Business Advisory

Transform Your Accounting Firm Post-Tax Season

6 min read

Jun 9, 2025 12:14:26 PM

As the last return is e-filed and April 15th passes, many accounting firm owners — myself included — breathe a deep sigh of relief. The urge to check out completely is real, and after months of intense deadlines, it's understandable.

But over the years, Marcus Dillon and I have come to realize that what we do after tax season can define the future of our firm even more than what we do during it.

At Dillon Business Advisors (DBA) and through our Collective community, we’ve coined this window of time “Improvement Season.” It’s the stretch from April 15th to August 15th — and I firmly believe it’s the single greatest opportunity we have to transform our firms.

**If you would like to receive CPE for the podcast episode related to this article, visit Earmark CPE.

Transform Your Accounting Firm Post-Tax Season

In a recent episode of Who's Really the BOSS? podcast, Marcus Dillon and I share our expertise on maximizing what we aptly call "improvement season." We reveal why this period is critical for accounting firm transformation and how to make the most of it with a four-phase strategic framework.

1. Recharge: Strategic Rest vs. Extended Vacation

Yes, we all need rest. And yes, I love a good week off as much as anyone. But the real question isn’t whether we rest — it’s how long.

There is definitely a need for rest, but what it really comes down to is how long. Do we go so hard getting to the tax deadline that we have to crash and completely checkout afterwards?

Our recommendation might surprise exhausted practitioners: limit your initial recharge period to one week. This isn't about denying well-deserved rest but balancing personal recovery with business needs during this critical improvement window.

Marcus adds a great perspective here: “Change of pace, change of place. Working from a different location gives you a little bit more creativity.” Breaking out of your usual routine can spark fresh ideas and new perspectives—exactly what you need when rethinking daily operations or your firm’s bigger picture.

At DBA, we now schedule firm-wide recharge time intentionally. For example, this year we closed the firm the Friday after tax season for a long weekend — a quick mental and physical reset without letting the entire improvement season slip away.

2. Review: Capturing Critical Feedback While It's Fresh

The days following April 15th present a unique opportunity to capture candid employee feedback while tax season challenges remain fresh in everyone's minds. The best time to collect feedback is immediately.

Within a week, while everything is fresh we ask for feedback from our team at Dillon Business Advisors. We send out surveys that cover everything:

The tools and software we used
The effectiveness of our processes
Whether our clients felt like the right clients
And yes — what just didn’t work

As soon as the feedback is collected, we meet with our tax team to review feedback while it’s still relevant. Then our leadership team uses that data to identify priorities.

Beyond gathering operational feedback, the review phase also involves appropriately celebrating the team. We have evolved our approach over the years. When we were a local firm, we celebrated with team events like Topgolf or bowling immediately after tax season. Now, with a remote team, we've rethought our approach.

We started thinking about why we had the after-tax party in the first place. Previously it was really to show appreciation for all of the sacrifices our team members made by working extended hours and weekends. DBA's tax seasons look different now with more balanced workloads and no overtime, so we've shifted toward other forms of team appreciation including a mid-year travel retreat.

When planning team celebrations, we recommend asking your team about their preferences. What is the best way to celebrate? Use your team's suggestions instead of spending time and money designing something not everybody is on board with.

3. Refocus: Reconnecting with Your Firm's Purpose

Tax season intensity can cloud even the most mission-driven firms. That’s why this phase is all about regaining clarity.

Part of making hard decisions is really understanding the values, mission, and vision for your firm. When we’re stressed and overwhelmed, we lose sight of what we’re building.

Holding difficult decisions up to your accounting firm's mission, vision, and values clarifies action needed, particularly with clients or team members who may no longer align with the firm's direction.

Marcus puts it bluntly, and he’s right:
“If you hang on to a client too long and they’re toxic to your whole team environment, that’s going to impact areas of your business it doesn’t need to.”

And the same goes for team members. One of the most challenging aspects of leadership is addressing underperforming team members. A team member who is not meeting standards or doesn’t hold the same values as the rest of the firm can cause clients and other team members to leave. That’s a much bigger challenge than having the hard conversation with that one person.

4. Refine: Create Your Improvement Roadmap

This is where it all comes together. With values clarified and difficult decisions in progress, the refinement phase is where accounting firms create their roadmap for implementation. This requires dedicated time, and we recommend scheduling at least two hours for a leadership planning meeting.

During DBA's leadership planning meeting, we take everything learned and map out our accounting firm’s next steps.

Here’s what we focus on:

Service Offerings
We review any service that brings in less than 10% of revenue. Is it aligned with our vision? If not, we exit. For example, at DBA we evaluated our audit practice, determined it wasn't aligned with our vision, and we monetized the exit of that service line.
Team Structure
An effective structure that clearly defines roles and responsibilities for each team member not only improves accounting firm efficiency, but it also improves individual job satisfaction. Providing clarity around what constitutes a successful day helps team members thrive. "Having team members that show up every day and know what a successful day looks like is something, as leaders, we should be trying to give our team members," Marcus emphasizes.
Ideal Clients
We grade our clients. For those that require highly specialized attention or no longer align with our team or values, we part ways.
We’ve blocked, monetized, and exited non-ideal clients from DBA more than nine times in the last eight years — and every single time, our team felt the difference.
Operations
We list every friction point from tax season. Then we ask: is the solution a person, a tool, or a clarified process?

Accounting firm owners need to be aware of a very common trap that Marcus describes like this. “You look up and it’s May and you’ve got graduations, then there’s Memorial Day, and soon it’s June and July and back-to-school. In mid-August, we show back up at the office, and it’s like, ‘Oh man, now I’ve got September and October deadlines. I can’t work on this planning stuff anymore.’”

He’s right. Without intention and scheduling, improvement season vanishes. Thankfully there is a solution: accountability and scheduling. By blocking dedicated time for improvement activities and creating specific deadlines, you ensure that transformation happens rather than remaining in the “same as last year” cycle.

Taking Action: Your Blueprint for Transformation

To help accounting firm owners capitalize on this improvement window, the team at Collective by DBA created a free Improvement Season Guide with practical resources, including survey templates, meeting agendas, and implementation timelines.

Next steps to take today:

Download the Improvement Season Guide to understand the whole process.
Draft and schedule your tax season survey to distribute immediately after the deadline.
Schedule your improvement season planning meeting with your leadership team.

While implementing this process requires effort, the payoff is substantial. Accounting firms that successfully execute this four-phase improvement approach can expect reduced stress during future tax seasons, better team satisfaction, enhanced client relationships, and greater operational efficiency.

As Marcus notes, "Your future self will thank you for those hard decisions." By approaching the post-tax season period intentionally, you can break free from the cycle of tax season burnout and create a more sustainable, valuable practice.

Want to hear more about a strategic approach to accounting firm improvement? Listen to the full episode of Mastering Improvement Season on the Who's Really the BOSS? podcast.

Rachel and Marcus Dillon

Rachel and Marcus Dillon, CPA, own a Texas-based, remote client accounting and advisory services firm, Dillon Business Advisors, with a team of 15 professionals. Their latest organization, Collective by DBA , supports and guides accounting firm owners and leaders with firm resources, education, and operational strategy through community, groups, and one-on-one advisory

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