Using Intuit® ProConnect™ Tax for an advisory practice

Seamlessly integrating your tax software to enable service delivery is one of the most important parts of an efficient practice.

Meet Cassidy Jakovickas, CPA, owner of MBS Accountancy, a full-service tax and accounting practice that focuses on advisory services to a varied client base. With about 250 tax returns produced in an average year, the firm has relied on Intuit® ProConnect™ Tax since 2015. ProConnect Tax is cloud-based and integrates with QuickBooks® Online to enable books to tax and other workflow enhancements.

Cassidy is also an author for the Intuit Tax Pro Center and the Firm of the Future blog. I sat down with him to find out more about his practice and how ProConnect Tax complements his advisory practice.

Scott Cytron: Thanks for meeting with me, Cassidy. What are three things you like about ProConnect Tax?

Cassidy Jakovickas: Thanks for reaching out to me. There are a lot of things I like about this product, but let’s start with the cloud. As a decentralized office, our team often works from home, so it is essential our tools are also available anywhere, anytime.

Second, the vast majority of our clients use QuickBooks Online, so being able to import the books into the tax return is a huge timesaver. The close integration with QuickBooks and the various automation tools are extremely helpful when importing data from documents into tax returns.

We also like how ProConnect Tax integrates with Intuit Link. We used to mail out a paper organizer, but clients would never fill them out. Since we started using Intuit Link, we’ve had a very high adoption rate for clients completing their online tax organizer. The more information we have from the client, the better tax position we can put them in.

Scott: How does working in the native cloud versus the hosted cloud benefit MBS and your clients?

Cassidy: We are gradually migrating all of our software to native cloud options so we can run our business from a browser and improve our overall data security. Our clients appreciate using Intuit Link because they can view their information, and collaborate with us using their phone or computer. It’s easy and efficient for them to work with us, and is just another detail that goes a long way in improving the overall client experience.

Scott: That’s great! One thing other tax professionals always want to know is how much the software costs.

Cassidy: That’s an easy one; we only pay for what we need and receive fair pricing based on our volume.

Scott: What advisory services do you deliver to your clients?

Cassidy: We provide forecasting and budgeting, cash flow analysis, KPI reporting, and app implementations. We also provide strategic advice on capital expenditures, tax management, systems improvement, and financing options.

Scott: Speaking to benefits, again, how has advisory services benefitted the firm? How has it benefited your clients?

Cassidy: Tax used to account for more than 70% of our revenue. Now, it only accounts for about 28% of our revenue. Because we’re not so busy during tax season, we’re able to form deeper advisory relationships with our clients to provide us steady, year-round revenue. Our staff is better able to balance their personal and work lives and, as a result, they can be more responsive and attentive toward our clients.

Scott: So as a follow up to that, has your revenue model changed since you implemented advisory services?

Cassidy: All of our focus is on securing weekly or monthly recurring accounting advisory services. We only do tax work for recurring clients, so our capacity isn’t tied up with once-a-year tax clients.

Scott: Thanks, Cassidy!