The CPA firm CRM that survives tax season without the April 10 Google Sheet.
Public accounting practices run on engagement letters, deadline calendars, and the question of whether the client's organizer came back. Strkr ships engagement-letter tracking, tax-season workflow, 1040 and 1120 client segmentation, AICPA peer-review retention, and QuickBooks plus ProConnect sync on a CRM that reads modern instead of 2005.
The CPA firm CRM evaluation is a specialty category because public accounting cycles differently than most industries. Tax season drives 60 to 75 percent of a 1040-heavy practice's revenue through a 10-week window. Audit practices run on multi-month engagements with specific independence rules under AICPA ET Section 1.200 and SEC Rule 2-01. Advisory practices look more like SaaS consulting with retainer contracts and quarterly reviews. The needs below show up on every CPA firm evaluation call.
The April 10 Google Sheet
Partners build parallel spreadsheets because the CRM cannot track returns.
In the final week before an April 15 or October 15 deadline, nearly every mid-sized CPA practice has at least one partner running a private Google Sheet to track which clients have signed engagement letters, which have returned organizers, which have outstanding document requests, and which are missing signatures on 8879s. The sheet exists because the main CRM does not model the return-status workflow. Strkr ships return tracking as a first-class object with the status transitions baked in.
Engagement letter sprawl
Letters live in email attachments, portals, and shared drives.
A typical mid-sized CPA firm sends 400 to 2,000 engagement letters a year across 1040 individual engagements, 1120 and 1065 business engagements, audit engagements, and consulting engagements. The signed-letter location fragments across email, a document portal, a shared drive, and sometimes a partner's inbox. Strkr tracks engagement letters as records linked to the client with signature status, scope, and retention clock applied for peer-review purposes.
Return-type segmentation
A 1040 client and a 1120S client need different workflows.
Horizontal CRMs model contacts and accounts without the return-type dimension that drives everything in a tax practice. A 1040 individual client runs on a January-to-April motion. A 1120S or 1065 client runs on a January-to-March motion with a federal March 15 deadline. A C-corp 1120 runs to April 15. A 990 nonprofit runs to May 15. Strkr's client segmentation treats return type as a core field with workflow attached.
AICPA peer-review retention
Workpapers, engagement letters, and documentation retain for 5+ years.
AICPA peer-review standards require specific retention for engagement workpapers, including attest engagements where the retention clock runs 5 years from the report release date under AU-C 230. Most horizontal CRMs do not retain long enough and do not classify records by engagement type. Strkr's CPA-firm configuration retains engagement records, communications, and workpaper indexing for the required duration with classification applied at creation.
QuickBooks and ProConnect sync
The client's accounting file and the CRM should know about each other.
The partner reviewing a client file wants to see the engagement history and the firm's ERP data in the same place. The staff accountant preparing a 1040 wants the CRM to know which organizer tool holds the current year's data. Strkr integrates with QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop, Xero, ProConnect Tax, Lacerte, UltraTax CS, and CCH Axcess so the file reference lives on the CRM record.
The vertical CPA CRM UX ceiling
Practice-management tools look and feel like 2005.
Vertical CPA practice-management tools (Thomson Reuters Practice CS, CCH Axcess Practice, Office Tools) ship the data model and the engagement-tracking features but trade modern UX for the depth. Office Tools and ImagineTime offer lighter alternatives. Strkr brings a modern CRM surface comparable to HubSpot or Attio to the data model and the retention posture a CPA firm needs.
What Strkr CPA firm CRM ships
The tax-practice primitives on a modern CRM.
The CPA-firm configuration adds eight tax-and-advisory-specific capabilities to Strkr's core CRM. Each capability maps to a motion a partner, manager, or staff accountant runs during tax season or during the quieter advisory months.
Client record
The 1040 or 1120 client as a first-class record.
A client record carries engagement history, return types filed in prior years, filing deadlines current and prior, document requests outstanding, and the family or entity relationship graph. For a 1040 client with a spouse plus a dependent plus a Schedule C plus a Schedule E rental, the relationship graph models each component so the engagement workflow routes correctly.
Engagement letter tracking
From draft to signed, with the peer-review clock running.
Engagement letters generate from scoped templates (1040, 1120S, audit, review, consulting, advisory) with the current-year dates and the AICPA language approved by the firm's risk committee. Status moves from draft to sent to signed with signature capture through DocuSign or PandaDoc. Retention runs 5 years from report release for attest engagements, with longer retention per state licensing board rules.
Tax-season workflow
The organizer sent, received, prepared, reviewed, signed cycle.
Each 1040 or 1120 engagement runs through a 7-step tax-season workflow: letter sent, letter signed, organizer sent, organizer received, return prepared, return reviewed, 8879 signed. The partner opens the firm dashboard and sees how many clients are at each step with the days-aging distribution. The staff accountant opens their queue and sees which clients are ready to prepare today.
Return-type segmentation
1040, 1120, 1120S, 1065, 1041, 990 as the primary filter.
Every client carries a primary return type with sub-types supported (1040 with Schedule C, 1040 with foreign reporting, 1120 consolidated). Reports and dashboards segment on return type by default because the partner-level view of the practice is almost always "where are we on the 1040s this week".
AICPA peer-review retention
Workpapers and engagement records retain correctly.
Attest engagement records including the engagement letter, the engagement workpapers index, the review notes, and the issued report retain for 5 years from report release date under AU-C 230, with the retention clock applied automatically at record classification. State licensing board extensions apply where the state requires longer retention. The peer reviewer receives a scoped read-only access with the retention evidence intact.
QuickBooks and tax software sync
The accounting file and the preparation file link to the client.
Native integrations with QuickBooks Online, Xero, ProConnect Tax, Lacerte, UltraTax CS, and CCH Axcess link the client file to the Strkr client record. The staff accountant opens the Strkr record and sees the prior-year trial balance snapshot and the current-year return status without flipping to the preparation tool. Updates in the tax software reflect on the Strkr record with a next-sync lag.
Deadline calendar
Filing deadlines surfaced per client with extension tracking.
The deadline calendar tracks each client's next filing deadline (March 15 for 1120S and 1065, April 15 for 1040 and 1120, May 15 for 990, with extension-related dates) and surfaces the aging distribution across the firm. Extensions filed update the deadline automatically and the workflow routing shifts to the extended deadline. The partner sees the April 15 and October 15 workloads at a glance.
Advisory engagement model
Retainer and project engagements beyond tax prep.
Advisory engagements (CFO services, business planning, fractional controllership) model as retainers with monthly recurring revenue, scope, and renewal date tracked. The practice management view across tax, audit, and advisory engagements rolls up the full relationship with the client. The firm leader sees the mix of hourly, fixed-fee, and recurring revenue in one dashboard.
The tax-season surface
How Strkr fits the 10-week revenue window.
Tax season for a 1040-heavy practice runs roughly January 15 through April 15 with the extended work bleeding to October 15. During those weeks the firm processes 60 to 75 percent of annual revenue. The capabilities below address the operational pressure points of the 10-week window.
Organizer tracking
Who returned, who did not, who returned incomplete.
A per-client organizer status (sent, received, received-incomplete, received-complete) rolls up to a firm dashboard. The follow-up motion for not-returned organizers automates with a sequence of three touches at day 7, day 14, and day 21 after send. The pain of April 1 where 20 percent of organizers are still missing becomes a measurable backlog instead of a surprise.
Document request queue
The missing-information list, per return, surfaced.
Each engagement carries a document request queue (W-2s, 1099s, brokerage statements, K-1s, rental P&L statements) with per-item status. The preparer flags a missing document, the system sends a scoped portal request to the client, the client uploads, the staff accountant resumes preparation. The queue surfaces the aging distribution so the manager knows which clients to escalate.
Review queue
Returns ready to review surface to the manager and partner.
The review queue separates returns in the preparer-to-manager review state from the manager-to-partner review state with aging and complexity flags (foreign reporting, multiple states, Schedule C with QBI). The partner opens the review queue on Monday morning and sees the returns most likely to need the senior review time, which beats the alternative of first-come-first-reviewed.
8879 e-signature
The final signature before e-file transmission.
Form 8879 e-signature authorization captures through the integrated DocuSign or PandaDoc workflow with knowledge-based authentication where required by IRS Rev. Proc. 2007-40. The signed 8879 attaches to the client record with the IRS-required 3-year retention clock applied. The partner firing the e-file sees the 8879 status before transmission so the IRS rejection scenario on unsigned authorization never happens.
Extension filing
Form 4868 and 7004 batch filing with status tracking.
Extensions file in batch for 1040 clients (Form 4868) and business clients (Form 7004) with the extended deadline rolling to the client record automatically. The post-extension motion routes the engagement to the summer and fall workload. The partner reviewing April 10 workload sees which clients are extension-track versus must-file-by-April-15, which drives staff allocation for the final week.
Capacity planning
Preparer, reviewer, and partner workload with ramp-ins.
Workload capacity planning across the firm surfaces hours-remaining per preparer, per reviewer, per partner against the engagement complexity load. New hires in their first tax season see a ramp-adjusted capacity so the firm does not over-assign simple complexity to a staff accountant still learning the firm's workpaper standards. Partner workload surfaces the final-review bottleneck before it becomes April 13 overtime.
What CPA firms compare on
The honest evaluation checklist for a public accounting practice.
The real evaluation criteria for a CPA firm CRM are not feature counts. They are return-type modeling fit, engagement-letter workflow, peer-review retention, tax-software integration, and three-year total cost. The criteria below are what shows up on every firm-leader evaluation call.
Return-type modeling
How well the CRM carries 1040, 1120, 1120S, 1065, 990, 1041.
Strkr: full return-type field with workflow attached, extension tracking, deadline calendar. CCH Axcess Practice: deep workflow across the Wolters Kluwer stack. Thomson Reuters Practice CS: deep workflow across the Thomson stack. Office Tools and ImagineTime: lighter, with specific firm segments. HubSpot or Salesforce horizontal: workflow via custom objects, usually clunky. For a tax-heavy firm, return-type modeling fit is evaluation criterion one.
Engagement letter workflow
How letters move from template to signed with retention.
Strkr: scoped templates, DocuSign and PandaDoc integration, retention clock at classification. CCH Axcess: integrated letter generation. Practice CS: letter templates with Thomson signature flow. Office Tools: letter workflow. Horizontal CRMs: letter generation lives in a separate tool, usually requires glue work. For firms sending more than 500 letters a year, workflow depth drives staff time saved.
Peer-review retention
Does the CRM pass an AICPA peer review.
Strkr: 5-year retention from report release on attest engagements, longer for state board requirements, classified at record creation. CCH Axcess: comprehensive compliance posture. Practice CS: deep retention. Office Tools: configurable retention. Horizontal CRMs: retention via admin configuration, usually not classified by engagement type. For firms with attest practices, retention classification is table stakes.
Tax-software integration
Which preparation tools sync natively.
Strkr: ProConnect Tax, Lacerte, UltraTax CS, CCH Axcess, Drake. CCH Axcess Practice: deep integration with CCH preparation tools (same vendor). Practice CS: deep with UltraTax CS (same vendor). Office Tools: broad integration across tools. For firms using mixed preparation tools across clients, cross-vendor integration coverage matters more than vendor-stack depth.
Three-year total cost
What this actually costs by year three for a 25-person firm.
Strkr: flat per seat with full product, including peer-review retention and tax-season workflow. CCH Axcess Practice: license plus hosting plus annual uplifts, typically 400 to 800 dollars per user per month at mid-tier. Practice CS: license per user with Thomson Reuters pricing. Office Tools: entry pricing lower, module adds for growth. For a 25-person firm, three-year TCO delta across vendors can run 60,000 to 150,000 dollars.
Advisory practice modeling
Retainer and project engagements beyond tax prep.
Strkr: full retainer and project engagement modeling with MRR tracking. CCH Axcess Practice: advisory engagement modeling via project add-on. Practice CS: project workflow. Office Tools: engagement types including advisory. For firms expanding advisory services (increasingly common in 2026 as 1040 commoditization pressures firms toward higher-margin advisory work), advisory modeling fit becomes a strategic consideration.
Head-to-head
Strkr vs CCH Axcess Practice for a mid-sized CPA firm.
CCH Axcess Practice is the common comparison at the mid-market end of public accounting with a strong integrated stack across preparation and audit. Practice CS from Thomson Reuters is the comparable at firms running on UltraTax CS. The comparison below is Strkr versus CCH Axcess Practice for a 25-to-75-person public accounting firm.
Feature
Strkr
CCH Axcess Practice
Pricing basis
Flat per seat with full product on every paid tier
License plus hosting plus annual uplifts
Return-type modeling
1040, 1120, 1120S, 1065, 990, 1041 as first-class fields
Deep modeling in CCH Axcess stack
Engagement letter workflow
Scoped templates with DocuSign and PandaDoc
Integrated letter generation in Wolters Kluwer stack
Peer-review retention
5 years from report release, classified at creation
Deep with CCH preparation tools, lighter elsewhere
UX / interface
Modern CRM surface comparable to HubSpot
Mature interface, deep features, learning curve
Advisory engagement modeling
Retainer and project with MRR tracking
Via project add-on
Mobile
First-class mobile with offline queue
Mobile viewer with partial feature set
Marketing and newsletter
Email marketing included on every paid tier
Via separate module
Three-year TCO (25-person firm)
Predictable per-seat line
License plus hosting plus modules plus uplifts
How teams use Strkr
How CPA firms run Strkr during and after tax season.
The common thread across public accounting customers: get engagement letter workflow, return tracking, document request queues, and the AICPA retention on one tool and stop reconciling across Practice CS plus Excel plus email. The playbooks below are motions live on CPA firm customers.
18-person tax practice
The April 10 Google Sheet retired after a 9-week migration.
An 18-person 1040-heavy tax practice migrated from Office Tools plus a partner's private Google Sheet to Strkr over 9 weeks between October and December. The first full tax season on Strkr saw the April 10 escalation sheet disappear because the organizer, document request, and review queues surfaced the backlog in real time. The managing partner reported roughly 14 hours a week reclaimed from manual status chasing during the final two weeks of tax season.
42-person mid-market firm
Peer review cleared without a workpaper retention finding.
A 42-person CPA firm with an attest practice ran their AICPA peer review on Strkr-retained engagement records. The reviewer accessed engagement letters, workpaper indexes, review notes, and issued reports through a scoped guest seat with the retention metadata visible. The peer review cleared without a workpaper retention finding, which had been the concern during the firm's prior cycle on a different system.
Boutique advisory practice
Retainer engagement MRR surfaced the fractional-CFO growth lever.
A boutique public accounting firm with an advisory practice modeled their retainer engagements (fractional CFO, business planning, cash-flow advisory) on Strkr with MRR tracking. The firm leader discovered the advisory book was growing roughly 34 percent year-over-year while 1040 revenue was flat, which drove the strategic decision to lean into advisory hiring. The MRR view had been invisible under their prior CRM.
A multi-state CPA firm with offices in New York, California, and Florida configured retention by engagement classification with state-licensing-board overrides. The California-engagement records retain to the longer California State Board requirement automatically. The practice-management lead no longer tracks state-by-state retention rules in a separate matrix because the configuration lives on the record classification itself.
Growth-stage firm
Marketing module replaced Mailchimp for the quarterly client newsletter.
A growth-stage CPA firm running a quarterly tax-planning newsletter to roughly 2,800 clients consolidated from Mailchimp onto Strkr's native email marketing. The newsletter subscriber list reads from the client-record database automatically with segmentation by return type (1040 clients receive individual-planning content, 1120 clients receive business-planning content). The marketing coordinator reclaimed roughly 4 hours a quarter from list management.
A CPA firm CRM that survives tax season and clears peer review.
Start a 14-day trial with the CPA-firm configuration enabled: engagement letter workflow, tax-season workflow with organizer and document-request queues, return-type segmentation, AICPA peer-review retention, QuickBooks and ProConnect sync, deadline calendar, advisory engagement modeling. Migrate from Office Tools, Practice CS, or CCH Axcess Practice with engagement history preserved.
Does Strkr integrate with CCH Axcess Tax or UltraTax CS?
Yes. Native integrations ship for ProConnect Tax, Lacerte, UltraTax CS, CCH Axcess Tax, and Drake Tax. The integration surfaces the current-year return status (not started, in preparation, in review, filed, extended) on the Strkr client record, with a link out to the preparation file in the native tool. For firms running mixed preparation tools across different client segments, the cross-vendor coverage matters because practice-management workflow lives in one place while preparation stays in whichever tool the preparer prefers.
How does Strkr handle AICPA peer-review retention?
Attest engagement records including engagement letter, workpaper index, review notes, independence documentation, and issued report classify at creation with a 5-year retention clock from report release date under AU-C 230. State licensing board extensions apply automatically where the state requires longer retention (California, Texas, and several others have state-specific requirements). The peer reviewer receives a scoped guest seat with read-only access to the engagement set under review, with the retention metadata and audit trail visible. Several firms have run peer reviews from Strkr records with no retention-related findings.
Can Strkr track engagement-letter signatures?
Yes. Engagement letters generate from scoped templates (1040, 1120S, 1120, 1065, 990, 1041, audit, review, consulting, advisory) with current-year dates and firm-specific AICPA language. Signature capture integrates with DocuSign and PandaDoc so the signed letter attaches to the client record with the signature event logged. Partial-firm pilots run with one practice group signing through DocuSign while another continues with PandaDoc. The signature event triggers the next workflow step automatically (organizer send, engagement activation, invoice generation per firm policy).
What is the migration path from Office Tools or Practice CS?
Strkr's CPA-firm migration tool pulls client records, engagement history, prior-year return types filed, document retention metadata, and workflow state from Office Tools (via Office Tools export) and Practice CS (via Thomson Reuters data extract). Engagement letters attached to clients migrate with the retention clock preserved. Workflow state (which clients are at which step in the tax-season workflow) migrates for the current tax year with the aging clock preserved. Migration from CCH Axcess Practice is more involved given the integrated stack but is supported through the data-extract tooling with longer program weeks.
Is Strkr a fit for an audit-only CPA practice?
Yes. The attest engagement workflow handles audit, review, and compilation engagements with the retention clock and the independence documentation (AICPA ET Section 1.200 and SEC Rule 2-01 for public-company audits) required for peer review. The engagement workpaper index integrates with document management systems the firm already uses (Caseware, ProSystem fx, or SharePoint-based firm storage) rather than replacing them. For firms with public-company audit practices subject to PCAOB inspection, the retention posture extends to the PCAOB-required duration automatically.
How does Strkr pricing compare to CCH Axcess Practice?
Strkr prices per seat with the full product on every paid tier, which means the engagement-letter workflow, the peer-review retention, the tax-software integration, and the advisory engagement modeling all ship without a module gate. For a 25-person firm, this typically compares favorably to CCH Axcess Practice when the firm counts the module fees, the hosting fees, and the annual uplifts. The delta depends on the Wolters Kluwer modules the firm is paying for today and should be modeled on the discovery call rather than quoted from a public comparison. Firms with heavy use of specific CCH integrated features may find the full-stack CCH value justifies the premium.
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