No joke: Comedian CPA adding more to Tax Return Pizza Tracker menu

About 10 years ago, as Nicole Davis, CPA, ordered dinner online, the status updates for her thin-crust pepperoni pizza made her wonder: Would something similar solve the vexing problem of seemingly unending client requests for updates on tax returns?

Today, that pizza-fueled idea has turned into a tool so successful that software vendors have emulated the concept or produced similar applications. In response, Davis has trademarked the name — the Tax Return Pizza Tracker.

The tracker provides a simple, visual experience clients easily understand. It has also reduced phone calls, lowered anxiety, and created a better experience for clients and employees of the firm Davis leads as managing partner.

And more is on the horizon, as Davis plans to add a companion app that will be the engine of an operational intelligence layer that sits on top of the systems that firms already use.

“Anyone can build a status tracker,” she told the JofA. “Very few firms know how to build the operational framework, automation logic, business rules, and client communication strategy that make the tracker accurate, timely, and trusted.”

Davis is an entrepreneur with multiple businesses by day, a comedian at night, and a mother of five all the time — with children ranging in age from 7 to 28.

The tracker

Davis describes the tracker as a status progression tool that’s part of her firm’s practice management software. Clients log in to a portal to check on the status of their returns. And for the team at the firm Conscious Accounting, previously Butler-Davis, the tracker is automated so that when the tax return status changes, it can email a client or create a task for an employee to follow up.

“Clients get anxious, and they’re always asking for a status update,” Davis said. “I was like, ‘You know what, I need to solve for this so I’m not constantly giving status updates via email or phone.’ So, I set out to find a tool that I could build that would allow status progression or status changes based on where we were with the return.”

The creativity Davis exhibits through building apps and being on stage runs in the family. Her mother is an author, actor, and comedian, and Davis managed her mother’s career after college. Although Davis spent years helping someone else get on stage, she didn’t take a comedy class herself until about nine months ago. Now, she is on tour with her mom and aiming for a Netflix special.

Clients loved the tracker, which the firm updates every Wednesday and Friday, she said. And so did app software developers, who likely saw her posts on social media.

Davis didn’t mind that they were using her work to develop their own software, but she didn’t appreciate that some were using the same name. So earlier this summer, she announced on social media that the name is now protected with a trademark.

How the tracker works

While the Tax Return Pizza Tracker offers a visual experience, no images of slices, ovens, or chefs are used, and no animated CPA moves returns to the next step. Instead, clients log in to a portal, where they see buttons showing their returns moving from “ready to start” to “document request” or “technical review status change” and “client review.”

The last — and most welcome — stop is finalized delivery. “That’s when the returns have been accepted by the tax agencies and we close out the work order,” she said.

What’s next

Davis is building a companion app that will connect to existing tax software, customer relationship management systems, and practice management platforms, then use a proven tax return life cycle to orchestrate workflow, she said. Each stage will include built-in automation, communication triggers, escalation rules, and client notifications.

“The Tax Return Pizza Tracker is simply the client-facing window into that process,” she said. “The companion app is the engine.”

Firms won’t buy the app for the status tracker, Davis said. “They buy it because they want fewer interruption emails, fewer ‘Where’s my return?’ phone calls, more consistent client communication, standardized workflows across every preparer, and an experience that scales as the firm grows,” she said.

The companion app, which Davis is building herself, is in the early phases of development. But she’s confident in what she can accomplish.

“The Tax Return Pizza Tracker is the trademark. The companion app is the intellectual property,” she said. “The software isn’t just showing where a return is. It’s managing everything that comes next.”

— To comment on this article or to suggest an idea for another article, contact Martha Waggoner at Martha.Waggoner@aicpa-cima.com.