In observance of daylight savings time and the
Thanksgiving holiday, I am officially setting my scales back 10 pounds. After
Thursday and a traditional Italian gravy meat feast two day later, I can say
with all certainty that Sports Illustrated will not be contacting me for their
annual swimsuit edition.
The annual gobble-fest also marks what I like to call the
final lap of our M&A season, as our deals in progress try and close out
prior to the onset of a new and grueling tax season.
Many of our clients often assume the look of a contestant
who is stumped on Final Jeopardy when I explain to them that the period leading
up to 1040 filings is often our busiest of the year.
And on the surface it does sound counter-intuitive. Why
would anyone want to place the added burden of completing a merger on top of
all the season-related issues – i.e. extra staff, new regulations, software
license renewals etc.?
But consider this.
If you’re typical of most CPA firms in the country, at
what point in time do you see the majority of your client base, face to face in
your office? For more than 80 percent of accounting practices it is usually
once a year – tax time. Clients stop by drop off their tax organizers, catch up
and anxiously await the completion of their 1040s. So what more opportune time
is there to facilitate the transition period of a merger when the principles of
both the seller and successor firms are there?
Second.
How many of you require per diem staffing during tax
season? I’m guessing that would include most of you. So at the time when help
wanted signs begin popping up throughout the profession, would it not stand to
reason that at a time when you need it the most you would have the resources of
two firms in which to draw from?
So what appears initially to almost foolishly assume a
large undertaking when both time and human capital would be at a premium is
conversely, perfect timing in which to enter into an affiliation.
And
look at it this way, your annual holiday parties will be twice as large.
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