In this guide 6 sections
Buy for one client record. Test four things: engagement tracking, document requests that chase themselves, a deadline calendar by entity and form, and hours booked against fee. Avoid any tool that keeps advisory work in a silo apart from the return file, because partners then answer client calls from two screens.
Why tax-only practice tools strain once you advise
A return has a due date, a preparer and a reviewer, while advisory work has a scope, a retainer or hourly rate and no fixed end. Tools built for returns treat advisory as an odd case, with no field for scope, retainer or renewal, and the strain starts right there.
It shows up in small ways. A cash flow forecast sits in a shared drive while the 1120-S sits in the tax package, so nobody sees both when the owner calls about a bonus. The answer takes ten minutes to assemble.
Write down your own mix first. Count clients who buy tax only, clients who buy both and clients who buy advisory alone, such as a monthly CFO review with a bookkeeping feed. That split weights every test below.
Engagement tracking that follows the letter
Every engagement letter should become a record. It should carry a scope, a fee basis, a partner and a renewal date, and the vendor should turn a signed PDF into a live job while you watch. Watch for retyping. Ask who gets alerted when a letter sits unsigned after ten days, and whether the unsigned engagement is blocked from taking time entries until the client signs.
Then check what happens when scope grows. Say a client asks for a buy-sell valuation in the middle of the tax year, long after the first letter was signed. Can you add a second engagement under the same client, or must you create a duplicate record that splits the history across two names?
Look for write-up and write-down views. Partners need to see hours booked against the agreed fee before the invoice goes out, not after the client has queried the bill.
- Letter template with scope and fee basis
- Renewal and rate review dates
- Hours against fee by engagement
- Second engagement under one client
- Partner and manager assignment
Document requests that chase themselves
Missing paper causes most delays. K-1s, brokerage 1099s, payroll summaries and bank statements arrive late, in the wrong format or as a photo in a text message. Staff then spend hours sorting them. That time is unbilled.
A good request list is built per client from last year’s return and shows what has arrived, what is outstanding and who was reminded. The client uploads to a portal. The file lands in the right folder under a correct name, the checklist ticks itself, and the preparer gets a note that the K-1 is in.
Test the reminder logic with a real client who is always late, because that client exposes every flaw in the schedule. Does the nagging stop once a file arrives? Can staff read the chase history?
- Checklist generated from prior year
- Portal upload with file type limits
- Automatic reminders that stop on receipt
- Chase history visible to staff
- Secure sharing of finished returns
Deadline calendars and the single client view
Deadlines belong to entities and forms. One owner may have an S corporation, a partnership, a personal return, quarterly estimates and a payroll filing, each carrying its own date and extension status.
Ask for a calendar filtered by form and by preparer, then ask for the client page that shows returns, advisory deliverables, open requests and unpaid invoices together. Three tabs in the demo means three tabs daily.
Advisory dates count too. A board pack due on the fifteenth or a quarterly loan covenant test belongs on the same calendar as the extension deadline.
Run a two-week trial before you commit
Load ten real clients covering tax, advisory and both, including one messy family group with several entities, a trust and a late-filing history. Whatever a demo hides will surface there.
Ask two preparers, a manager and one partner to run a live task each day, so that each role meets the screens it will use all season. A preparer sends a request list, a manager reviews a return in the review queue and a partner reads a client page before a call.
Share the gaps with the vendor in writing, then rank them by how often staff would hit each one in a normal week. Some gaps a workaround will cover. A few will end the discussion. Know which is which before you sign.
CPA client software scorecard
Use one sheet with a line per test. The lines cover engagement letter to job, scope change, hours against fee, request list, reminders, portal, entity calendar and single client page. Columns hold the vendor name, a pass or fail from your live trial, the staff member who tested it and a note on any workaround. A footer lists the partner’s two deal-breakers.
Open a blank worksheet to printQuestions owners ask
Should tax and advisory live in one system?
Usually the client record should be one. Specialist tools can sit behind it, but partners need to see every engagement, open request and invoice for a client without opening several programs.
Is a practice management suite enough?
Often it is, if its engagement and time features fit advisory work, so test it with a real scope change and a retainer client first. Demos use tidy examples.
How long does a data move take?
It depends on how clean your client list and file folders are, and duplicate entity names or half-scanned folders add the most time. Start with a pilot group of ten clients, then move the rest once staff trust the document request flow and the reminder schedule.
Who should sit in the demo?
Invite the partner who signs off the choice, one manager who reviews returns and one preparer who chases documents, each with a live task. Each will spot a different weakness. The partner notices reporting gaps, the manager notices review notes that cannot be attached to a return, and the preparer notices every extra click.