Tax Season, Software Highlight First Circles

These two Circles are an interesting pair to open, since BTC #3 represents the market’s small firm segment (generally $2 million or less in annual revenue) while BTC #4 is at the opposite end of the spectrum with some of our largest firms.  Some interesting observations emerged from these two groups.

Tax Season

By all accounts tax season was highly profitable and generally free of major software problems.  But largely because of staff shortages, people reported working harder to achieve results.  This laid the framework for some interesting discussions about ways in which technology can help balance staff shortages and ease some of the workload.

Also of great concern are new and pending IRS regulations, which place a greater burden of probability on the preparer and will soon impose serious confidentiality requirements on work done outside a firm’s location.  I look forward to hearing other versions of this discussion as additional Circles come to town.

Software Migrations

These two Circles mirrored what we read in the broader trade press.  Virtually no firm is moving to the Vista operating system in the near term.  The most common question is, “What’s the compelling reason?”  Given Vista’s voracious hardware appetite (only to produce comparable results with Windows XP), most technical folks from these Circles see little with which to be excited.

The companion issue, moving to Microsoft Office 2007, has gained a bit more traction.  There is little overt resistance to the idea of changing; the concern is when and how the conversion makes the most sense.  I predict many firms will make that conversion sometime this summer and have Office ’07 in place by next busy season.  Training (or more correctly, “re-training”) on the new interface remains the biggest obstacle to early acceptance.

Technical and Support Issues

This is, of course, the lifeblood of the Circles, and the discussions ranged from security issues when dealing with mobile devices to more progress on virtualization projects to ways to deal with troublesome computer users.  The tech breakout sessions are always my favorite parts of Circle meetings, and these two Circles surely didn’t disappoint!

All in all it’s good to be back in the swing of Circle meetings.  I’m looking forward to seeing the rest of our Circle friends over the next few weeks.  I’ll keep you posted on what we learn at these sessions.