed revolutionary in its concept, and the feedback heard during breaks and social hours was overwhelmingly positive.  It can be done with in-house labor controlled by the firm itself, or directed to SurePrep for either off-shore or on-shore data entry.  While Boomer Consulting, Inc. does not endorse any particular vendor or product, the capabilities of this system are impressive, and worthy of a more detailed look by any firm interested in making their tax preparation process more efficient and cost effective.

All in all, May was an exceptional month for the Boomer Technology Circles™:  lots of great meetings, plenty of good information shared, and relationships grown and strengthened between Circle members.  If your firm isn’t yet taking advantage of these opportunities, contact Eric Hunt at 888-266-6375 (erich@boomer.com) and find out how you can become one of these great firms getting better all the time.