Crisis and Recovery: The Numbers We Crave

Beyond the needs for social distancing, access to tests and treatment, measurement of job and revenue losses, business re-configuration and funding, forecasting and bailouts — one of the biggest requirements these issues increase is the need for accounting.
Have you noticed? Of all the news that makes us come to attention in the stress of the global pandemic is the news that involves numbers. As we query the nation’s accountants about their lives and their workloads right now, it is clear the tax filing extensions, while necessary, have not made their workloads easier.
In many cases it has simply extended the anxiety of helping clients to deal with the shifting financial landscape. As we speak with accountants from practices large or small, we hear surprising things about the issues that are high on their minds. “Forecasting,” says one. “Our minds were spinning like everyone’s in the face of the crisis about what our company’s future would hold. But when we sat down and created an actual forecast of what we’d need to do to ensure we succeed we became confident and infinitely calmer. The challenges remain, but we are clear on what we need to do to stay out of harm’s way.”
“Analysis,” says another. In fact, many, many of the nation’s accounting partners are adding new value and solving the urgent needs of their clients by helping them to make sense of the disaster recovery programs and to file for the relief programs they are eligible for both quickly and well.