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Whitley Penn, a Texas-based full-service accounting and advisory firm, ranks among the top 35 U.S. accounting firms by annual revenue. Founded in 1983, the firm offers a range of services, including auditing, tax preparation, consulting, and outsourced client accounting and advisory. With a global reach through HLB International, Whitley Penn serves a diverse client base and faces significant seasonal demand for form filings, particularly in January when 1099 and W-2 forms are due.
Whitley Penn’s management team identified several key challenges in their previous filing processes that impacted their efficiency and client satisfaction:
Time-Consuming Multi-Platform Access Whitley Penn relied on multiple platforms, such as QuickBook Online, Sage Intacct, and other servers, requiring preparers and reviewers to log in across various databases to manage compliance work. This fragmented access proved inefficient, often resulting in wasted time navigating between systems.
Resource-Intensive Form Preparation & Mailing Preparing and mailing 1099 forms was a time-intensive process, occupying valuable resources during peak months. The team was also burdened with vendor follow-ups and data verification, which added further strain during busy periods.
Coordination Challenges in Review & Submission Preparers and reviewers needed a streamlined process to eliminate the confusion caused by various login credentials and data silos. Coordinating across platforms and managing form statuses led to bottlenecks, limiting productivity and increasing turnaround times.
Training & Adoption of New Systems Like many organizations, Whitley Penn faced resistance when introducing a new system. Ensuring smooth adoption across a large team required a platform that was easier to understand and user-friendly.
Whitley Penn’s journey with Tax1099 began several years ago when members of the firm’s management team first encountered the platform at an industry conference. Drawn to Tax1099's comprehensive features and the potential to address their multi-platform challenges, they took note of the system’s potential to centralize and automate their form-filing processes.
Recognizing the time and resource drain caused by their existing systems, Whitley Penn’s senior associate sought a consolidated solution that would simplify access and streamline workflows for both preparers and reviewers. Tax1099 stood out as a promising candidate due to its ability to centralize data, reduce manual processes, and provide visibility into form status, leading Whitley Penn to conduct a beta test with a small team.
"Tax1099 is head and shoulders above our previous procedures and any previous platforms that we have used.”
This initial exposure at the conference and the subsequent trial period set the stage for a successful, firm-wide implementation of Tax1099, ultimately transforming Whitley Penn’s compliance workflows and providing measurable improvements in efficiency and client satisfaction.
By implementing Tax1099, Whitley Penn achieved significant improvements in operational efficiency, accuracy, and client satisfaction:
Tax1099’s data transfer capabilities allowed for easy replication of vendor information, eliminating the need for repeated data entry or client follow-ups during peak filing periods.
Impact: The team saved up to 10 hours per month on vendor-related tasks by avoiding multiple follow-ups and re-entries.
The platform’s import feature enabled seamless transfer of data for W-2s and 1099s, flagging errors in SSNs, EINs, duplicates, and missing information.
Impact: Whitley Penn observed a 20% reduction in data-entry errors and an approximate 15% decrease in time spent on data verification, minimizing costly filing delays and improving data accuracy.
Tax1099 provided Whitley Penn with a consolidated platform, reducing the need for multiple logins and databases.
Impact: The review and submission process became significantly faster, with reviewers reporting a 30% reduction in time spent searching for and reviewing forms. This centralization has increased productivity and allowed the team to handle additional client tasks during peak months.
After using Tax1099 for nearly a decade, Whitley Penn has experienced significant improvements in their operations:
Whitley Penn's journey with Tax1099 highlights the transformative power of centralizing and streamlining compliance workflows. By adopting Tax1099, the firm overcame the inefficiencies and challenges associated with multi-platform systems, resource-intensive processes, and data silos. The platform’s automated features, centralized management, and error-reducing functionalities significantly enhanced the firm’s operational efficiency, accuracy, and client satisfaction.
“The import feature for W-2s and 1099s has saved us numerous times by quickly identifying SSN or EIN formatting errors, duplicated employees, and manual data typos—saving us time and avoiding potential filing issues.”
