Apel Associates, Inc.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Owner of resume writing business

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Apel Associates, Inc.?

Tax preparation

What were your goals for this engagement?

Accurate service and sound advice

SOLUTION

How did you select Apel Associates, Inc.?

My previous firm was taken over by Apel.

Describe the engagement in detail.

Apel handled my quarterly taxes as well as annual federal and state tax filing.

Describe their billing or cost structure.

They billed hourly as well as flat rate for certain tax prep services.

What was the team composition?

I worked mainly with a tax preparer and sometimes had occasion to interact with the owner of the firm or main bookkeeper.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the engagement that demonstrate progress or success?

They did my quarterly taxes and annual tax filings. However they did not give me what I considered good advice to give me better results and they made some errors that cost me hundreds of dollars but refused to take responsibility for the errors.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

They sometimes worked independently but on a couple of salient occasions, they did not take important action that created extra work. And on one occasion, they DID take an action that cost me my stimulus check. Also they failed to update bank accounts in the federal and state systems, resulting in penalties assessed to me personally.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Some of the lower level employees tried very hard to help me.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Many. The number of errors they made and miscommunications was unacceptable, but worse than that was their refusal to take responsibility for their errors.