Art of Accounting: Updated free checklists

My updated Word file of checklists is now available. There are 190 tax season, practice management and personal tips checklists on 328 pages in a usable searchable Word format. I added 12 checklists and updated many of them for the upcoming 2025 tax season.

I am working on updating the “Getting Your Affairs in Order” checklists and should have those available after tax season. I am also working on SmartProof templates and hope to have those available by the end of February. These would be something new. When they are ready, I’ll send them to everyone that requests the updated checklists, so do not email me for them. You’ll get them when I get them completed.

I am certainly nutsy with checklists. When I have a new situation, I usually scope it out on a Word or Excel file in a checklist format. Once I decide to proceed, I now have a new checklist that can be added to my file. Some of the new projects I work on can be pretty hefty, so I keep those to myself. I find that people do not like getting checklists that are too long. I post some really long checklists elsewhere and will include a page with links in the new file. 

I use checklists for almost everything I do. Those that will be repeated are included in this free file. Checklists have all the steps needed for a given project and lay out what I need to do, and occasionally the order to do it in. They don’t need any thinking or decisions on my part (except possibly what color shirts I should pack for a trip). I spend considerable time planning new projects. I want to get them right and I also want to get the fixed fees (or the range of fees) right.

This upfront planning is my investment in my future time savings. It is also the investment in reduced time instructing staff and their reduced time when working on my projects. After all, our staff “push our pencils,” and I think it is important that they are pushing the pencils properly, effectively and efficiently. I already figured that out, so why shouldn’t that be shared and reduce their time?

I restrict my checklists to tax season, practice management, administrative process and procedures, some marketing and financial planning. I also include some personal checklists such as when I pack for a trip, shop for my card game or a barbeque, or when I golf. My checklists do not cover technical issues. There are many great checklists available for this.

This paragraph is repeated from prior columns: I write a lot about what I did, and still do, and some people contact me wondering why I did what looked like so much extra work and how it was cost-effective. My response is that everything I did was when I was trying to build a practice, get clients, train staff, make a living and spend time with my family. I figured out early on that by deliberate planning, carefully scoping a job and setting up systems and checklists made me richer in the long run than shortcutting to get to the end result. What I did worked and works for me, and I am sharing it with this checklist file for my colleagues.

Some of the new checklists cover these topics and many more:

• A first time-ever flow chart to help a client make a first time investment in the stock market;
• A tax preparation process flow chart;
• A template for organizing your tax season;
• An organic growth checklist;
• How a first-time supervisor should start supervising;
• How a new partner should partner;
• What a staff member who wants to be promoted to partner should do;
• The accountant’s role in assisting a client with their succession planning;
• A jump start for clients to get started with their financial planning; and,
• A checklist for a non-managing partner who manages a book of business.

There is something for everyone in public or private accounting in these checklists. 

I also have auditing and bankruptcy checklists, and some for colleagues in private industry. What I do, and suggest, is to print out the six-page checklist listing and keep it handy. When I have a new situation, I look over the listing to see if there is a checklist that could help me and then I go to the Word file.

The file is free. Just send me an email to GoodiesFromEd@withum.com and put “Checklists” as the subject. No messages necessary as I do this myself and the messages take me time to read. I’ll also keep your email and will send you the SmartProof templates as soon as I have them and then the Getting Your Affairs in Order checklists in May. 

Every one of the 190 checklists have been used by me, so they are field-tested, and I know they work and are useful. 

Enjoy!

Do not hesitate to contact me at emendlowitz@withum.com with your practice management questions or about engagements you might not be able to perform.