Blog: Buyer's Guide

Most small tax and accounting firms run on habits. The owner knows how a return moves from intake to e-file, which clients get extensions without asking, what happens when a preparer quits in February, and how the website gets updated. None of it is written down, and it works until the firm grows past the owner's line of sight, a key person leaves, or a regulator, insurer or buyer asks to see the policy.

A policies and procedures manual is the written version of those habits. It ...

Most practitioners learn pass-through taxation one return at a time. A firm takes on a few partnerships, a handful of S corporations, and the preparer works out basis, allocations and distributions as each file demands it. That works until a client asks a forward-looking question: should we elect S status, should we admit this investor, what happens if one owner leaves, what does the buyer's offer actually mean after tax. Those questions require a working command of two different systems, ...

"Best EA exam prep" lists are everywhere, and most of them rank providers by affiliate commission rather than by anything a candidate can test. This guide takes a different approach. Instead of ranking brands, it gives you the criteria that actually separate useful enrolled agent study materials from expensive shelfware, so you can judge any course, including ours, on the same terms.

The enrolled agent exam, officially the Special Enrollment Examination (SEE), changed in visible ways ...

The honest answer to "how much does CPA certification cost?" is that the license itself is the cheap part. Application, exam and licensing fees are real money, but for most candidates they are smaller than either the education needed to qualify or the cost of failing and retaking sections. The biggest swing factor in the total is not your state's fee schedule. It is how many credit hours you still need and how many exam attempts it takes you to pass.

This guide breaks the cost into ...