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Tax & AccountingAugust 22, 2023

Case study: Elevating the tax client experience with strategic automation

One way accounting firms can stand out in an increasingly competitive field is to find ways to elevate their tax client experience beyond a simple once-a-year engagement. Professional accountants can offer their expertise in other, more profitable services, like tax planning and business consulting.

Robert Goldstein of Goldstein Enright Accountancy recently discussed how his firm has streamlined the typical tax engagement with a digital tax workflow to free up time for higher-value client service. The firm uses a mix of CCH Axcess™ and CCH® ProSystem fx™ solutions to save time on individual and business tax returns.

Enhanced client service goes beyond the tax engagement

Unlike many firms, tax compliance isn’t necessarily the focus of the work Goldstein Enright Accountancy does for its clients. According to Goldstein, the firm provides a full range of services and tends to get most involved with bigger-picture concerns. He says, “Our relationship with our clients is different than a typical CPA firm. We tend to get a little more involved with our clients than the typical CPA firm. We don't base our role as being strictly compliance, preparing tax returns, preparing financial statements…”

Instead, he says, “We want to help the client succeed. So we get more involved in their management decisions, interpreting a financial statement, tax planning, relationships with banks, helping a client sell their business, helping them buy a business. We get involved with more meaty consulting. And it's how it gets more fulfilling, to tell you the truth.”

Our relationship with our clients is different than a typical CPA firm. We tend to get a little more involved with our clients than the typical CPA firm. We don't base our role as being strictly compliance, preparing tax returns, preparing financial statements…

Robert M. Goldstein, CPA

Automate and save time with a digital tax workflow

The firm uses CCH ProSystem fx Scan to digitize client source documents, CCH PDFlyer to mark up the digital files, and AutoFlow technology to flow data into individual tax returns. They also use CCH ProSystem fx Engagement to streamline business returns by linking trial balances and importing that data into the returns as well. Goldstein says, “With individuals the workflow is a little more seamless, in that client information comes in [automatically]. We use PDFlyer; we use AutoFlow. And all of that flows into the tax return to get the finished product.”

“With business returns,” he continues, “it's a little bit of a hybrid. We also use CCH Engagement, and that really made it a lot easier for us to do business returns. Kind of seamless, as far as having to get the information and then inputting the information into the actual program to prepare the tax return. Now it seamlessly gets imported into the tax program. It saves probably about six to eight hours of time and doing that. That was a big deal.”

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Focus on what matters

Tax professionals often thrive on complexity, but they also tend to be service-minded, putting their clients’ best interests at the center of what they do. By automating the tax process and reducing lower-value work, they can use their time and expertise in more productive ways. Goldstein explains how this mindset benefits the firm and its clients, saying, “Not having to have them do the menial tasks, I think helps draw good staff. And I think everybody wants to use their mind a little more, and have the ability to help clients make decisions.”

For Goldstein Enright, technology is not just a necessary expense. It is a business driver that enables the firm to serve its clients better. “Our goal in life is really to help people – help people make money and help people have a livelihood. And the best way that we can do that is to be equipped with this information that tells the story so that we can relate the story to the client, helping them make critical financial decisions… So to the extent that we can make that compliance part as easily done as possible, and as efficiently as possible, the better off we are, it frees us up to do consulting.”

Product Marketing Manager, Tax

Aimee Hall is a product marketing manager for Wolters Kluwer Tax and Accounting US, focusing on the professional market. In this role, she is responsible for leading the marketing strategy for tax software products including CCH Axcess Tax, CCH ProSystem fx Tax and ATX Tax. She joined Wolters Kluwer in 2006 and lives in the Chicago suburbs.

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