What 1099s Are Really Telling You: A Compliance Process That Drives Strategy
Most accounting firms treat 1099 compliance as a necessary evil — a deadline-driven task to survive each January. Shana Cooper, CPA and founder of The AccountAbility Team, LLC, knows it can be so much more. Drawing on her direct experience building a 1099 process from the ground up with an accounting firm, Cooper reveals how a well-designed compliance workflow becomes a window into your client base, your pricing, your service offerings, and your firm's growth strategy.
This course reframes 1099 compliance entirely. Yes, you will leave with a repeatable, team-executed process that eliminates year-end chaos — but you will also leave with a new way of seeing what the data inside that process has been trying to tell you all along. Learn how the discipline of building a strong 1099 workflow surfaces the insights that drive smarter firm decisions.
Key topics covered include:
The full 1099 compliance lifecycle — from proactive vendor management throughout the year to final filing and documentation
Vendor readiness fundamentals — W-9 collection, legal name and EIN confirmation, threshold tracking, and account mapping across common platforms
Building clear role ownership and quality checkpoints so the process runs without owner intervention
How the 1099 process reveals client profitability, billing gaps, and service packaging opportunities
Using compliance workflow design to identify which clients to keep, which to reprice, and which systems actually serve your firm
Translating a transactional process into strategic intelligence that informs firm growth decisions
Through real-world examples drawn from actual firm work, attendees learn that the most powerful business insights are often hiding inside the processes we treat as burdens. Cooper challenges accounting professionals to stop viewing compliance as the ceiling and start using it as the foundation for strategic clarity.
The course is designed for accounting firm owners, managers, and senior team members responsible for 1099 compliance and firm operations. Whether you are building your first documented process or overhauling an inconsistent one, this course will change how you think about compliance work — and what you do with it.
Learning Objectives
Identify the key phases of a well-structured 1099 compliance process and the controls that support accuracy and team accountability
Apply proactive vendor management practices that reduce year-end risk and build a foundation of reliable client data
Recognize how a well-executed compliance process surfaces strategic insights around client profitability, pricing, and firm growth
Business Benefits
A repeatable, team-executed 1099 process that eliminates year-end scramble and owner dependency
Improved filing accuracy through documented standards, role clarity, and quality review checkpoints
New visibility into client relationships, billing gaps, and service opportunities hiding inside the compliance process
Confidence that 1099s are filed correctly, on time, and fully supported by documentation
A reframe of compliance work — from annual burden to year-round strategic asset