Payroll preparation may not be the most glamorous aspect of public accounting, but it is an area where we have expertise, and our clients want and need our help. Over the past few years many smart practitioners have made payroll services a staple of their practice as they found it to be a great client retention service and also very profitable.

A generation ago, calculating paychecks and preparing quarterly reports was the sole domain of accounting offices. As payroll became more complex practitioners began to shy away and national providers such as ADP and PayChex rose to prominence.

In the mid 90s technology advances made it possible for many clients to prepare their own payroll. Then along came the Internet and with it the ability for accountant and client to actually collaborate in the payroll process. Since most clients feel more comfortable when someone outside the organization is looking for obvious mistakes and errors this new paradigm has grown dramatically. There is value in the consultative role for the outside accountant in the payroll process of a client and web-based payroll offerings make providing the service practicable for small firms and their small business clients.

While most of us have a cell phone, many of us have not looked into using a cellular modem, or "air card" to connect a laptop or other mobile device to the internet.  The performance and pricing of these devices has improved substantially over the last five years, and in some areas, the speed rivals that of broadband connections such as DSL.

I was reminded of the gains mobile connectivity has made in the last few years last Friday when I took a conference call in my car using my cell phone, netbook, and my EVDO modem using Microsoft LiveMeeting.  When this important meeting ended, I was able to walk out and take my place with the coaches and other parents on the T-ball field without missing the action.  (Go team!)

No matter how you feel things went for you during Tax Season 2009, one thing is certain:  It's now officially over.  Whether you spend the next week catching up around the house, sending bills to clients, or vacationing somewhere nice and tropical, tax season 2009 is one for the record books. With new client disclosure requirements for outsourced tax returns taking effect for the 2009 tax season, many firms reduced the number of returns sent offshore, causing staffing headaches early in 2009.   Other firms implemented new technologies such as scan and organize (or scan, organize, and populate) applications to better organize the source documents for personal income tax returns before those documents are given to the preparer.  Finally, as happens every year, Mother Nature had some surprises in place for some CPA's and firms, bringing unexpected challenges during the busiest time of the year.