Work smarter this accounting season: handle more engagements

The accounting profession’s talent shortage hasn’t gone away. In fact, AICPA’s 2024 Top Issues survey showed recruitment and retention are the biggest challenges for 45 percent of firms.

So what can they do?

There is no single solution to the problem. But many firms are turning to technology to help improve efficiency and enhance productivity so staff can manage the increased workload, deliver the experience clients expect, and help grow the business, all without the burnout and stress that can lead to turnover. The same AICPA survey showed that 71 percent of firms are increasing their technology investments to help bridge the gap caused by the talent shortage.

ShareFile can help your firm increase efficiency with your internal and client workflows so your staff can handle more engagements without compromising the client experience — or their own.

Streamline the tax prep process

Tax prep can get complex quickly, and the constant hurdles staff must overcome to get work done can limit your firm’s ability to take on additional clients. ShareFile streamlines the entire client engagement process, from onboarding clients to collecting documents to signing IRS Form 8879. Built-in automation that’s ready to use out of the box can save your firm time on routine but required tasks and keep engagements moving forward with unified workflows that minimize client touchpoints.

ShareFile can help you save an estimated 4.25 hours per client tax return.* You get the tools you need to simplify the most tedious client tasks for individual and business tax prep so you can focus on delivering a great client experience and can keep work flowing. Streamline your client engagements with:

• A pre-built engagement letter and onboarding workflow
• Templates for individual and business tax preparation — forms 1040, 1065, 1120-S, 1120-C, and 990
• Customizable, templated request lists and digital forms to gather PBC documents and data
• The ability to transfer files easily between ShareFile and accounting software like CCH, Drake, Lacerte, ProSeries, UltraTax, and others
• Integrated e-signature with knowledge-based authentication for finalizing 8879s

Reduce admin work with GenAI

Requesting and collecting documents from clients for tax prep or audits takes time. A lot of time. Building collection lists for each client engagement can be a manual, repetitive process that takes staff away from more valuable work.

With ShareFile, you can generate common PBC lists in seconds with document collection powered by GenAI. The long lists you had to create or upload to initiate the document collection process are a thing of the past with ShareFile, which can help you reduce the time it takes to collect client documents.

• Improved efficiency and productivity: By automating the creation of document request lists, you can significantly reduce the time and effort required to collect the information you need to advance the engagement.
• Standardization: Easily build document request list templates to ensure consistency across engagements.
• Scalability: Create and maintain multiple document request list templates for a variety of client engagements, helping you scale to serve more clients.

Work smarter this season with ShareFile

Digitizing, centralizing, and automating the document request process will help make tax prep easier and help your firm complete more engagements. Learn about ShareFile Industry Advantage and find out how your firm can work smarter this season and deliver the exceptional experience your clients expect.

*This calculation is an estimate only based on internal research using current prices and is subject to change. ShareFile is not responsible for the content, results, or accuracy of the estimate information and actual results will vary.