Business Strategy

  • Three Ways to Run Software for a Tax Practice

    Drake Software and Right Networks are collaborating on this three-part series highlighting different software solutions available to tax professionals. This week, we’re focusing on the ways you can run software in a tax practice.    The tools tax professionals use to run their practice are constantly evolving. From appointment scheduling and document management to research…

  • Is Your Website ADA Compliant?

    Small businesses that make their website compliant with Americans with Disabilities Act standards could qualify for the disabled access tax credit. From business clients to your own tax practice, this credit can help cover some of the associated expenses.    What is the Americans with Disabilities Act? According to ADA.gov, the Americans with Disabilities Act…

  • Tax Tips for New Business Owners

    Owning your own business can be a very rewarding experience. The process of starting a business, however, can seem overwhelming to the uninitiated. There are so many choices to consider – from business plans to market strategies and tax responsibilities. The IRS has put together a quick list of items any new owner of a…

  • Business or Pleasure: Determining if Your Hobby is Considered a Trade

    What is a Trade or Business? Simply put, a trade or business must satisfy the need to make a profit.  If you don’t plan to make a profit, then this is not a business, it is a hobby.  The reason for opening a business is to provide a livelihood for you (and your family). If…

  • Reduce Stress During Tax Season

    Stress can worsen or increase the risk of conditions like obesity, heart disease, premature aging, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, headaches, depression, gastrointestinal problems, and asthma. For tax and accounting professionals, the effects of this stress are seen most clearly during tax season, and especially leading up to the filing deadline, when the workflow can ramp up…

  • Protect Yourself from Wi-Fi Hacking

    The introduction of Wireless Equivalent Privacy (WEP), in 1999, was supposed to be a solution to the growing issue of Wi-Fi security.  At the time, Wi-Fi was seen as an alternative to the relatively high cost of wired connections, and free Wi-Fi hotspots were springing up nationwide to serve academic and business environments.

  • Small Town Marketing

    If you grew up “shooting the loop” every Friday night in high school, knew the names of every single person living on your block, or rode a tractor to school at least once, chances are that you grew up in a small American town.

  • The Hidden Costs of Expense Report Fraud

    If there is one thing that tax preparers and accountants present to clients, it is their integrity. They are the professionals who can be consigned a client’s personal financial information or an entire firm’s financial well-being. They are the trusted business advisors and the ones most often tasked with rooting out fraud and theft. There…

  • Deducting the Cost of Looking for Work

    What You Need to Know When Deducting Job-Hunt Expenses Last week the IRS released information pertaining to deducting job search costs, including a list of nine “key tax facts” on the subject.

  • From the Shoebox to the Tax File

    It’s the client most dreaded by tax preparers – the individual or small business manager who literally shows up to have their taxes prepared armed with only a boxful of receipts and unorganized statements.  The issue is not whether it is a box, or a file, or even a handful of paper.  It is, rather,…