October 15 has passed, bringing another important filing deadline to a close for many accounting firms. For some, it may offer a welcome opportunity to catch up, regroup, and prepare for the next busy season. But before moving forward, there's a question worth asking:
If you could eliminate just one recurring workflow frustration before the next tax season, what would it be?
Would it be clients submitting incomplete documentation? The repeated emails and phone calls requesting missing information? Time spent manually organizing and renaming documents? Delays moving returns between preparation and review? Or perhaps the final steps of obtaining client approvals, signatures, and payments? These challenges may seem like separate issues, but they often have something in common: they create additional work throughout the process. A missing document at intake may lead to interruptions during preparation, additional questions during review, and last-minute communication before filing. Addressing the problem earlier in the workflow may reduce work at several later stages. Where should improvement begin? It's tempting to tackle several inefficiencies at once, particularly when firms are evaluating new software and automation capabilities. But meaningful improvement doesn't necessarily require a complete technology overhaul. Sometimes the most valuable first step is identifying the recurring problem that creates the greatest disruption. That requires looking beyond the task itself. How frequently does it occur? How many employees are involved? Does it create additional work elsewhere? Could a clearer process, better use of existing software, or a relatively simple automation help? And importantly, would resolving it make the upcoming tax season noticeably easier for both staff and clients? One improvement can lead to another. The period following October 15 presents an opportunity to evaluate workflows while the challenges of the filing season are still fresh. Rather than beginning with the question, "What technology should we add?" perhaps the better question is: "What is the one problem we don't want to experience again next tax season?” Identifying that problem may be the most productive first step toward improving the entire workflow.