I could not survive without my two monitors. They are large - probably 18 inches corner to corner, maybe 21 inches. One is horizontal and the other is vertical. A comfy chair is a must. I need another assistant however…
I have been using two 24" monitors - I find it difficult the odd time I work out of the office and don’t have two monitors. I work by myself, without CaseWare. I pay a monthly fee for remote backup services. I hope it works.
That’s an annual question for me. What products or processes can I put in place to make life easier? For monitors, I use three 34" screens. The left-most monitor is portrait mode that has my file manager on it all the time. The other two are in landscape mode. That configuration has worked for at least best for me for at least 5 years.
For companion software, I all but threw away my desktop calculator for DeskCalc and CalcTape (each has it’s own advantages). I do much of my work using PDF’s (client info and working papers). I often do calcs using the computer calculators and copy the tape to the working paper. I annotate PDF’s in my file manager.
Text expansion software is a real asset. The main program for this is “Text Expander”. I use AutoHotKey. It is a free scripting program that can do text expansion and a whole lot more. I’ve created scripts for text expansion. I created scripts for T1 invoicing and making short client notes during the year. I have a script that summarizes corporate dividends and capital gains in Excel and then transfers those summarized dividends and gains to S6 or S3 of the T2. I have a script that opens up a list of personal and corporate clients. If I right-click on a client, it copies the BN or SIN to the clipboard and then I can paste it in the Represent A Client field. It avoids having to open up the client’s TaxCycle file. AutoHotKey is great if you have some basic programming skills.
In Excel, I use the personal workbook (personal.xlsb). This is a workbook that can automatically open when you open an Excel file. It can contain macros that are available to all your worksheets. I have many macros in the personal workbook. One will format cells using brackets for negative numbers instead of the minus sign. I have a macro that creates a new sheet for summarizing the HST returns for a client and compares it to the sales general ledger account in Caseware.
Out of all the “tools” I have, the best is my wife working with me to do bookkeeping for some of my clients and for our business. She’s also in the office a couple days a week as my receptionist. That’s a huge issue off my plate. She tracks our receivables, too, and mercilessly hounds me to follow-up on invoices. I also hired an assistant for a couple days each week from Feb to Jun when my wife isn’t in the office. We struck it rich with this person. She is great with clients, only wants to work a couple days a week, and doesn’t want to work during the summer. She worked as a legal assistant for years and has adapted really well to accounting.
What I still would like is to find is a great work scheduling program that will also let me track outstanding jobs. I’m in the latter stage of my career and still have the same questions as many of you newer CPA’s and preparers. Maybe these questions of how to do things better are never really answered.
That’s funny, @Rein. I meet clients in a separate room with no monitors. I wouldn’t want to see them in my office with other client info out in the open.
I’m looking forward to the answers. I use PDF Merger and Splitter Pro to organize my digital files. I scan everything and use the app to attach all the supporting documents to the schedules. Everything is ready to submit to CRA on request. It was a free app from the Microsoft store, but I upgraded almost immediately. Simple and efficient.
My life hasn’t been the same since I invested in a Capisco chair. I have had almost no back pain since I got it. It’s pricey, but I found a great deal with a local office outfitter. I got like 50% off regular retail that way, but it would have been worth it without the deal.
I can’t find the video with the old dude who did a really great review. He really sold me on buying something I couldn’t sit in before I bought it, but their are a ton of video reviews on youtube.
A lot of people have said it took a while to get used to and some were sore for a bit at first. I didn’t have any problem with that. It’s more active sitting, but not like a ball chair would be. I almost never lean back in it and it adjusts perfectly with the desk so my arms are ergonomically aligned. Some people complain because it doesn’t have normal arm rests. Arm rests were always in the wrong place for me and pushed my shoulders up or trapped my elbows, so I don’t miss them whatsoever. I love putting my arms over the T and leaning forward for a backward shoulder stretch.
For me, it was odd for the first couple of days, but not uncomfortable ever. I find regular office chairs weird to sit it now. They feel slouchy, and I get uncomfortable fast.
It took me about 5 or so minutes to put together. I have hardwood floors, so I swapped the regular office wheels for rollerblade type wheels. Two years later, you can’t tell I’m rolling around on the floor in it at all.
The online prices don’t seem to have changed much since I bought it in 2022. I paid $880 locally at the time.
Triple monitors were a game changer 10 years ago, but we’re probably going to 4 soon, or two of those huge curved “gaming” monitors.
Aeron chairs by Herman Miller, the 10 year warranty means I’ve only had to replace one in my entire career. I’ve bought a total of 6 in 20 years. Worth every penny.
I don’t know if it counts as an “item” but a project/practice management software system with task templates that “bread crumb” doing jobs. Ours have internal procedures and templates client messaging built in. They a constant work in progress, but are better than rethinking everything from scratch each time. We write a task template for anything we do more than twice.
my 32 " curved gaming monitor Set to LARGE FONT (needed for #4)
My old school Adding Machine, still very fast and efficient
Ball chair but 2 other styles of office chairs handy as I change out when I feel the need
Separate table for clients to sit at. (my other work is spread out on the floor behind me but my desk can still stay somewhat private)
I can turn my large monitor #1 for clients to see.
There is enough space between table and my desk that I can swing a small steno chair in between should I need to get up close and personal… best thing I have all their documents spread out in front of them when they arrive.
5. Portable Doorbell..one person office based from home for 24 years.. so when I go to change laundry or make Tea… my bell comes with me.
6. My plants and large windows
Most of all I would not do this if I didn’t love it and love my clients !
Big thanks to everyone for your awesome input!
I finally retired my ancient office chair (pretty sure it was older than me) and upgraded to a 34” monitor — goodbye, tiny 24-inch screen! I even added a monitor light so I can pretend I’m working in a spaceship.
Somehow, I managed to buy budget models that don’t adjust for height… so yes, monitor stand to the rescue!
I’ll be reading through all your tips over the summer and making more upgrades — the goal is to have the office dialled in perfectly by next tax season.
So, I have a slightly different technology change. Unexpected even for me.
I got rid of my five monitor set up (2x2 monitors, with the top right being mirrored for clients to a ONE (yes, that is ONE) 50 inch screen, with the trusty 36 client screen hanging off the bottom left corner. No, the big screen is flat, not curved, but I am loving not having those annoying edges between the various parts. The earlier 2x2 set up is actually the exact same pixel size as the single big screen, so my real estate size isn’t lost. But I can vary the size of the windows.
Not to mention, TaxCycle Techs have a seriously hard time trying to read my screen when they remote into the computer. Only did that once, and the tech was stuttering, asking how I could read such small print.
I have a similar setup - a single 42" screen with 4K resolution (but I’ve had that since 2017). And yes - every time I need remote support from someone (TaxCycle or otherwise), it is very difficult for them to see anything, because they are generally not running a large monitor with 4K resolution. I think, soon, tech support staff will have to get larger monitors, because more of us “users” have them. On the other hand, some tech companies are now using software for remote sessions that allow me (the user) to specify or limit the shared screen to a single application or window (i.e. Intuit uses it for QBO support). As such, I can resize my Chrome window, or change the zoom level, and the tech support person can see what they need to, without me having to change my Windows desktop resolution.
