Finding help when you need it.

• Author: Williams, Leonard W.
• Position: Professional help for tax practitioners

Many practitioners would not think of using specialized professionals who were not part of the general makeup of a tax practice. However, as this article illustrates, enrolled agents (EAs) and management consultants can sometimes offer invaluable expertise and assistance.

Enrolled Agents

There is a constant need for professional tax staff, and EAs have proven to be a great source for filling this need. Surprisingly, though, many CPAs have never heard of EAs, and have no idea who they are or what they do.

Enrolled agents attain such status by successfully completing a two-day professional examination on taxes given by the IRS, or by having been employed with the IRS for five years at the field auditor level. EAs may represent taxpayers at all levels within the IRS, just as CPAs and attorneys do.

An advantage to using EAs (at least in California) stems from the difficulty CPA candidates experience in becoming licensed. Although the regulations may differ in other states, CPA candidates in California must complete 500 hours of financial auditing before they may be licensed. Because many small firms no longer handle financial audits (due to the prohibitive cost of errors and omissions insurance premiums), they cannot get their own staff members certified. One alternative is to encourage employees who show promise to become EAs, a designation that carries with it an ascertainable level of proficiency.

Firms of all sizes should consider employing EAs--as paraprofessionals, full professionals with direct client responsibilities, or even tax managers EAs have been this author's (not so) secret weapon for many years, with some employed year-round and still others during tax season.

Management Consultants

An even less obvious service provider to accountants (who often find themselves consulting with clients on strategic planning and administrative matters) is the outside consultant. Although practitioners are the first to advise clients to consult with "experts" on business, tax and financial matters, they often fail to take their own advice to seek the counsel of those with a fresh eye and different perspective. It seems to be common practice to keep stretching and expanding what has been done all along, and simply pile one block of procedures on top of another. Practitioners need to "step outside the box" and avail themselves of the professional training and experience of others.

Owners or partners may have a general feeling that things could be...