Inspired, of course, by the downfall of Ken Jennings on Jeopardy!, but a GQ nonetheless.
So, where does H&R Block manage to scrape up 70,000 out-of-work accountants every year? Seems like awfully specialized temp work – I can’t imagine they get them from Manpower. Do these “temps” have regular jobs the rest of the year? Are they semi-retired accountants (like my father-in-law)? Or do they not really have an accounting background to start with, and get on-the-job training?
You underestimate the number of people in the U.S. who are unemployed or underemployed.
Here is info on their job openings.
http://www.hrblock.com/about/career/job_detail.jsp?careerId=93
I can tell you how they get some of then. They give a tax preparation course, and have been doing so for at least 20 years ( that’s how long ago my mom took it, and my supervisor took it last year.) and offer jobs to some of their students.They’re not really temps, in the sense of people hired through an agency. More seasonal employees, like lifeguards, who might return to the beach summer after summer, but don’t work after labor day
As far the background goes- my mom was a bookkeeper (not an accountant), took the course, worked for H&R Block for a short time (maybe one season) and essentially opened her own tax preparation business. My supervisor plans do do the same. They don’t need to be accountants- no one with a really complex return is going to use Block anyway The H& R Block office I pass seems to be open pretty much evenings and weekends during the season- I guess that’s when most of their clients want appointments, which makes H&R Block (or any other tax preparation) a viable part-time job for a few months a year- kind of like the people I know who take on temp jobs at UPS or department stores during the Christmas shopping season
Seasonally unemployed FedEx workers? 
I worked for Block here in Canada for 1 season. My mom worked there for 15 years. Most of the jobs (tax preparers) are seasonal, lasting from early Jan until April 30. They keep some of the managers on year-round as some offices prepare returns all year and they also need to prepare for the up-coming year, upgrade and test new compter programs, write/update course material, and just run the business in general.
The seasonal people come from a variety of backgrounds; a lot do seem to have accounting or office jobs as their main career. It’s not neccesary though - these are just the types of people who are usually interested in some seasonal paperworking jobs for a few months per year.
Also remember that accoutants and tax preparers ARE NOT the same thing. Good accountants know their tax rules, but it seems waaaaay too many mediocre accountants do not. Most of my mom’s personal tax clients have had their returns screwed up by their accountants and came to her to fix the problems. They almost always stay with her for their taxes too as she only charges about $10 per return. She is also NOT an accountant - taxes only!
Anyways, I have a background in biology, and did just fine as a tax preparer. You take a course for ~$100 starting in around September (2-3 sessions per week, about 2 hours per session) that lasts until mid-December. You learn all about the basic returns, and end up with a thin phone-book sized manual of all the rules to keep. You learn how to do the returns by hand (calculator & pencil), and towards the end on the computer software which does the math for you.
You take a test done by hand (no computers), and need 70-80% (I forget which) to pass. You are then free to leave like any other course now knowing how to do taxes, but they offer you an opportunity to work for them.
You then do a couple weeks of job training including more computer training and people skills. You tell them the hours you can work and where you live, and they will assign you a desk at one of their offices for those hours. Beginners usually start part-time, and always have a senior preparer watching over them. On about 16-20 hours per week I prepared about 70 returns for various clients over 4 months. Your work is sent through the checkers (experienced workers) to catch any mistakes you made, although there may still be the odd boo-boo now and then - I think I had 1 or 2 little things that a phone call to the client cleared up. It depends on the office and location you are in, but I did returns for drunken street people making $1,500 per year all the way to snaughty professional business types with well over $100,000 per year, ages 16 to 80’s.
You start by taking the basic course. If you want to take more advanced courses which cover US taxes, corporate, farm, final returns (death), and so on from Block you must work for them. These courses also come cheaper… under $40 IIRC. So in exchange for part-time to full-time season work, you can continue taking discounted courses every September… I think there are at least a dozen or more. Or you can teach a course rather than taking a new one, again, after working for them for several years.
I didn’t continue the job because it didn’t interest me (just a new thing to try), and I left after 2001. Some changes may have happened since then. Some people do make it a career, and the ambitiose ones either end up as office managers or higher, or go to work for CCRA (Revenue Canada… the government). Many preparers have personal clients on the side, but you have to watch out as there are some terms on the work contract restricting this. Hope that helps!
Some people just love being able to earn enough money in four months to be able to support thier lifestyles for a whole year. Or maybe they run off and join the carnival in the summer!
How much do these seasonal workers get paid?
Sometimes they get retired people looking for supplemental income. I knew one such guy who was a seasonal preparer for H&R Block. He was retired from IBM.
They are NOT accountants!
H&RB trains and hires many new and rehires previous TAX PREPARERS every year.
H&RB recruits retired and other “unemployed” folkd who want to work only a few months a year.
QED?
How much does your average H&R Blockhead make after his four month stint? Is it enough to live on for the rest of the year?
No. I worked for Block for a couple years about 20 years ago. You get a weekly draw against commissions. You must keep track of the returns you do and what you charged for them. If your commissions outweigh your draw, you claim the difference. If your commissions do NOT outweigh your draw, you break even. You do not have to reimburse them anything. If you work full time at a very busy office, you might clear a decent amount in commissions by the end of the season, but you’d have to live a very frugal existence to support yourself on them for the rest of the year. Your base salary and commission percentage go up with the number of years you work for them but the most I’ve heard a long-term supervisory employee claim to make in commissions per season is about $10,000. Remember, that was about 20 years ago, so it might be more now.
The H&R Block basic tax course is a decent course for anyone who wants to understand how simple tax returns are done. The course includes a few intermediate concepts also, like home ownership and basic capital gains and losses. It costs about $200 and includes all materials. Just remember, it is a income tax preparation course, not a tax law course. If you work for Block, you get to take the same course the following two years for about $40 (the cost of materials only). You have to take the basic course 2 or 3 years in a row. Then you get to take an intermediate course.
You’d be amazed at the types of positions that get hired from Manpower.
My mother works for H&R Block, sometimes as a tax preparer, sometimes as an office manager, sometimes just during peak season, and sometimes in the off-season. She enjoys it because it’s flexible and usually only a few months a year and it funds her semi-retired travel lifestyle. How much she makes in a year really varies depending on what the compensation plan looks like that year - and H&R change it almost every year - and how well the stock does, since they get pretty decent stock options. Some years, she makes twice what she does other years. It’s a supplementary income, though. You’d probably find it very difficult to live on it outside of tax season.
To add a few updates to Cillasi’s 20 yr-old experience (again, in Canada)
You get a base wage nowadays plus a commision for X-number of returns over a set number per week (or some other time). You no longer have to keep track of these details yourself as the software does it all; the managers (or the system - I don’t know which) keeps track and forks out your commision; the office I was in 3 years ago did it all for me. However you have to be pretty fast and do a fair number of returns so beginers usually don’t make much if any commision their first season or two. I did 2-8 returns per 4 hour shift depending on the crowd, and I think I’d need about 12-15 to get a commision, but don’t quote me on those numbers. Actually come to think of it take all the above with a grain of salt - I never paid much attention to the commision part as I knew I wasn’t fast enough to get one. But good preparers can finish a normal return in 10 minutes or less.
The price of your first basic course apparently varies, it may have been $200 20 years ago but I’m pretty sure I paid not much more than $100 3 years ago. Today you can take the intermediate, advanced, then specialty courses in that order one after another, without repeats (although you can if you want). As long as you pass the previous one (and work for the company). Also you can elect to teach a course rather than take a course.
And for the other question… sorry but it’s not great money. I started at $8/hr. Of course the more returns you do (productivity) and the longer you stay (commitment) the more you can make; especially working into a full-time supervisor or district manager’s position. It’s a career for some but seasonal cash for most. All the preparers I knew were either retired, had other day jobs, or a spouse with a permanent job.
That being said I’d actually encourage anyone interested to give it a shot! At least take the course and never have to pay someone to do your taxes ever again (you can make contacts with the teachers who’ll help you on any specific questions your basic course didn’t cover). You don’t need post-secondary education or even any other experience to start, and you do end up learning some rather detailed stuff. The hours are pretty flexible so you could work a Saturday and/or an evening or three a week for a few months for example. Also preparing returns can actually be rather fun - even for someone who doesn’t like dressing nice and doing paperwork like me. The variety of things/situations you see other people do for a living and how much they really make , the practice (I got 70+ year’s worth of a normal person’s tax experience in 4 months), plus seeing how simple taxes really can be makes it worthwhile; not to mention picking up your own clients… an inevitability if you ever happen to mention that you’re a tax preparer: “oh really! you could do my taxes for me!!”.
They have evening hours (which is the only time many working people who need tax prep help are going to be able to come in) so it works well for a second job. My mother was a school teacher who always loved accounting. She worked for H & R Block for several years. She took the class, and then worked in the evenings. It didn’t interfere with her regular job. That probably helps them a great deal, in recruiting people capable of doing the job.