Intuit Market Research Project

The University of Texas at Dallas

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction to the Research Problem and Questions......Page 3

Data Collection....Page 4

Statistical Analysis...Page 5

Conclusion and Recommendation...Page 6

Study Limitations.Page 7-8

Three key observations and learnings.Page 9-10

Appendix for Questionnaire on Data CollectionPage 11-15

Appendix on Basic Frequency Output..Page 16

Introduction to the Research Problem and Questions

Globally, accountants prepare millions of tax returns for their respective clients every

day. And each accountant possesses a somewhat unique methodology, workspace, and pacing

that best suits how they choose to manage and evaluate tax sensitive data.

However, a great proportion of essential steps to completing any tax return cannot be accurately

captured without organized observation periods. This is because of the subtle, impromptu nature

of the accountant's actions themselves which require careful categorization to yield meaningful

data for analysis.

The primary research problem was fully documenting an accountant's utilization of tax

software such as Lacert while continuing their specific workflow to reveal new or preexisting

processes where tax software can be improved for Intuit. Essentially, how much time

accountants spend on tax preparation activities. Onwards, to provide insight on how Intuit tax

software could be improved we used critical thinking and isolation of key variables to accurately

capture new foundations of innovation. The set of questions we finalized were influenced by the

Inuit observation report itself, in class exchanges of surveys, and discussions describing how we

could extract salient facts from observational data.

Data Collection

In this project, the research observation was focused on Certified Public Accountants in

the Plano area. The accountants who were observed in our group was Alan Spencer CPA, Alex

Tong CPA, Karen Collom CPA, and Pam Shriver CPA. The observations took place in either the

CPAs home or office, whichever they considered their workplace. Some accountants worked at
home while some had an office in a particular building. The observation requirement was to

meet with the selected accountant at their office or home work area. There were specific time

limitations as to how the meeting in those two hours should go; for example, the introduction

should take around 5 minutes. Next, the accountant should be observed as to whatever they do

within the time assigned for us to leave. The last twenty minutes of the two hours were assigned

to questions for the accountant. The observation included everything that they did from

documenting to assigning a task to employee and etc. Another was to notice the environment

they worked as well as any pattern which occurred while they worked.

Statistic Analysis

The percentages and averages listed were based on a sample size of 431 customers in

various positions of employment related to tax preparation. Most of the customers held the

position of Owner or Sole Proprietor. Furthermore, almost half of the sample size were Certified

Public Accountants. The averages provided include the number of returns customers completed

in different scenarios and environments. For example, averages are different for completing a

quick and easy return versus completing a difficult tax return with different variables and

deductions. The average time it takes to complete a certain task in the tax prep process, such as

entering data into the Intuit software, is also shown below.

Conclusion and Recommendations

The purpose of the observation project was survey and observe the amount of time it

takes a CPA to do the tasks throughout their work day. Even if the task or the activity is the

same, there are a variety of variable which differs from each CPA. For example, to receive the

tax return from a client, the CPAs way of obtaining it varies such as getting a staff member to

contact the client or the CPA will call them personally. Allowing a staff member to make the call

increase the time that the CPA can focus on other things. This is an important aspect of the Intuit

CPA clientele because even though some are home offices, majority of the offices have multiple
CPAs or other members in the team to where assignments can be delegated. The statistical

analysis portion explains the different times it takes a CPA to do the required thing such as to

collect data, enter the information and finally, to prepare returns. Because of certain mistakes and

flaws on the analysis, the conclusion drawn from the data is very limited.

Some of the recommendations which Intuit can do to their clientele would be to clean up

the survey more or to clarify how the survey is displayed. Due to certain flaws in the survey, it

was difficult to draw the analysis from the data. Another would be to do multiple verification on

how accurate the data is as well as making sure the survey itself is simplified and a less complex

to where the data can be drawn without constraint.

Study Limitations

No one expects research to be perfect. Of course there are many characteristics that

ultimately influence the outcome of any study. With that being said this project did have a few

conditions that deserve to be notated. The uncontrollable constraints we faced were primarily due

to the design of the study as well as the statistics and data

we were able to obtain. Although Intuit is a big company,

when gathering prospects to observe, it may have been

difficult to find accountants within the DFW area who were

actually willing to allow a student to observe them for 2

hours out of their busy day. Once a prospect was found

there was no way to tell whether or not this person would

take the study seriously or follow the rules. For example,

although the plan was to arrive at the site an act like a fly on the wall, some accountants still

spent the first twenty minutes talking. Acting different than they normally would when they are

alone in their natural environment was another obstacle. Because of this, the results observed

may have been effected. In addition to that, a few days after the observations took place, some

students realized that they forgot to notate the exact time in minutes it took for the observed

accountant to complete a certain task. Because of this, some of the timeframes documented had

to be estimated based on how much time we thought it felt like to complete a task when recalling

from memory. Another constraint, in some cases, was the inability to see or understand some of

the steps the accountant was taking to complete their tax return. This was due to both lack of

product and service knowledge as well as lack of visibility based on the location of where we

were sitting at the time of the study. For example, when observing CPA Karen Collum, her

computer was turned in such a way that it was difficult to see what windows she had open and

what part of the process she was working on at any given time. Not having access to the survey

beforehand as well as not being instructed to ask questions such as What changes would you

like to see Inuit make to increase your efficiency? was a disadvantage as this would have been a

valuable piece of information to document while on site, versus having to recall from memory or

make assumptions to answer this question for presentation purposes. Lack of reliable data was

probably the biggest shortcoming of the whole project. After all the hours of observations, and

time spent on survey revision, due to the busy tax season, Intuit was only able to obtain relevant

data from 5 accountants which was not enough to make an accurate analysis. Therefore, all the

data analyzed was created from survey responses from a previous study. This made it difficult to

compare the information observed to the computations made using XL Data Analyst. Also, after
further analyzation, we discovered that the pre-collected data on excel was flawed. The reference

coding provided was not consistent with neither the results notated in XL Data Analyst nor the

survey questions. To better describe, the Intuit coding document showed that question number

nine should have one hundred and sixty-two different variables, whereas the survey question

shows there should be thirty-six variables, and the data in excel only has results for eighteen

variables. Because of this, we could only assume that the results were only collected for one

scenario (fast or slow) and then divided into nine categories for individual, and nine categories

for business in order of importance. The same issue was presented for question numbers seven

and eight. Some of these constraints were definitely more important than others. Nonetheless, it

is safe to say that all of these constraints should be taken into consideration.

Three Key Observations and Learnings

Alex Tong - Alex Tong CPA & Associates

Interesting Observations and Learnings about Alex...

Extended client consultations about tax return policy

under difficult circumstances
Licensed as CPA
Office has very nice furniture and a great view
Organized office with little clutter
Uses Lacert, believes everyone needs expert advice on
tax returns
Multiple employees and secretary for efficiency
Karen Collum - Collum LLC

Interesting Observations and Learnings about Karen...

Has CPA certificate

Uses excel to make calculations
Documents order of customers on a piece of copy
paper
Uses year specific tax books to check if credits are
still valid
Appointments
Doesnt keep copies of return docs

Alan Spencer, CPA

Interesting Observations and Learnings about Alan

Licensed as CPA, PFS,CGMA, CFP-

all certifications are on wall [about 11]
Has two sets of things in work area
Quite Knowledgeable on computer
Color codes his notes on what was done for the day
Calls customers personally for documents needed
versus using his office staff
Has a work-life balance, loves to travel
Pam Schriver, CPA

Interesting Observations and Learnings about Pam...

Handles tax management, accounting services, tax audits, financial statements, and
retirement and educational planning
Only CPA in the firm
Has a binder for each of her clients with a table of contents, organizer, and their
documents.
Uses a printing calculator for her calculations
Works from home and is more paper based v.s. electronic based
Loves baseball

Appendix for Questionnaire on Data Collection

Time Spent Survey

A. Do you provide accounting AND tax preparation services professionally for multiple clients?

1 Yes
2 No [TERMINATE]

B. Do you personally prepare tax returns on behalf of your firm for clients?

1 Yes
2 No [TERMINATE]
3 Dont know [TERMINATE]

1. How many years have you, personally, been professionally preparing tax returns for
clients? [open-end]

2. Which of the following best describes your position within your firm?

Owner/ Sole Proprietor

Owner/Partner
Office Manager
Employee within tax or accounting department
 Administrative employee
Contractor
Some other position (please specify)

3. What professional designations or associations, if any, do you hold or belong to? Please select
all that apply.

Certified Public Accountant (CPA)

Enrolled Agent (EA)

Certified Bookkeeper (AIPB)

Registered Tax Return Preparer (RTRP)

4. Including yourself and any full-time, part-time or seasonal employees, how many employees
are there in your firm? Please enter zero if none.

[RANGE 000 9999]

_____ Full time employees

_____ Part time employees
_____ Seasonal employees (including full-time and part-time seasonal)

Now please think about how much time you ACTUALLY spend on preparing tax returns for
your clients.

We understand there are many factors that influence your time spent preparing returns. For
example, some clients are faster/slower to respond, some returns are more/less complex, etc. To
address this, wed like to capture how much time you spend on various tasks for Individual and
Business tax returns using your SLOWEST and FASTEST scenario. For example, a 1040EZ
return would likely be faster than a 1040 return with lots of itemized deductions, home
ownership, Schedule C, 1099-Int, etc.

Using this framework, please provide your best ACTUAL estimates of time spent on various
tasks for EACH tax return. Note that were not looking for how much time you spend on ALL
of your tax returns but just for ONE (using the fastest and slowest scenarios) tax return. Also,
were not looking for how much time you would hope it would take. So, please give your best
estimate for how long each task actually takes in the form of minutes.
5. For your Individual and Business tax returns, wed like to understand how much time you
spend with various tasks. Please indicate below how many MINUTES you spend in each area
under the slowest and fastest scenarios.

Definitions (these should be shown in grid for each question with tasks shown):
Get Clients: All of the work you do to attract (organizers), recruit (marketing activities), land (engagement letters), and access
(identify their situation/provide estimate)
Collect Client Data: the back and forth activities between you and your clients to collect all of the necessary source
documents/information to calculate their return(s) (ex. Phone calls, emails, in-person reminders, etc.)
Enter Data: entering your clients data into your tax preparation software (end to end cumulative amount of time, even if entire entry
took multiple sessions)
Prepare Return: how long it takes you to leverage your expertise to evaluate the return, find the correct deductions, enter notations,
etc.
Print & Organize: the time it takes for you to produce an organized hard copy of the return for your client to review (this can include
packaging, mailing, and any other efforts to get a return to your client for their review)
Review with Client: how long does it take for you to provide an end-to-end review of the tax return with your client

eFile & Track: the time it takes for you to not only submit the return via eFiling, but also the amount of time it takes you before you
are satisfied it was filed properly and accepted by the body you submitted the return to (Federal, State, City, etc.)
Invoice & Receive Payment: the cumulative, end-to-end time it takes you to create, print, and send an invoice; all the way through
when funds are finally deposited in your account
Send Final Copy to Client: the time that is required to print and deliver a final copy to your client


6. Now that we understand how many minutes it takes for you to complete these return types,
wed like to understand the amount of time it takes from the first step (get clients) to the last step
(send copy). For example, it might take 2 weeks to complete an Individual return because of a
delay from the client to get you documents, etc. Please indicate below how many DAYS it takes
from start to finish for each of these tax returns.

7. How many reminders do you typically send to each of your clients for these tax returns?
Please show the average number of reminders, along with the most and least youve sent to any
given client.

8. How many interruptions (e.g., client calls, meetings, etc.) do you typically encounter for these
tax return types? Please show the average number of interruptions, along with the most and least
number of interruptions youve encountered.

9. If you look at all of the areas we have discussed where your firm spends time, in which areas
would you like to be more efficient? By being more efficient, we mean you would like to save
time at the task or reduce unbillable hours. Please rank your top 3 areas giving a 1 to the area
where you would like to see the most efficiency gains, a 2 to the next area you would most like
to see efficiency gains and a 3 to the third area where you would like to gain efficiencies.
Please do this for each of these tax returns.

10. On average, how many returns do you, personally, prepare annually for your clients for each
of these tax returns?

Now wed like to ask some questions about the technology used to support your tax
preparation work for clients.

11. Below is a list of behaviors you or others in your firm may or may not engage in at work that
require the use of technology. Please indicate whether you currently do each activity or are
planning to do so in the future. Please choose only one column for each activity. RANDOMIZE
ORDER OF ITEMS

Last, wed like to understand which products youre using for purposes of performing your
accounting/bookkeeping and tax preparation work.

12. Which of the following accounting software or online services, if any, do you use for client
work (including client bookkeeping/general ledger, write-up, trial balance, or QuickBooks
(set-up and training) or organizing data to prepare tax returns for your clients? Select all that
apply.

FreshBooks
Kashoo
Microsoft Excel
QuickBooks Pro
QuickBooks Premier
QuickBooks Accountant Edition
QuickBooks Online
QuickBooks Online Accountant
QuickBooks any other (e.g., EasyStart, Mac)
QuickBooks Enterprise Systems
Quicken
Sage Simply Accounting Basic
Sage 50 Pro (formerly Simply Accounting)
Sage 50 Premium (formerly Simply Accounting)
Sage 50 Accountant Edition (formerly Simply Accounting)
Sage 50 any other (e.g., First Step, Quantum) (formerly Simply Accounting)
Sage One
Sage One Accountant Edition
 Wave Accounting
Xero
Xero Partner Edition
Other (please specify) [TEXT BOX MANDATORY]
None of the above [EXCLUSIVE]


13. Which tax preparation software or online tax preparation services, if any, did you use to
complete the tax returns for your clients for the past tax year (tax year 2014)? Please select all
that apply.

Agile Tax (Thomson Reuters Tax & Accounting)

ATX (CCH Small Firm Services)
Axcess (CCH)
Crosslink [DP NOTE: NEW THIS YEAR]
Drake Software
H&R Block
Intuit Tax Online
Lacerte (Intuit)
Orange Tax Suite Pro (Orange Door, Inc.)
ProSeries Basic (Intuit)
ProSeries Professional (Intuit)
ProSystem fx Tax (CCH)
TaxACT (2nd Story Software/InfoSpace)
TaxACT Preparers Edition (2nd Story Software/InfoSpace)
TaxWise (CCH Small Firm Services)
TurboTax Desktop (Intuit)
TurboTax Online (Intuit)
UltraTax CS (Thomson Reuters Tax & Accounting)
Other (specify) [TEXT BOX MANDATORY]
None of the above [EXCLUSIVE]
Appendix on Basic Frequency Output