Brenda Best, CPA, CA, is the founder of Crunchr Apps and brings more than 30 years of experience in public practice, including 15 years as a partner in an accounting firm.
Throughout her career, Brenda had a strong interest in making tax-season processes more efficient. The firm's T1 intake process evolved from conversations with clients as they dropped off their records, to a simple 10-line checklist introduced in 2007, and eventually to an electronic questionnaire and standardized working paper in 2021.
COVID brought the weaknesses in the traditional tax-season process into sharper focus. Staff were stretched, client demands increased significantly, and the amount of time spent gathering information and following up with clients became increasingly difficult to manage. This led Brenda to focus more closely on what could be improved at the beginning of the T1 process to make the rest of tax season run more efficiently.
The process was developed for and used across the firm. The efficiencies it created helped Brenda's own team complete its T1 work two days before the filing deadline in her final tax season in public practice.
After retiring from public practice, Brenda continued examining what worked, what didn't, and where the process could be improved. She spoke with other practitioners and continued refining the approach. That work ultimately led to T1 Crunchr, which builds on the process developed in practice with more comprehensive questions, branching, personalized client document requirements and an enhanced firm working paper.
Brenda now works with accounting firms across Canada, incorporating their feedback and experiences as the T1 intake process continues to evolve.
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