CEO Harry Buckley said actions taken have strengthened the company for 2011. But he said Jackson Hewitt must attract new clients, implement a new franchise agreement and see a conclusion of issues surrounding refund anticipation loans.

For the most recently ended quarter, net income was $48.1 million, up 16.5 percent from $41.3 million in fiscal 2009. Revenue for the last three months of the fiscal year fell to $125.6 million, down 11 percent  from $141.2 million last year.

The company was hurt when it was able to get only 50 percent of its RAL volume funded after Santa Barbara Bank and Trust left the business. Financial product fees in the fourth quarter dropped to $46.3 million, down 22.7 percent from $59.9 million a year earlier. Unable to offer loans in many of its offices, the company saw a dropped in the number of returns prepared, coupled with the overall number of returns prepared nationally as the economy took its tool

Bob Scott

• Email

Bob Scott has provided information to the tax and accounting community since 1991, first as technology editor of Accounting Today, and from 1997 through 2009 as editor of its sister publication, Accounting Technology. He is known throughout the industry for his depth of knowledge and for his high journalistic standards.  Scott has made frequent appearances as a speaker, moderator and panelist and events serving tax and accounting professionals. He  has a strong background in computer journalism as an editor with two former trade publications, Computer+Software News and MIS Week and spent several years with weekly and daily newspapers in Morris County New Jersey prior to that.  A graduate of Indiana University with a degree in journalism, Bob is a native of Madison, Ind