Study Time

[Jiggers]

Besides taking the required CPE to maintain my EA credentials, I also spend time trying to read and study other information I get from the IRS and other sources.

I am wondering how much time do you spend per week/day/month/ whatever, in reading and studying to keep current on our business?

After spending two days at an entities seminar recently, I believe that I am falling further and further behind in keeping up with corporations and partnerships.

However, this time that is spent reading and studying isn't billable.

What do you do, any comments?

I would put this up as a survey, but can't figure that one out.

[JAinNC]

Not billable currently

but in the long run you know you have to study. I never thought about needing to be paid to study. Frankly, I feel the same way about getting behind on actually absorbing and retaining the info I read. Especially about corporations and closing down partnerships.

I learn and remember more if I have to reseach and do it because the situation comes up....... but then I feel rushed and it is not the best way to go.

Reading is a pain - I agree that unless it is gives real life examples is dull. I have a stack of material that hope to read. I do try to take reading material to our beach place on weekends. But it is so difficult to reel in a fish and read at the same time.

Making a list every year of the areas I wanted to target used to be my method.
Now that list gets longer and longer so I tend to work on priorities yes.
The more experience - the more you need to learn.

Without you guys on this board I would start singing "It's Five Oclock Somewhere" at 10 a.m. instead of 4 p.m.

Jeannie

[Joe Btfsplk]

CPE and study time

My most valuable study time is when I'm researching a real-life situation.
I try to minimize CPE time by taking correspondence courses instead of going to seminars.

Often you don't remember what you read. Once I read a contract before I started an audit of a gas gathering system. During the audit, looking for undepayments to my client, I failed to come up with anything. Later, when I went back to my office, I re-read the contract and a clause that I'd just skimmed over previously jumped out and made my day.

The contract called for my client to bear part of the income tax but specified that each addition to the gathering system would be treated as a separate corporation. That meant that there were several bottom-brackets whereas the other party lumped them all together and only allowed one bottom bracket; i.e. they had reduced my client's revenue excessively.

As far as the time being nonbillable for your CPE time, that is just part of your overhead expense. Your billing rate has to be sufficient not only to cover your "net" income but also enough to cover overhead.

[DaveinTexas]

Good post

I think about these subjects a lot. I think JAinNC hit it on the head. It is overwhelming to think about all of the topics we need to learn about. It is much easier to target certain topics; what I try to do is to pick a topic each week, say Innocent Spouse Relief, and read and research as much as I can.

To get better versed on the different entities, my suggestion is to tackle one at a time. Maybe devote a whole month to each entity. The Tax Book is a valuable tool and so are seminars. Recently, I purchased a college tax text book on the advice of JoshinNC and I am very pleased with the decision. I like college text books because they have examples, questions, reviews and summaries to help drive the point home.

Seminars are great, sometimes. Often, all you get out of a seminar is a tax veteran telling you how to run your business or trying to sell you another book/cd on how to prepare a P&L or whatever.

Take JA's advice and tackle one subject at a time. This will take time and you may not be able to charge your clients for the reading, but you can definitely justify a higher charge based on your newfound knowledge.

Keep your head up, the knowledge will come with experience in the trenches. I know its frustrating because it seems to be little time to study and a lot to learn, don't get consumed with how much you don't know. Focus and get stronger in the areas you excel in currently, and then begin to target your weaker areas.

On a side note; I just wanted to send a big thanks out The Tax Book and this message board. It is by far the best forum I've seen on the internet. Everyone is courteous and I never feel ashamed by posting a question to this forum, even if it may seem elementary to others, I have never received a negative or a condescending remark.

Thanks to all and to Jiggers, I think many of us feel the same way you do. And, please take this advice: You can't read and focus on fishing at the same time!

[BOB W]

Fees........

I think many of us tend to give away what we know and don't bill for what we have to research. It is a shame......................

[Gretel]

What a timely post. I always have too much I would like to read or learn, spend too much time reading and forget 90%. No chance to ever catch up.

Just reading in books never really helps, only if initiated from real live situation. I started to study TTB CPE and am very, very pleased. When I studied for my CPE 4 years ago I didn't have much trouble with the exam but to apply this to my office was quite a different story. After 4 more years of practice studying TTB CPE makes so much more sense since I can much more relate it to my experience and it helps to make it stick. I really recommend TTB CPE.

I seminar, which also was the best I ever attended (because of the presenter and also because of working with real life material), helped tremendously. It's from NSTP. I recommend to everyone to join them. In my opinion more value for the small practitioner than NSA.

[JoshinNC]

I'm glad you find the book helpful

I think about these subjects a lot. I think JAinNC hit it on the head. It is overwhelming to think about all of the topics we need to learn about. It is much easier to target certain topics; what I try to do is to pick a topic each week, say Innocent Spouse Relief, and read and research as much as I can.

To get better versed on the different entities, my suggestion is to tackle one at a time. Maybe devote a whole month to each entity. The Tax Book is a valuable tool and so are seminars. Recently, I purchased a college tax text book on the advice of JoshinNC and I am very pleased with the decision. I like college text books because they have examples, questions, reviews and summaries to help drive the point home.

Seminars are great, sometimes. Often, all you get out of a seminar is a tax veteran telling you how to run your business or trying to sell you another book/cd on how to prepare a P&L or whatever.

Take JA's advice and tackle one subject at a time. This will take time and you may not be able to charge your clients for the reading, but you can definitely justify a higher charge based on your newfound knowledge.

Keep your head up, the knowledge will come with experience in the trenches. I know its frustrating because it seems to be little time to study and a lot to learn, don't get consumed with how much you don't know. Focus and get stronger in the areas you excel in currently, and then begin to target your weaker areas.

On a side note; I just wanted to send a big thanks out The Tax Book and this message board. It is by far the best forum I've seen on the internet. Everyone is courteous and I never feel ashamed by posting a question to this forum, even if it may seem elementary to others, I have never received a negative or a condescending remark.

Thanks to all and to Jiggers, I think many of us feel the same way you do. And, please take this advice: You can't read and focus on fishing at the same time!

I usually read at least one "scholarly" article per day, and subscribe to Fortune, Money and WSJ to keep abreast of current events. I also attend at least one "lunch n' learn" per month on a timely topic (just went to one on Tuesday on the changes to the 403b rules). Since I have my securities license my broker dealer puts on a lot of these events, so I don't have to pay for them, and CPE credit is available for attendance to some.

[JG EA]

This is the most time intensive job that ever was. You don't really get anywhere, because things change so quickly. (Just like in OZ.) So, you do build up a reserve of knowledge, but most of what we do is learning rules that don't fit any particular mold. We could have been brain surgeons by now. Not that I would want to do that. We could have been something, but instead we are required to learn rules, different rules each and every year. Rules that don't teach us anything except that perhaps a congressman was taken to lunch one year and then made a committee to write law that is so un-understandable so as to befuddle the populace. (Like in Alice in Wonderland.) But, on the bright side it is interesting. Interesting is good. And they say that learning something entirely new is good for the brain. Well, we get to learn something entirely new each and every year. So we won't get Alzheimers, and we have job security, because most people are too smart to waste any time learning all these rules!

[oceanlovin'ea]

real life situations

I too find that when I have to research something for a client that I am working on, I retain the information better than when I just hear it at a seminar. Actual practice or working out a return definitely makes more of an impression.

I am finding that some of the topics at seminars that I thought would not necessarily benefit me bring new points to me and find out that I needed that information. I do try to make a note about a new point and then go back to a client(s) and tell them the point that might help them.

My big goal this year is not to be so busy at the end of the year and when I get my TTB I want to be able to sit down and read it through.

I think I would like to try some of the material that you can purchase and have on hand in the office, like the college textbooks or manuals.

Some weeks I get to read the EA journal or something. But right now it is usually when I am researching a question.

Linda F