What Is Busy Accounting Software

[Berniece Domnick]

Whatis it about the first quarter of each year that makes it such a busy time for accountants? There are several reasons that make this the most stressful time of the year for accounting professionals:

These beginning-of-the-year responsibilities coincide with other busy times, like month-end and quarter-end. And if you offer payroll services, you also need to help clients with their year-end payroll tax filings. For example, both Form 940 and Form W-2 have January 31 deadlines.

You can use APIs (application programming interfaces) to streamline your day-to-day responsibilities and save time for the hands-on work your clients need. According to Thomson Reuters, automating accounting processes can help you

When all you can think about is how much work you have going on, taking time for you is easier said than done. But, prioritizing your well-being can also make a difference in how you work by helping to reduce burnout and maximize productivity.

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For the majority of those working in public accounting, April comes as a much-needed breath of fresh air. Having just finalized and archived my main client's audit file, I sure am relived and am beginning to once again recognize my normal life. That is, a life where the workday doesn't span until 11:30pm, the week really does end on Friday, and dinner is not spent in the kitchen at your client's site. In fact, Urban Dictionary has gone so far as to offer the following definition of busy season:

"A period of the year in public accounting designated by mandatory 55+ hour work weeks, weight gain, decreased sexual activity, increased alcohol consumption, late nights, tickmarks, excel, ineptitude, and uncomfortable moments in the audit room. Generally begins in mid-January and continues through March."

While I cannot refute the above description, I found myself come to appreciate this time of year this past quarter. See, for several months towards the end of last year, I had grown tired of my life in public accounting. I was tired of review notes, client requests, and trying to meet the profession's heightened documentation standards, and frankly, and begun to daydream about life after audit. However, soon into the 2017 Busy Season, I was able to identify several features of the profession that I have come to enjoy and that will prove valuable in my career - both in two weeks and two years from now.

Volume: The sheer volume of procedures that are performed, along with the high-quality documentation of such procedures, becomes overwhelmingly apparent during busy season. During this time, you learn to process and analyze an immense amount of data and further draw conclusions surrounding these procedures - and then immediately move onto the next task. Going through a busy season expands your workload capacity, and you come out of the experience with the ability to handle and successfully complete a higher volume of tasks than you could before.

Teaming: Everybody knows that public accounting is a team sport. We spend all phases of an audit working as a team and working towards a common goal. However, during busy season, teaming takes on a whole new meaning. The amount of personal interaction that occurs during busy season is invaluable and can lead to unexpected friendships and mentorships. From laughing together at meaningless youtube videos that you only find funny because its 11pm to live reviewing your team member's work and coaching him or her through their own struggles and problems, a group truly becomes a team during busy season. Further, it's not only the good teaming experiences that help round us and develop us professionally. Learning to respectfully work with your team members through any and all situations (some of which inspired by heightened tempers and weathered patience) is a skill that is tested and developed through a year-end audit.

Emotional Intelligence: If you did not infer from Urban Dictionary's depiction of this time of year, emotions (generally negative) are often at all-time highs during busy season. You're running on four to five hours of sleep every night, working through tough and complex problems, and neglecting any sort of personal life you have managed to maintain. However, the learning experience in this is that, so is everybody else. Your team members. The engagement partners. Your client's financial reporting department. Everybody. As such, while learning to understand and manage your own emotions, you also are required to simultaneously understand and manage others' emotions.

Problems: No audit goes as planned. Scoped out accounts suddenly become material, your client overhauls an entire accounting process, and contradictory confirmations are returned. Each of these are enough to derail a team's audit plan, and, naturally, my team has dealt with each of these events over the past three months. While, upon identifying these problems, you just want to make them disappear, these problems (and how we react to them and ultimately remediate them) are actually what allows us to progress in our careers and tackle progressively difficult problems in the future. Having to jump over countless hurdles and ultimately arrive at the finish line is the exact spirit of busy season.

While I am definitely ready to enjoy the remainder of the year, I am thankful for the professional development and invaluable experiences that have come as a result of busy season. If you have the opportunity to participate in a public accounting busy season, you will come out having made a lucrative investment in yourself.

The first four months of every calendar year are the time when accountants are at their busiest. From January to April, there are few things that accountants do besides tax filing. This is what makes busy seasons so stressful for accountants.

Accounting professionals have many paperwork responsibilities that they need to keep up with during the tax season (such as 1099s, W-2s, etc.). They must be organized, detail-oriented, and prepared for anything that may happen during this Jan-April tax filing season. Accountants need to know the tax laws inside out, as well as how to handle any potential problems that may arise.

The busy season for tax accountants typically takes place during the first quarter of each year running from January to April each year. This period corresponds with the time frame for individuals and businesses to prepare and file their annual tax returns.

The busy season for auditors generally occurs from January to March. This timing can vary depending on the fiscal year-end of their clients. Many companies have a December 31st year-end, leading auditors to be busiest in the following quarter as they work to review and finalize financial statements. However, for companies with different fiscal year-ends, audit busy seasons can occur at other times of the year.

Tax accountants often work directly with individual clients or businesses to gather financial information, prepare tax returns, and ensure compliance with tax laws. The busy season requires frequent communication to collect documents, clarify information, and provide updates on tax return status.

Accountants who work in a tax practice need to be proactive in their communication, often setting expectations early regarding deadlines, required documentation, and potential delays. They may use emails, phone calls, and meetings to keep clients informed.

The primary challenge for tax professionals is managing a large volume of clients with similar deadlines, which can lead to high pressure to deliver accurate and timely work. Ensuring that clients provide necessary documentation on time and managing last-minute requests are significant hurdles. Building trust and rapport is crucial, as satisfied clients are likely to return each year.

Executing time management strategies may be difficult for an accountant when the urgency of tax season comes into play. Every one of your clients is pulling you in their direction. But to meet all the needs and requests of your customers would probably require a 24/7 work week.

In no time, an accountant or a CPA (Certified Public Accountant) turns into a busy bee, spending 20-plus hours a week answering requests for legal advice on tax season preparation and deductions from the owners of small businesses, who are likely to be past their filing deadlines. But does overworking mean high performance? Not at all.

In a few years, the complexity of real-time ecommerce transactions will make it impossible to keep reconciling bank statements manually. We need to accept the necessity of shifting all mundane tasks to accounting automation software.

There are many simple apps that can make your life easier during the tax season. Search for local healthy food delivery, 5-minute meditation guides, eye-relaxation exercises, and a mood tracker, and build them into your daily workflow.

Tax season is far more demanding than the rest of the year for every practicing accountant. But surviving the bustling tax season is all about resource management. And in this context, you are the resource that you need to manage with care and attention.

What are your top tips for managing stress and maintaining productivity during the busy season? How do you balance work and personal life when the workload increases? Have you discovered any tools or practices that significantly improve your efficiency? Can you share a memorable experience where you successfully navigated a particularly tough busy season?

Your insights can be a valuable resource for fellow accountants, providing them with new strategies to tackle their busy season challenges. Share your stories and tips in the comments below to help build a supportive community of accounting professionals.

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