Compical (415) 489-0762

For regional tax firms

Before you buy software for document chasing, call me.

Somebody is selling your firm document automation, or an AI assistant that reads returns, or a whole new practice platform. Call me before you buy it. I will tell you what the thing actually does, what your current software already does, and which parts of it have no business anywhere near a return.

Book the free first call See what a call costs

Where I would start

The job I would look at first.

This is a guess based on businesses like yours, not a diagnosis of yours. On the call we find out whether it is actually your problem.

The job

Getting a client's paperwork in and ready to work on

Where it usually goes wrong

Documents come in from every direction and somebody has to work out what each one is, whether you already have it, what year it belongs to, and what is still missing. Then they chase the client for the rest. If you have more than one office, odds are each one does it differently.

What I would ask on the phone

On the phone I ask where the job goes, what your software already does, and which odd cases somebody has to handle by hand. Most quotes I read include something you already pay for. I do not assume you need something built, and I have no reason to, because nobody pays me if you buy it.

What stays with your people

Your tax people decide what is complete, how anything is treated, what goes on the return, what the client is told, and what gets filed. A test is a test. It does not prove the thing works in a season, and it does not touch a client record unless you say so.

When a call is worth it

You get the most out of thirty minutes when a few things are true.

  • The same document job runs hundreds of times a season and more than one person touches it, so even a small fix is worth real money to you.
  • You can tell me roughly what the mess costs: work done twice, jobs sitting, outside help, overtime, work you had to turn away. Rough is fine, I am not auditing you.
  • You can get whoever owns quality on the phone at some point, because they know things you do not.
  • You are open to the answer being that you already own the fix and somebody needs to turn it on. That is the answer more often than not.

What to call about

Four things worth picking up the phone for.

A question you need answered

Should I be using AI for this. My competitor says he automated his intake, is that real. My office manager wants a new system, do we actually need one. Or nobody is selling you anything at all and you read something about AI and want to know what it comes to for a business like yours. You ask, I answer. Some of these take five minutes.

A contract you are about to sign

Send me the proposal, the contract, the statement of work. I read it and tell you on the phone what it actually commits you to, what is missing from it, and which parts you are already paying for somewhere else.

Getting your people using the AI tools

ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, whichever one. I sit with the people who do the work and show them what it is genuinely good at for their job and what it will get wrong. Often that is the cheaper answer than buying anything, because you are probably already paying for one of these and nobody is using it.

A vendor call you want me on

I join the demo with you and ask the things you do not know to ask. Booked in advance rather than on the spot, because I need to read up first.

Who should be on the call

Have whoever runs the season on the call if you can.

Managing partner, president, or whoever runs the firm

Own the decision, agree where the job starts and stops, and decide whether what I find is worth acting on.

Whoever runs the season, and whoever owns quality

They say how the work actually runs, what happens to the odd ones, what you have promised clients, and what a licensed person has to check. They know things you do not.

Whoever handles the money and the software

At a firm this size that is one or two people, often your firm administrator. Check my cost numbers, what you are already paying for, who can get at client data, what your vendors will allow, and what a fix would depend on.

Limits

Tax judgment and taxpayer data remain controlled.

I tell you what the software will and will not do. Every professional, legal and safety call stays with you and your own advisers.

No tax or accounting judgment

It does not pick a tax position, decide how something is treated, prepare or sign off a return, reach an accounting conclusion, or tell a client anything without one of your licensed people checking it first.

No live data before approval

Anything I try gets tried on made-up records, not your clients. Your real ones get used only if you say so in writing, somewhere you control. You decide who can see them, how long they are kept, and which vendors are allowed near them.

Evidence before implementation

A demo is not proof. Neither is a small test on a good day. I write down what you would have to see, and who would have to check it, before any of it goes near a real return.

Not a fit

When a phone call is not what you need.

  • You want a written report, a tool comparison, or a list of vendors to go and evaluate. Ask me anything you like on the phone, including what this AI business actually amounts to for a company like yours. What comes back is an answer and a few lines in writing, not a document.
  • You want the machine doing the tax research, preparing the return, picking a position, reaching an accounting conclusion, or advising a client. That is not something I will help you build.
  • You want the whole firm moved onto new software, all your data cleaned up, or the systems you prepare returns on replaced.
  • Nobody can make the call, nobody owns the job day to day, or I cannot get at your numbers and the people who run it.
  • You want somebody to run the project and deal with the vendor for you. I will do a specific job you point me at, quoted in hours with a number it will not go past before I start. I will not run the project or manage your vendor.

Reference material

Where the limits above come from

These are the industry and government rules the limits above follow. I will walk you through any of it on the phone. What you actually have to do depends on your work, your state, your customers, your contracts, and your own advisers.

What I put at risk

Three things I will put in writing.

Compical is new and I am taking my first clients now. I would rather say that than have you work it out. I cannot point you at one company like yours that I have already done this for, never mind ten. What I can do instead is put something of mine at risk on every single call, which is what the three commitments below are.

Nobody pays me except you

No referral fees, no reseller margin, no commission from a vendor. Nobody pays me to point you at their product. If the answer is that you already own the fix and somebody needs to turn it on, that is the answer you get, and the call ends there.

If it was not worth it, I will not bill you

You hang up, you decide the call was not worth what I charge, you tell me. I do not send the invoice, and you do not have to argue about it. That is on every call, not once at the start. It is about calls. Work you have asked me to build is quoted and paid for before I start it, and that is a different arrangement.

If I read your contract wrong, I fix it on my time

If I tell you a contract is clean and you find out later that it commits you to something I missed, call me. I get on the phone with you and with the vendor as many times as it takes to sort it out, and none of that time is billed. That is not a refund of the call. That is me working the problem I caused.

Start here

Who do you call about this stuff?

The first call is free and takes thirty minutes. I use it to learn what you run and who does what, so the paid calls are short. I am not selling you anything on it, because there is nothing to sell you yet.

Already bought one and it is not doing what he said it would? That is a call too.

Book the free first call