Page 15 - BusinessWest August 4, 2021
P. 15

  Joe Bova compared the past 18 months in the accounting profession to “trying to sail a ship while you’re building that ship.”
 By George O’Brien
Accounting & Tax Planning
Doing the Math
Accountants Reflect on a Long, Trying Time — and Look Ahead
For accountants, the past 18 months have been a time of change, challenge, and adapting to everything from new ways of doing business to new responsibilities with clients to ever-changing tax laws. Looking forward, they note that many of these changes are permanent in nature.
I
when it comes to where and how work gets done; from a greater reliance on technology to the acceleration of a shift in accounting toward a more advisory role as opposed to merely adding up numbers.
Summing it all up, Joseph Bova, CPA, CVA, CGMA, a partner with Northampton- based Bova Harrington & Associates, said navigating all this has been “like trying to sail a ship while you’re building the ship.”
Nick Lapier, CPA, a partner with West Springfield-based LaPier Dillon, used phraseology from sports (sort of ), but more from politics.
“It’s very hard for us to focus on our work when the government kept moving the goal-
t’s been called the ‘never-ending tax season.’
That’s just one of the many color- ful ways those in the accounting sec- tor have chosen to describe the past
18 months or so, a time of change, challenge, learning, and adapting — for them and for their clients.
Indeed, this time of COVID-19 has been marked by everything from changing tax laws to fluid filing deadlines; from new responsibilities, such as helping clients han- dle PPP and SBA loan paperwork, to changes
 ACCOUNTING & TAX PLANNING
AUGUST 4, 2021 15
BusinessWest

















































































   13   14   15   16   17