• What kind of mess would your practice be in if you, the one professional in your office, were hospitalized during the busy season?
• What contingency plans have you prepared?
• What steps would your widow or widower take in the event of your death?

M.S.A. has a Practice Continuation Committee to assist practitioners in the event thay have one of these unfortunate problems. This article is the first step in trying to assist you and your family during this difficult time. The committee's intention is to prepare general guidelines for you to review and implement those that pertain to your situation.

In the December-January issue of the Free State Accountant, the M.S.A. published an article submitted by Bob Jennings, Gear Up Speaker. Bob's article covered the steps we as practitioners should take to formalize a plan that goes into effect in the event of our death or disability. The article included a sample practice continuation agreement.

The remainder of this article will deal with implementation of the temporary disability protion of the plan. At this point we are going to deal with the short term disability of one of the key people in the office, which could be you. We define short term disability as a period of fourteen days to ninety days. We are not dealing with a buy out but rather how to complete scheduled work in a timely fashion to meet deadlines.

A. The first step is to perform a practice assessment.

1. What type of services do you offer to your clients?

a. Tax Return Preparation - Individual, Corporate, Estate f. Bookkeeping

b. Accounting and write up work g. Retirement Planning

c. Business Planning and Advisory h. Estate Planning

d. Tax Planning and Advisory i. Other Services-identify specify needs

e. Computer Training

2. When are these services offered to your clients? In tax season only or throughout the year.

3. Who in your office delivers these services?

B. Develop a list of Professional Resources. These are fellow professionals who can assist in a time of temporary disability.

1. Match the services offered with professionals who offer those services to their clients.

2. Contact these professionals and ask if they can be added to your proessional resource list. At the same time you may want to offer to be on their professional resource list.

3. Your professional resource list will more than likely contain more than one professional. Key point: Take some time in evaluating the expertise required for the services you offer and be sure the professionals you select have the ability and expertise to provide the service. For example, a colleague may say that they prepare tax returns, but do they know how to prepare corporation tax returns if that is one of the services you offer.

4. Make your list detailed and include expertise and telephone, Fax, and E-Mail numbers.

C. Establish a compensation plan.

1. Guidelines published by various resources suggest paying 60% to 80% of your practice billing rate for the service offered.

2. The compensation plan should be included in the letter of understanding with your professional resources.

D. Decide in advance who will be your coordinator if the plan must be implemented.

1. The coordinator could be a partner, an office manager, a spouse, a colleague, or someone else familiar with your practice.

E. What system or procedure do you have in place?

1. Can your coordinator and/or professional resource complete the work you or your staff have started.

2. If your system is weak in this area, spend some time in developing procedures that someone else could follow.

You have now completed your first step in preparing your practice to be continued in the event of your temporary disability. Our next article will outline the steps to take to implement the plan.
prepared by the

Practice Continuation Committee

Joe Johnson

Ted Schultz

Charles Slade

Sidney Weinberg

Congratulations new Enrolled Agents!

In September, 1997, the Maryland Society of Accountants, Inc. offered an Income Tax Review Course to assist professionals who are considering the Enrolled Agent designation. Of the forty-two attendees who completed the course, the Society has been notified that seven passed the exam.

The Maryland Society of Accountants, Inc. Board of Directors and members would like to congratulate these individuals for achieving this milestone.

Barbara Morley
Baltimore, Maryland

H. Caroline Robertson
Bowie, Maryland

William C. Ebaugh
Baltimore, Maryland

Thomas Giachino
Baltimore, Maryland

Daniel Green
Glen Burnie, Maryland

Sarah Louise Horn
Columbia, Maryland

Pamela Kulish
Bowie, Maryland