Intuit® ProConnect™ Tax helps ASE simplify and save time

When Al-Nesha Jones, CPA, MBA, started her accounting and advisory firm in 2016, she was going to keep things simple.

“I initially said I wasn’t going to do taxes, but as a CPA, that was a request I was getting pretty often.”

That’s when ASE Group began using Intuit® ProConnect™ Tax, in addition to QuickBooks® Online, to better serve entrepreneurs in the northeast (NJ, NY, CT, and PA). By 2018, she began to use Intuit Link in ProConnect Tax to better streamline document collection for clients.

“Prior to Link, I was winging it. I allowed clients to bring me data however they chose to,” said Al-Nesha, who is also a member of the Intuit Tax Council.

ASE Group’s tax advisory services were a similarly complex operation, requiring copies of tax returns to offer advisory. However, with the recent addition of Intuit Tax Advisor, Al-Nesha and her team can showcase their expertise, while presenting clients with beautiful, easy-to-understand tax plans.

Al-Nesha has tapped Intuit’s suite of tools for tax accountants to build out her firm’s services— all while keeping the processes streamlined and simple.

How Intuit’s software simplifies client work

Starting with QuickBooks and building out her toolset within the Intuit ecosystem of products has helped Al-Nesha increase the breadth of work, hire employees, and simplify manual processes.

“The software all works together,” she said, giving an example of how a small business client’s data moves through Intuit’s ecosystem.

“Data from QuickBooks Online can be imported to ProConnect Tax. I can prepare business tax returns in ProConnect and import the K-1s to the individual tax returns. I can securely collect organizers and documents from clients using Intuit Link, which is built into ProConnect. I can request an eSignature with knowledge-based authentication with just a few clicks. Then, I can use that tax data to create a tax plan right from within ProConnect using Intuit Tax Advisor.”

That streamlined process not only creates a tax return and tax plan for clients; it creates huge time savings for Al-Nesha and her team.

How ProConnect Tax saves firms time on tax returns

Using ProConnect Tax and related tax products provide a big time savings for ASE Group. The products decrease manual work, reduce the number of touches for document collection, and keep information organized so it’s easy to find.

Here’s how Al-Nesha estimates the time savings on tax returns, by product:

Intuit Link:

Time saved: 30 minutes per tax return.

How it saves time: Document collection isn’t a CPA-based chore; clients provide all their information in one place, where it’s organized upon upload.

ProConnect Tax:

Time saved: 30 minutes per tax return.

How it save time:

• ASE is able to review the organizer and populate the return on the same screen (10 minutes).
• ASE is able to import tax documents, such as a W-2, 1099-INT, 1099-DIV, K-1, and other forms (15 minutes).
• ASE can flag sections for review and keep notes within ProConnect Tax (5 minutes).

eSignature:

Time saved: 5 minutes per tax return

How it saves time: “Using eSignature, we don’t have to set up the signature boxes on the e-file authorization forms,” said Al-Nesha.

Total time saved: 65 minutes per tax return

With 125 clients, ASE Group saves about 17 work days each year doing tax returns with ProConnect Tax. The result?

“It creates additional capacity to focus on advisory, connect with clients, and offer tax planning and tax resolution,” said Al-Nesha—but that’s not all. “It creates time for four-day workweeks!”

At a glance

Firm name: ASE Group LLC

Location: Based in New Jersey, ASE also serves New York, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania with its remote workforce.

Size of firm: 4 employees.

Niche focus: ASE Group is a woman-owned-and-run tax, accounting, and advisory firm that specifically works to empower small business owners to build long-term sustainability.

Intuit software: ProConnect Tax, Intuit Link, eSignature, Intuit Tax Advisor, and QuickBooks Online.