Happy Fall
Labor Day, the unofficial end of summer, has come and gone, and school is back in session, so it’s time for Jeff to start writing again. For those of us who live in the Northeast, it was a spectacular summer weather-wise. I can count on one hand the number of rain days we had from Memorial Day to now. Many of us got an opportunity to take some time off, re-charge our batteries, spend time with family and friends, and enjoy what summer has to offer.
With vacation season now behind us, here at Marcum we are in the throes of one of our biggest tax deadlines of the year, September 15, with less than a week to go. Our team members are working incredible hours to meet and exceed our clients’ expectations and to ensure that everything that needs to be filed by the deadline is done with time to spare. Just about every partnership and corporation with a December 31 year-end has an extended tax filing deadline of September 15; so you can imagine, based on the size and scope of our practice, the incredible amount of work that gets done leading up to next Thursday. And as soon as next week’s deadline comes and goes, we’ll roll right into the October 15 tax filing deadline for all our individual clients who are on extension, a significant portion of our client base.
When I started in this profession, more years ago than I’d like to admit, the two major tax filing deadlines were March 15 and April 15. That made January-April a true “busy season” for accountants. But over time, as regulatory deadlines have been changed by the IRS, and as our clients’ businesses have become more sophisticated and complex, the work load has shifted from a four-month sprint to what seems like a nine-month marathon, running from mid-February to mid-October.
Aside from the seasonal stresses of the upcoming deadlines, things are generally good here at Marcum. Our practice is growing, the economy seems to be treating our clients well for the most part, the stock market is at or near record-high levels, interest rates remain at historical lows and show no signs of significant upward movement, and we have an active merger and acquisition pipeline of accounting firms around the country who’d like to be part of our organization. We’re seeing many opportunities for some of our long-time clients, who are being courted by private equity firms, and many, in fact, are taking the opportunity to cash out in whole or in part, taking advantage of what seems to be a seller’s market for mid-sized, privately held, entrepreneurial companies in a range of different industries.
A highlight of this upcoming fall season for us will be our calendar of what we call our “tent pole” events, which are forums and conferences that focus on specific industry niches. The fall lineup starts with the annual Marcum Tech Top 40 on September 22, where we honor the fastest growing technology companies in Connecticut. The same day in New York we will have the first annual Marcum Real Estate Forum, featuring about a dozen of the real estate industry’s top leaders. Other firsts include the Marcum Women’s Forum, featuring a keynote by Erin Brockovich (September 26 in New York City); the Marcum Alternative Investment Manager Forum (November 2 in New York City), and the Marcum Long-Term Care Symposium (Skokie, Illinois, on November 15). Our established annual events continue with Marcum Construction Summits in New Haven (September 27) and New York City (October 11); the Marcum Cybersecurity and Fraud Forum in Boston on October 5; the Marcum Innovator of the Year Awards in Philadelphia on October 26; and the Marcum Governmental Symposium in Davie, Florida, also on October 26.
It’s definitely a full agenda. Anyone who wants more information about these or other Marcum events can find it on our events website at www.marcumevents.com. We’d love to see you there.
In the meantime, I’ll be hitting the road again starting next week with day trips to Detroit and Chicago. The following week finds me in Miami and Fort Lauderdale, and then the last week of the month is LA for two days. I expect I’ll return from my travels with stories to share with you and new ideas to write about. It’s good to be back.
Happy fall, everyone!
