Turn Insights into Action to Improve Your Next Tax Season

Experimenting and learning fast is something that Intuit® ProConnect™ holds as a deep value. In speaking with many of our tax professional customers over the years, we’ve discovered that many of you also have a passion for gleaning insights from your tax season and taking actions to improve your next season.

I interviewed James Sarubbi, an Advanced Certified QuickBooks® ProAdvisor and sole owner at James Accounting Service, a small business accounting practice in California. James not only uses insights to improve his own firm, but as he says, he also “goes the extra mile to offer custom-tailored insight, support and guidance” for his clients. Because he is so insights-focused, I asked him to share some of his learnings and expertise with the rest of us.

Tara Stratton: Do you have a plan in place to gather information about the way your company does business, in order to improve its performance?

James Sarubbi: Yes, we are consistently on top of insights. We pay particular attention to our data and look for insights when it comes to marketing, updating our web site, researching and keeping up with new technology, including reviewing different professional software option and looking ways to improve our workflow and client relationships.

TS: Which resources do you use that provide you the best insight into your clients’ financials?

JS: At James Accounting Service, we use software, like Identillect, to send clients reports via secure emails. We also use both QuickBooks Desktop and Online to send reports to our clients, as well as bizbench analysis tools to score the client market and help our clients see where they stand and where they could be.

TS: When you implement changes in an effort to improve your practice, how long does it typically take you to see results?

JS: It depends on the change you make – there are some results we see quickly, and others take more time to see. We track everything we do and test our marketing to see where to spend our budget wisely so that change is happening continuously.

TS: What important lessons have you learned from implementing, or failing to implement, these processes in your business?

JS: Over the years, I have learned to do my homework before investing in a system for tax or accounting. Just because a system or tool costs less does not mean it’s the best to use, and just because it’s the highest cost does not mean it’s right for you. We have learned to always ask for a demo that we can use; if we cannot check out a package for 10 or more days, we pass on using it.

Hopefully, James’ learnings help us all improve our ability to turn insights into action, in order to improve performance next tax season. Best of luck preparing for next season!