Postseason Analysis

Now that tax season is over, it may be worthwhile to reflect on the past few weeks. Consider a postseason analysis while your experiences are still fresh in your mind. Think about what worked well, what did not work so well, and what needs to change.

Follow these tips for a complete postseason analysis:

• Involve ALL your employees or partners. Each role sees a different aspect of the tax return process, and you need to review every step.
• Actively facilitate an employee meeting. Set up an agenda and let everybody know what is expected of them. Keep the meeting on track, and while there will be negative comments, keep it from being a gripe session. Make sure everyone participates.
• Take notes. If you have a white board or flip chart, use it. Otherwise, have someone take notes and read them back after each section.
• Once the initial pass is made, take another run through. For example, if you have finished discussing what worked well, walk through it again using a specific sequence. Ask specific question about various phases. Start with the initial appointment and then go on to when the client arrived, when you prepared the return, when you printed or e-filed the return, collected the fees, etc. By focusing on each step, you can drill deeper into each topic and get better feedback. Some possible topics are included below.
• The last part of the meeting should be for ‘what’s next.’ Assign tasks and deadlines for your staff so they will act on the identified issues in a timely fashion.

• How did your income compare to your preseason financial projections?
• Were there specific areas of growth you had not expected?
• Were you disappointed in certain aspects of your business?

• Do you have the people necessary to do the job?
• Are the correct people in the correct positions?
• Is any additional training required for existing staff?

• Can customers find you easily?
• Is there enough parking?
• Is your current office space sufficient?
• Do you need a different or additional office?

• Is your signage sufficient?
• How successful was your advertising (by each advertising type)?
• Do you have web presence? Do you need web presence?

• Do you need to purchase or upgrade any computers, printers, or faxes?
• Do you need to upgrade from dial-up to DSL or cable?
• How was your network this season?

• How well did your backup process work?
• Do you need to purchase or upgrade any software?
• Is your tax software meeting your needs?
• Do you get your software early enough to be prepared for tax season?
• Can you get help from technical support when you need it?
• Do you feel like your software pricing is fair?

• If you went paperless, or tried to reduce the amount of paper in your office, how well did that work?
• If going paperless in the future, do you wish to scan in this year’s returns?

• Did you have different or unusual returns this year that challenged your tax knowledge?
• Are you seeing more return types such as LLCs that might require more training?
• Do you need CPE in specific areas of current, or potentially future, practice?

From April 2006

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