How Tax Planning Software for Accountants Helped Transform a Firm from Compliance to Advisory

Patra Francis is the principal tax expert and the founder of My Ally Tax. With more than ten years of experience in the tax industry, Ms. Francis decided to invest in 7 Figure Firms and Corvee Tax Planning software for accountants in order to grow her firm.

Moving Out of Compliance Only

Having done tax preparation for quite some time, Ms. Francis knew there was more value she could begin giving to her clients. The question became how to start doing so. Launching new advisory services for a firm that has historically concentrated on compliance is a giant leap forward. It’s not only scary because of the “unknown,” it’s also a big commitment because advisory services change the trajectory of a firm’s entire business model.

As Ms. Francis began doing CFO work, her confidence grew, but she still wanted to expand into tax planning. She was giving tax planning advice sometimes to clients, but it was for free. Therefore, the clients didn’t value it and rarely implemented the free tax planning advice they were told about. 

“I know many people are overpaying in taxes, and I felt if I were able to learn to package tax planning properly and show how much value I could give, it would be very helpful to both my clients and my firm,” Ms. Francis explained. The problem was that she had no tools to do tax planning with, so it would all have to be done manually. This was time consuming because Ms. Francis was using an Excel spreadsheet and having to try and create her own deliverables. She knew there must be a better way.”

Moving Into Advisory with Tax Planning Software for Accountants

As soon as Ms. Francis found out about Corvee Tax Planning software for accountants, she knew it was going to be a big time saver. “Having the ability to click a button and having the software calculate everything automatically is so much more efficient than doing it all by yourself,” she said, “but the best thing about it is that it’s more comprehensive and finds more savings for clients than what I was ever able to find myself.”

In other words, Corvee’s current 60+ tax savings strategies, with thousands of strategy combinations across multiple entities and years, is able to propose for each client more possibilities to save on taxes than the dozen or so strategies she formerly applied. Now, Ms. Francis can’t imagine going back to the old way of tax planning.

“I never used to give proposals, but now the software easily creates a comprehensive, professional proposal in seconds. These tax planning proposals help me close more clients. In the past, I had nothing to give clients. Now I have a beautiful PDF that sells itself.” 

She has now doubled her capacity for tax planning in the few short months since she purchased the tax planning software, and is averaging three tax plans a month. Ms. Francis now has more time available to work on firm growth.

The software is also giving Ms. Francis more education in tax planning with its detailed explanations of every strategy. It boosts her own confidence because she can explain to the client every part of the tax plan in detail.

“In the past, if I sold a couple of tax plans, I’d hold on selling more because I knew I had to go and put them together, and that was going to take me a long time to do. Now, I know I can keep selling because it’s so much easier and faster to create the tax plan,” she said. 

Ms. Francis is also using Corvee Client Collaboration by sending agreements and file requests to her clients. She noted this helps to be more professional with clients when she can be on a call and send them an engagement letter on the spot. Not only is this efficient, it helps her close more clients.  

“The engagement letter, the questionnaire, my request list—everything goes through Corvee,” she remarked.

Difference Between Running a Compliance-Based Firm and an Advisory-Based Firm

The transformation inside Ms. Francis’ firm has been amazing. “I used to take any client that came to me. Now, I can be more choosy and only take the clients that are a good fit,” she explained. “Corvee Tax Planning software gives me confidence. I know the value I can bring to clients and I can bundle tax planning with CFO services. I also am able to upgrade tax prep clients to tax planning. My clients save on average $14,000 per year by working with me.” 

She also noted she has better feedback from clients since using tax planning software for accountants because they are ecstatic about the tax savings amount she is able to find for them.

“Using Excel, it was difficult to show value to my clients. The deliverables Corvee Tax Planning creates now help the client appreciate what I’m doing for them. I wouldn’t be where I am today without Corvee.”

Her goal is now to be 80% advisory this year, as opposed to the 100% compliance she was a few years ago. “I have more time to work on the business instead of in it, so I can focus on doing marketing and hiring instead of just compliance.”

All in all, being able to use tax planning software for accountants has increased the revenue of her firm and given her the ability to give more value to her clients. What would she tell CPAs who are thinking about getting Corvee Tax Planning? Ms. Francis remarked, “I love that I can tax plan more efficiently. I tried tax planning myself and it was more time consuming and less effective. If you don’t try tax planning software, you’ll never get to the next level.”