3 Great Tips to Prepare for the Talent Shortage in Tax Season 2022

The end marks the beginning, which is valid for the tax season, especially after multiple extensions, like Tax Season 2021. The numerous extensions have meant that no sooner did it end, accounting firms, CPAs, and EAs are staring at another tax season. They need to get prepped so that they achieve their productivity goals in a new season.

As an accounting firm, you know the tax season is difficult. You need to prepare tax returns as well as manage other commoditized service offerings. You also recognize the need to make the most of the tax season, but it isn’t easygoing because a sense of proportion is needed. You realize you cannot take up all the tax work coming your way; you still say yes to most of it, resulting in a work-life imbalance, sleepless nights, and knowing fully well that no matter the number of hours you and your team put in, it is never going to be enough.

At the same time, your client engagement suffers as you might not have the time to handle some of their urgent requests, and some might choose to move to another firm. This is just an overview of why it is essential to manage the tax season well and, more importantly, why it needs to be planned in advance.

Talent Shortage Impacting a Profitable Tax Season

81% of finance leaders say they have problems finding accounting talent. Talent shortage is a genuine problem in the accounting industry. This problem typically rears its head when you need this talent the most – yes, during the tax season. There are plenty of firms that start looking for tax experts when the tax season arrives in earnest. As can be imagined, such experts are in short supply and might be an expensive hire for firms. This impacts their margins. Or, in a worst-case scenario, firms might not even find talent to scale their team.

The idea here is not to scare you but to get you to think. Why get sucked into a talent problem? If you know there is a problem, why not plan to negate this problem? So how do you handle the talent shortage in a busy tax season when you are trying to build capacity and scale your team?

We have some answers.

Preparing for the Talent Shortage

1. Better Forecasting

Tax Season 2022 will be upon us soon. We see it on the horizon, so why not take the necessary steps to go through the client list and try getting a measure of the amount of tax work coming your way? If you think that it is enough, well and good, but if you want to do more, work out – how much more. Have a revenue goal in mind and start your outreach process accordingly. Start acquiring new clients and explore widening the scope of your relationship with existing clients.

Sooner rather than later, you will get a fair idea of the amount of work you need to be prepared for in Tax Season 2022. This will tell you whether you need to scale your team or whether the existing team is enough to address client needs and fulfill business expectations.

This sets the stage to kick start a plan of action for bringing remote tax preparers on board.

2. Leverage Tax Return Preparation Outsourcing

Tax prep support outsourcing can be the ideal solution for your firm to scale your team without aggressively recruiting internal team members. Remember, adding employees to your payroll does build capacity but also increases overheads in the form of salaries, bonuses, and all associated expenses, including infrastructure costs.

A good way is to extend your team with remote tax preparers who work out of well-managed and advanced delivery centers. Capable of working independently, they do not need to be micromanaged and turn around tax preparation quickly and accurately. Outsource Tax Preparation to propel your firm’s growth and scalability.

When you outsource tax preparation, you set up the stage to boost profitability by up to 50% and save on operational costs. This is a huge benefit. We have talked about forecasting in the earlier point; once you have a semblance of clarity on the work coming your way, you can identify the number of tax experts you should add to your team.

When opting for tax prep support outsourcing services, it is critical to work with an outsourcing provider who can deliver extensively on your needs and achieve the highest standards of data security and accuracy.

3. Think of a Long Term Approach

If you are taking the tax prep support outsourcing route, why not think beyond the tax season as well? You can get accounting professionals on board who can do accounting work. So think of talent shortage from a long-term perspective. This problem is not going away anytime soon. If you want to scale, scale holistically. Think about all your services and how you want to go about building capacity for them.

The tax season does not mean other accounting work should take a back seat. This is why you need to strengthen your team with a future outlook and ensure optimal resource management to generate more revenue. If you are outsourcing tax preparation, why not think of accounting outsourcing as well?

Your firm will benefit from thinking strategically.

Conclusion

To conclude, it is doubly imperative that you have a plan in place to face the talent shortage in tax season 2022. Not doing so will be detrimental to your firm’s fortunes this season.