H & R Block Inc (HRB) 2024 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Thank you for standing by, and welcome to H&R Block's First Quarter Fiscal Year 2024 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions)

感謝您的耐心等待，歡迎參加 H&R Block 2024 財年第一季財報電話會議。 （操作員說明）

I would now like to hand the call over to Vice President, Investor Relations, Michaella Gallina. Please go ahead.

我現在想將電話轉給投資者關係副總裁 Michaella Gallina。請繼續。

Thank you, Latif. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to H&R Block's first quarter fiscal year 2024 financial results conference call.

謝謝你，拉蒂夫。大家下午好，歡迎參加 H&R Block 2024 財年第一季財務業績電話會議。

Joining me today are Jeff Jones, our President and Chief Executive Officer; and Tony Bowen, our Chief Financial Officer.

今天加入我的是我們的總裁兼執行長傑夫瓊斯 (Jeff Jones)；以及我們的財務長 Tony Bowen。

Earlier today, we issued a press release and presentation, which can be downloaded or viewed live on our website at investors.hrblock.com. Our call is being broadcast and webcast live, and a replay of the webcast will be available for 90 days.

今天早些時候，我們發布了新聞稿和演示文稿，您可以在我們的網站 Investors.hrblock.com 上下載或即時查看。我們的電話會議正在進行廣播和網路直播，網路直播的重播將在 90 天內提供。

Before we begin, I'd like to remind listeners that comments made by management may include forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws. These statements involve material risks and uncertainties, and actual results could differ from those projected in any forward-looking statement due to numerous factors. For a description of these risks and uncertainties, please see H&R Block's annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q as updated periodically with our other SEC filings.

在開始之前，我想提醒聽眾，管理層發表的評論可能包括聯邦證券法含義內的前瞻性陳述。這些陳述涉及重大風險和不確定性，由於多種因素，實際結果可能與任何前瞻性陳述中的預測有所不同。有關這些風險和不確定性的說明，請參閱 H&R Block 的 10-K 表格年度報告和 10-Q 表格季度報告，這些報告與我們向 SEC 提交的其他文件定期更新。

Please note some metrics we'll discuss today are presented on a non-GAAP basis. We reconciled the comparable GAAP and non-GAAP figures in the appendix of our presentation.

請注意，我們今天討論的一些指標是在非公認會計原則的基礎上提出的。我們在簡報的附錄中對可比較的公認會計原則和非公認會計原則資料進行了核對。

Finally, the content of this call contains time-sensitive information accurate only as of today, November 7, 2023. H&R Block undertakes no obligation to revise or otherwise update any statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this call.

最後，本次電話會議的內容包含截至今天（2023 年11 月7 日）的時間敏感資訊。H&R Block 不承擔修改或以其他方式更新任何聲明以反映本次電話會議之後發生的事件或情況的義務。

With that, I will now turn it over to Jeff.

有了這個，我現在將把它交給傑夫。

Thank you, Michaella.

謝謝你，米凱拉。

Good afternoon, everyone, and thanks for joining us. Today, I will begin with a summary of our Q1 results and provide an update on our Block Horizons strategic imperatives. Then Tony will discuss our financials, including the strength of our capital allocation and balance sheet. While we are early in the year and Q1 is a relatively small portion of our results, we had a good start and are reaffirming our fiscal '24 outlook. We were pleased given that we lapped a very strong extended season last year and our share in both DIY and Assisted slightly improved throughout the year.

大家下午好，感謝您加入我們。今天，我將首先總結第一季的業績，並提供有關 Block Horizo​​ns 策略要務的最新資訊。然後托尼將討論我們的財務狀況，包括我們的資本配置和資產負債表的力量。雖然我們正處於今年年初，第一季只占我們業績的相對較小部分，但我們已經有了一個良好的開端，並重申了我們的 24 財年前景。我們很高興去年我們經歷了一個非常強勁的延長賽季，我們在 DIY 和輔助方面的份額全年略有提高。

With favorability in NAC, we grew revenue, continued to manage our expenses well and demonstrated ongoing progress on our Block Horizons strategy, which I'll share more about in a moment. We also continued our share repurchase program, buying $132 million in the quarter.

憑藉 NAC 的青睞，我們增加了收入，繼續良好地管理我們的支出，並展示了我們的 Block Horizo​​ns 策略的持續進展，我將在稍後分享更多內容。我們也繼續實施股票回購計劃，本季購買了 1.32 億美元。

Let's go deeper into Block Horizons, beginning with small business, which includes small business tax and services and Wave. Assisted small business total revenue growth was 6% in the quarter, and we're pleased with the early signals we are seeing in bookkeeping and payroll services which are growing double digits. We see a long runway of opportunity and are focused on continuing our momentum, which includes growing clients in both tax and services and driving business formations, which we launched last year. Overall, we feel good about the trajectory of small business.

讓我們更深入地了解 Block Horizo​​ns，從小型企業開始，其中包括小型企業稅收和服務以及 Wave。本季協助小型企業的總收入成長了 6%，我們對簿記和薪資服務中看到的早期訊號感到滿意，這些服務正在以兩位數的速度成長。我們看到了很長的機會，並專注於繼續我們的勢頭，其中包括增加稅務和服務領域的客戶以及推動我們去年推出的業務形成。整體而言，我們對小型企業的發展軌跡感到滿意。

Turning to Wave. Revenue growth was 6% in Q1, which was in line with our expectations. As we've shared, we underwent a strategic review of the business when the new leader was put in place. We now have a plan to accelerate revenue growth and put us on a path to profitability. Before I share those plans, I want to recap Wave's current business model, which provides tremendous value for small business owners by offering free invoicing and accounting. Wave has monetized its platform primarily through payment processing as well as payroll and advisory services. We are now beginning a strategic shift to solve customer pain points that will deliver value and monetize more premium features.

轉向波浪。第一季營收成長 6%，符合我們的預期。正如我們所分享的，當新領導就任時，我們對業務進行了策略審查。我們現在製定了加速收入成長並讓我們走上獲利之路的計劃。在分享這些計劃之前，我想回顧一下 Wave 目前的商業模式，該模式透過提供免費的發票和會計服務為小型企業主提供了巨大的價值。 Wave 主要透過支付處理以及薪資和諮詢服務將其平台貨幣化。我們現在開始進行策略轉變，以解決客戶的痛點，從而提供價值並透過更多優質功能獲利。

In the payment space, customers are wanting additional options beyond credit cards which Wave historically has not provided. Today, less than 30% of invoices sent by small businesses through Wave's platform are enabled for credit card or bank payments. Thus, there's a significant opportunity to unlock value as we enable our customers to be paid via alternative methods and expand our share of wallet. We also see an opportunity to build other premium features that help our customers run their small business. Last quarter, we launched the mobile receipts feature, which is a monthly or annual subscription that generates additional recurring revenue. This product's uptake has been better than expected and is a good example of where we're heading. I am excited about the shifts we're making and the opportunities we see in this business.

在支付領域，客戶需要信用卡以外的其他選擇，而 Wave 歷史上從未提供過這種選擇。如今，小型企業透過 Wave 平台發送的發票中只有不到 30% 可以使用信用卡或銀行付款。因此，當我們讓客戶能夠透過替代方式付款並擴大我們的錢包份額時，就有釋放價值的重大機會。我們還看到了建立其他高級功能來幫助我們的客戶經營小型企業的機會。上季度，我們推出了行動收據功能，這是一種按月或按年訂閱的方式，可以產生額外的經常性收入。該產品的使用率比預期要好，是我們前進方向的一個很好的例子。我對我們正在做出的轉變以及我們在這項業務中看到的機會感到興奮。

Now I'll move on to financial products. Regarding Spruce, recall that tax season '23 was the first time the product was introduced in the Assisted channel. Our learnings have informed our actions for the next tax season, and we are continuing to drive innovation for the customer experience. We've made the account creation and sign-up process more seamless in all our channels and deposit trends from customers utilizing Spruce to receive their payroll direct deposit continue to improve. As of September 30, we surpassed 300,000 sign-ups and had almost $400 million in customer deposits. In fiscal '24, we are focused on efficiently acquiring clients at tax time, which includes the DIY flow and driving customer engagement within the app.

現在我將轉向金融產品。關於雲杉，請回想一下，23 年納稅季是該產品首次在輔助管道中推出。我們的經驗教訓為我們下一個報稅季的行動提供了依據，我們將繼續推動客戶體驗創新。我們在所有管道中使帳戶建立和註冊流程更加無縫，並且利用 Spruce 接收薪資直接存款的客戶的存款趨勢不斷改善。截至 9 月 30 日，我們的註冊人數已超過 30 萬，客戶存款近 4 億美元。在 24 財年，我們專注於在納稅時有效地獲取客戶，其中包括 DIY 流程和推動客戶在應用程式中的參與度。

Now let's turn to Block experience. This imperative is all about blending digital tools with human health to provide better experiences for clients while empowering them to be served; however, they choose, fully virtual to fully in-person and everything in between. We have made a number of enhancements to MyBlock this year. Within the app, clients will now have visibility of where they are at each stage of the tax prep process through a status tracker on their home page. In addition, we'll be delivering a personalized checklist to help clients be better prepared for forms they will need and how to upload them ahead of time. The app will provide help at each stage with a call to action that recommends clients' next step, whether uploading new documents getting help from one of our expert tax professionals or notifying them that is time to review their return which was made easier and faster to approve and sign online. Clients also have the ability to access their tax documents and return digitally which aligns with our new print-less strategy to reduce paper consumption in our offices.

現在讓我們轉向 Block 體驗。這項當務之急是將數位工具與人類健康結合，為客戶提供更好的體驗，同時讓他們能夠獲得服務；然而，他們會選擇完全虛擬、完全面對面以及介於兩者之間的一切。今年我們對 MyBlock 進行了多項增強。在該應用程式中，客戶現在可以透過主頁上的狀態追蹤器了解他們在稅務準備流程的每個階段的位置。此外，我們將提供個人化的清單，以幫助客戶更好地準備他們需要的表格以及如何提前上傳表格。該應用程式將在每個階段提供幫助，並呼籲採取行動，建議客戶採取下一步行動，無論是上傳新文件以獲得我們的稅務專業人士的幫助，還是通知他們是時候審查他們的納稅申報表了，這樣就可以更輕鬆、更快速地完成納稅申報表。在線批准並簽署。客戶還可以存取其稅務文件並以數位方式申報，這符合我們減少辦公室紙張消耗的新無列印策略。

This is a benefit for our clients results in cost savings and is one of the many ways we live our commitment to environmental sustainability. Another priority within Block experience is leaning into GenAI. As we've shared, we are initially focused on 2 areas: first, enhancing the customer experience; and second, reducing expenses and increasing productivity. In the DIY channel, we're working on exciting innovations that will support our clients throughout the tax prep experience, and we are testing the ability to use AI to field customer calls.

這對我們的客戶來說是一種好處，可以節省成本，也是我們履行環境永續承諾的多種方式之一。 Block 體驗中的另一個優先事項是傾向於 GenAI。正如我們所分享的，我們最初專注於兩個領域：第一，增強客戶體驗；其次，減少開支並提高生產力。在 DIY 管道中，我們正在致力於令人興奮的創新，這些創新將在整個報稅過程中為客戶提供支持，並且我們正在測試使用人工智慧來接聽客戶電話的能力。

Over time, we believe these initiatives can result in meaningful cost savings but we are not assuming any this fiscal year as we are in initial testing phases. All in all, we're making tangible progress through our partnership with Microsoft. In fact, they recently highlighted our work to thought leaders and industry experts during the Envision tour in New York. As you can see, our team continues to make progress, and we are well-positioned to deliver results this year.

隨著時間的推移，我們相信這些措施可以帶來有意義的成本節約，但我們不會在本財年做出任何假設，因為我們正處於初始測試階段。總而言之，我們透過與 Microsoft 的合作取得了實際的進展。事實上，他們最近在紐約遠景之旅期間向思想領袖和行業專家強調了我們的工作。正如您所看到的，我們的團隊不斷取得進步，我們有能力在今年取得成果。

Before turning it to Tony, I want to mention that we recently published our fourth annual environmental, social and governance report for fiscal year '23, reflecting our ongoing commitment to transparency, sustainability and responsible business practices. I encourage you to visit our Investor Relations website to read it in full.

在交給托尼之前，我想提一下，我們最近發布了 23 財年的第四份年度環境、社會和治理報告，反映了我們對透明度、永續性和負責任的商業實踐的持續承諾。我鼓勵您造訪我們的投資者關係網站以閱讀全文。

With that, I will now pass things over to Tony to share more about our financial results.

現在，我將把事情交給東尼，分享更多有關我們財務表現的資訊。

Thanks, Jeff, and good afternoon, everyone. In Q1, we delivered $183.8 million of revenue, an increase of 2% or $3.8 million over the prior year. The increase was primarily due to higher U.S.-assisted tax preparation revenues driven by an increase in net average charge, partially offset by lower Emerald Card revenues. Total operating expenses were approximately $390 million, an increase of about 30 basis points or $1 million. Corporate wages and bad debt were higher and marketing and advertising as well as consulting expenses were lower than last year.

謝謝傑夫，大家下午好。第一季度，我們實現了 1.838 億美元的收入，比上年增長 2%，即 380 萬美元。這一增長主要是由於淨平均費用增加推動了美國援助的稅務準備收入增加，但部分被翡翠卡收入減少所抵消。總營運費用約 3.9 億美元，增加約 30 個基點或 100 萬美元。企業薪資和壞帳較高，行銷、廣告以及諮詢費用低於去年。

EBITDA was a loss of approximately $166 million, an improvement of 3% or $6 million from the prior year. Interest expense was about $16 million, which is essentially unchanged to last year. Pretax loss decreased by $9 million to $212.4 million, primarily due to higher revenues and interest income in the current year.

EBITDA 虧損約 1.66 億美元，較上年減少 3%，即 600 萬美元。利息支出約1600萬美元，與去年基本持平。稅前虧損減少 900 萬美元，至 2.124 億美元，主要是由於本年度收入和利息收入增加。

Our effective tax rate was 23.3% compared to 24.4% last year. Loss per share from continuing operations was $1.11 compared to $1.05 last year, while adjusted loss per share from continuing operations was $1.05 compared to $0.99 last year due to fewer shares outstanding. As a reminder, in quarters with the loss, fewer shares outstanding increase loss per share but is accretive as we generate earnings for the full year.

我們的有效稅率為 23.3%，而去年為 24.4%。持續經營業務每股虧損為 1.11 美元，而去年為 1.05 美元；由於流通股減少，持續經營業務調整後每股虧損為 1.05 美元，去年為 0.99 美元。提醒一下，在出現虧損的季度，流通股數量減少會增加每股虧損，但隨著我們全年獲利的產生，虧損會增加。

As Jeff shared, we had a good start to the year and are reaffirming our full year 2024 outlook and longer-term total shareholder return algorithm that calls for topline growth, EBITDA that outpaces revenue and EPS, it grows even faster. Turning to Capital Allocation. Our practice remains robust. In Q1, we repurchased a total of 3.3 million shares for $132 million at an average price of $40.43. This retired another 2% of our float. Since 2016, we have reduced shares outstanding by over 38%. Additionally, last week, the Board of Directors declared our quarterly cash dividend. Since 2016, we have grown the dividend 60%, yet the total dollars paid out continue to decrease because of how quickly we are buying back shares.

正如 Jeff 所說，我們今年開了個好頭，並重申了 2024 年全年展望和長期股東總回報演算法，該演算法要求營收成長、EBITDA 超過收入和每股收益，成長甚至更快。轉向資本配置。我們的實踐依然穩健。第一季度，我們總共回購了 330 萬股股票，回購金額為 1.32 億美元，平均價格為 40.43 美元。這又使我們的流通量減少了 2%。自 2016 年以來，我們已將流通股減少了 38% 以上。此外，上週，董事會宣布了我們的季度現金股利。自 2016 年以來，我們的股利增加了 60%，但由於我們回購股票的速度太快，支付的總金額持續減少。

Given the macro environment and the expectation of high interest rates for the foreseeable future, I'd also like to share more about the strength of our balance sheet. We continue to feel great about our relatively low leverage with $1.5 billion of long-term debt against our over $900 million of EBITDA in the most recent year. Our next debt maturity of $350 million isn't until October of 2025, which is our smallest tranche and we don't have another tranche maturing after that until 2028. As we've shared before, as interest rates rise, it benefits our P&L on a short-term basis, as our interest income from our cash position will exceed our short-term recurring interest expense for the full year. Overall, we feel very good about our balance sheet and how we are positioned in the current environment.

考慮到宏觀環境和可預見的未來高利率的預期，我還想分享更多有關我們資產負債表實力的資訊。我們仍然對我們相對較低的槓桿率感到滿意，最近一年我們的 EBITDA 超過 9 億美元，長期債務為 15 億美元。我們下一次3.5 億美元的債務要到2025 年10 月才到期，這是我們最小的一部分，此後我們直到2028 年才會有另一部分到期。正如我們之前分享的，隨著利率上升，它有利於我們的損益在短期基礎上，因為我們現金部位的利息收入將超過我們全年的短期經常性利息支出。總體而言，我們對我們的資產負債表以及我們在當前環境中的定位非常滿意。

In summary, our financial story is positive. We drive topline growth, EBITDA that outpaces revenue and EPS that grows even faster. We have strong capital allocation practices to reliably return value to shareholders, and our balance sheet positions us well for the macro trends.

總而言之，我們的財務狀況是正面的。我們推動營收成長、息稅折舊攤提前利潤（EBITDA）超過收入，每股盈餘成長得更快。我們擁有強大的資本配置實踐，能夠可靠地為股東回報價值，而我們的資產負債表使我們能夠很好地適應宏觀趨勢。

With that, I will now hand it back over to Jeff for some closing remarks.

現在，我將把它交還給傑夫，讓他發表一些結束語。

Thanks, Tony. I'm looking forward to all that we will accomplish this year. In closing, I'd like to extend a sincere thank you to our associates, franchisees and tax professionals for all they do year-round to deliver on our purpose of providing help and inspiring confidence in our clients and communities everywhere.

謝謝，托尼。我期待著我們今年將完成的一切。最後，我謹向我們的員工、特許經營商和稅務專業人士致以誠摯的謝意，感謝他們全年為實現我們為世界各地的客戶和社區提供幫助並激發信心的目標所做的一切。

Now operator, we will open the line for questions.

現在接線員，我們將開通提問熱線。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from the line of Kartik Mehta of Northcoast Research.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自 Northcoast Research 的 Kartik Mehta。

Jeff, just your thoughts on marketing as we go into next tax season, I know last tax season, you're focused on DIY at least from the marketing eyes on. I'm wondering, as we go into this tax season, do you follow the same strategy, or does that change?

傑夫，當我們進入下一個報稅季時，請談談您對行銷的看法，我知道上個報稅季，您至少從行銷的角度來看，專注於 DIY。我想知道，當我們進入這個納稅季節時，您是否遵循相同的策略，或者是否會改變？

Yes, Kartik. So there's a few things I would share. I mean the first is remembering that we're very audience driven in our approach to marketing. So it's very likely you don't see everything that we're doing for a particular audience. So that's number one. We obviously have several different jobs to do. We had a winning formula in DIY last year. We want to do all we can to replicate that kind of performance. We also know when we evaluated our client loss in Assisted, we broke that down into the 3 buckets at the end of the year, really winning with the EITC client is the top of the priority list. And so that means several different things for marketing this year. It means a strong reevaluation of the message how we think about refund advance, the media channels we use and the timing of those messages. So all those things have been reevaluated as we prepare for the upcoming season.

是的，卡提克。所以有一些事情我想分享。我的意思是，首先要記住，我們的行銷方式非常以受眾為導向。因此，您很可能看不到我們為特定受眾所做的一切。所以這是第一。顯然我們有幾項不同的工作要做。去年我們在 DIY 領域找到了致勝法寶。我們希望盡一切努力複製這種表現。我們也知道，當我們評估協助客戶的損失時，我們在年底將其分為 3 個部分，真正贏得 EITC 客戶是首要任務。因此，這對今年的營銷來說意味著一些不同的事情。這意味著我們要對我們對預付款的看法、我們使用的媒體管道以及這些資訊的發佈時間進行強烈的重新評估。因此，在我們為即將到來的賽季做準備時，所有這些事情都被重新評估。

And Jeff, just as a follow-on, I know you've said in the last tax season that you wanted to win with the EITC, the tax season. Does that require you to make changes to the refund transfer product, make the amount available bigger, or any other changes you feel you need to compete better?

傑夫，作為後續，我知道您在上一個納稅季節說過，您希望贏得 EITC（納稅季節）。這是否要求您對退款轉移產品進行更改，增加可用金額，或您認為需要更好競爭的任何其他更改？

Yes, it's a great question and one I signaled on the last call, we know that last year, we didn't do a good enough job of being in the market with the refund advance message at the right time. And that's really the starting point for how we communicate the value proposition to the customer. We've done even more research with that audience since last year to understand pricing and other matters that we continue to feel good about. We looked at and decided not to participate in the refund advance business where people are promising a much higher rate, but coming with fees and interest. And so we've eliminated that as something that we think is the right business to be in for us. So it's really about that message earlier in the season communicating our total value proposition.

是的，這是一個很好的問題，我在上次電話中表示，我們知道去年我們在市場上做得不夠好，在正確的時間發出退款預付款資訊。這確實是我們向客戶傳達價值主張的起點。自去年以來，我們對這些受眾進行了更多研究，以了解定價和其他我們仍然滿意的問題。我們研究並決定不參與退款預付款業務，人們承諾提供更高的利率，但會收取費用和利息。因此，我們將其排除在外，因為我們認為這對我們來說是正確的業務。所以這實際上是關於本季早些時候傳達的我們總體價值主張的訊息。

Our next question comes from the line of Scott Schneeberger of Oppenheimer & Company.

我們的下一個問題來自 Oppenheimer & Company 的 Scott Schneeberger。

Can you hear me?

你聽得到我嗎？

Yes, Scott, we got you.

是的，史考特，我們找到你了。

Good. Yes, I just ask something on the quarter to get us started. The mild outperformance in revenue, nice to see, and it wasn't a grand magnitude. I was just curious if the -- if the later California filings from last fiscal year had any impact. It looks like it's not going to affect this back half of the year very much as some had wondered. And so just a comment on that. And then also on just the current quarter, the operating expense increase was relatively modest in the inflationary environment. So it looks like you did a nice job of managing wages, marketing advertising and then per Kartik's question, obviously, that's going to be heavier later in the year, but you also cited consulting. So just the second part of the question is just kind of curious how you manage expenses in the quarter? And what should we expect prior to tax season and then in tax season to keep up the good momentum there?

好的。是的，我只是在本季詢問一些事情以幫助我們開始。營收的溫和表現令人高興，但幅度並不大。我只是好奇上一財年加州後期提交的文件是否有任何影響。看起來它不會像一些人想像的那樣對今年下半年產生太大影響。所以只是對此發表評論。而且就本季而言，在通膨環境下，營運費用的成長相對溫和。所以看起來你在管理薪資、行銷廣告方面做得很好，然後根據卡蒂克的問題，顯然，今年晚些時候這會變得更重，但你也提到了諮詢。所以問題的第二部分只是有點好奇你如何管理本季的開支？我們應該在報稅季之前和報稅季之後期待什麼，以保持那裡的良好勢頭？

Yes. So I'll pick the revenue piece and Tony can comment on OpEx. But yes, so first of all, I'd say remembering, we lapped a strong extension season last year. And in light of that, we feel good about our volume performance against our expectations. As we mentioned, we saw some slight share gain in both the assisted and DIY business in this first quarter. And then we saw a continuation of the price increases we took last year and some favorable mix, which helped drive revenue. And then when we saw the extension happen in California, obviously, we talked about keeping more offices open, more tax pros staffed. And we think we did a nice job of winning our fair share in California leading up to October 15. So when you put all those things together, it is a relatively small part of the business, as we always say, but we feel good about the start to the year.

是的。所以我會選擇收入部分，托尼可以對營運支出發表評論。但是，是的，所以首先，我要記住，我們去年經歷了一個強勁的續約賽季。有鑑於此，我們對我們的銷售表現超出預期感到滿意。正如我們所提到的，我們在第一季的輔助和 DIY 業務中看到了一些輕微的份額成長。然後我們看到去年價格上漲的持續性以及一些有利的組合，這有助於推動收入。然後，當我們看到加州的延期發生時，顯然，我們談到了保持更多辦事處開放、配備更多稅務專業人員的問題。我們認為，截至10 月15 日，我們在加州贏得了公平的份額，做得很好。因此，當你把所有這些事情放在一起時，正如我們常說的那樣，它只是業務的相對較小的一部分，但我們對此感到滿意今年的開始。

Yes. And on the expense side, we are happy with the very modest increase we saw in Q1. We're continuing to see inflationary pressure. So it's not that it's completely dissipated. Obviously, we did an annual merit cycle this summer that's flowing in the P&L in Q1. We're continuing to see rent prices go up as well as utilities. But we're doing what we can to offset that. You mentioned a few things and marketing be a little bit lower consulting expenses being a little bit lower in Q1. So we're reaffirming our full year guidance. We think we're off to a good start. Expense management is obviously a key focus for us, and we think that will continue in Q2.

是的。在費用方面，我們對第一季的小幅成長感到滿意。我們持續面臨通膨壓力。所以並不是說它完全消散了。顯然，今年夏天我們進行了年度績效循環，該循環已計入第一季的損益表中。我們繼續看到租金價格和公用事業價格上漲。但我們正在盡我們所能來抵消這一影響。您提到了一些事情，第一季的行銷諮詢費用會稍微降低一點。因此，我們重申全年指引。我們認為我們有了一個好的開始。費用管理顯然是我們的重點關注點，我們認為這將在第二季度繼續下去。

Right. And as a follow-up, I think I'll just kind of ask industry level. What are you seeing here in with regard to the IRS and its pilot program associated with being a tax preparation organization itself? And then also just mathematically, to 99k, any developments there that you're hearing? And could that be something that is a new and different angle for this year?

正確的。作為後續行動，我想我會詢問行業層面。您對國稅局及其與稅務準備組織本身相關的試點計劃有何看法？然後從數學上來說，到 99k，您聽到了什麼進展嗎？今年這會是一個新的、不同的角度嗎？

Yes. I'll pick up 10.99 first, actually. We believe it will be in place. There is a possibility as always some year-end legislation could change that like it happened last year. It's not contemplated in our outlook book, but we do have some real thoughtful plans in place should it proceed that we're ready to capture that opportunity when the season kicks off. So that's on 10.99K and with respect to the IRS, even in their latest briefing, Scott, they really dialed back the size and magnitude of what they think they'll pilot this year. We expect that to be much smaller than they originally had planned. But if we just take a step back from that, we know the consumers spoken loud and clear.

是的。實際上我會先買10.99。我們相信它將會就位。像往常一樣，一些年終立法有可能改變這種情況，就像去年發生的那樣。我們的展望書中沒有考慮到這一點，但我們確實已經制定了一些真正深思熟慮的計劃，以便我們準備好在賽季開始時抓住這個機會。所以這是 10.99K，就國稅局而言，即使在他們最新的簡報中，斯科特，他們也確實縮減了他們認為今年將試點的規模和幅度。我們預計這將比他們最初計劃的要小得多。但如果我們退後一步，我們就會知道消費者的聲音響亮而清晰。

They don't think the IRS should be in the business. We've been very clear on our position about that. There are over 30 organizations, including us that already offer free tax preparation. So our view on it really hasn't changed. It does sound like their plans have changed. And I just -- we find it hard to believe over time that they'll be able to use taxpayer dollars to be in the business of building a product, marketing a product and supporting a product year in and year out.

他們認為國稅局不應該介入這個行業。我們對此的立場非常明確。包括我們在內，已有 30 多個組織提供免費報稅服務。所以我們對它的看法確實沒有改變。聽起來他們的計畫確實改變了。我只是——我們發現很難相信隨著時間的推移，他們將能夠使用納稅人的錢年復一年地從事產品製造、產品行銷和產品支援業務。

Our next question comes from the line of George Tong of Goldman Sachs.

我們的下一個問題來自高盛的喬治唐。

As you think about your strategy with EITC tax filers, in the prior tax season, marketing, the value proposition of Refund Advance, for example, is definitely an important part, but also a decrease in the average refund size and an increase in balance due returns had an impact on that demographic. Can you talk about how those other factors, which HR has less control over might materialize over the upcoming tax season?

當您考慮與 EITC 報稅人的策略時，在上一個報稅季，行銷、退款預付款的價值主張絕對是一個重要的組成部分，但也會減少平均退稅金額和增加應付餘額回報對該人群產生了影響。您能否談談人力資源部門控制較少的其他因素在即將到來的納稅季節可能會如何實現？

Yes, George, thank you for that question. I mean, obviously, those are things that are out of our control, except to the degree we can educate and communicate to clients, and that's really where we focus in what we call this off-season of how we deploy training to tax professionals to help them understand in that moment of truth if someone's outcome has changed why that is and what they can do about it for the next year. So we definitely have taken those steps to get ready for this tax season in addition to the marketing comments that I made earlier with Kartik's question.

是的，喬治，謝謝你提出這個問題。我的意思是，顯然，這些事情是我們無法控制的，除了我們可以教育和與客戶溝通的程度之外，這確實是我們在淡季的重點，即我們如何向稅務專業人員部署培訓幫助他們在關鍵時時刻刻理解某人的結果是否改變了原因，以及他們明年可以採取哪些措施。因此，除了我之前針對卡蒂克的問題所做的行銷評論之外，我們肯定已經採取了這些步驟，為這個納稅季節做好準備。

Yes. The one thing I would add, George, is last year we saw a pretty big change in, as you said, the amount of refunds and who's getting refunds. And we've essentially believe we've got a new baseline going into this year. So we aren't expecting another drop in the amount of refunds. There's no major tax solid changes that would drive that. So I think customers kind of understand now kind of what to expect based on last year's results. And to Jeff's point, the EITC customers while the refund maybe went down a little bit, they're all still getting refunds, obviously. And it's just really about the education side that's really important.

是的。喬治，我要補充的一件事是，正如您所說，去年我們看到退款金額和獲得退款的人發生了相當大的變化。我們基本上相信今年我們已經有了一個新的基準。因此，我們預計退款金額不會再次下降。沒有重大的稅收實體變化可以推動這一點。因此，我認為客戶現在已經了解根據去年的結果可以期待什麼。對於傑夫來說，EITC 客戶雖然退款可能略有下降，但顯然他們仍然獲得了退款。教育方面確實非常重要。

Great. Got it. That's helpful. And then can you provide your latest thoughts on your pricing strategy with normalization of inflation trends, and how pricing and Assisted in DIY would evolve heading into next year?

偉大的。知道了。這很有幫助。然後，您能否提供您對通膨趨勢正常化的定價策略的最新想法，以及定價和 DIY 輔助將如何演變到明年？

Absolutely. And as you asked, we kind of split it into 2 parts. On the assisted side, we believe that we're able to take low single-digit price increases, which is what's contemplated in our plan for this year. As you've heard me say many times, every year, we reevaluate that based on customer satisfaction and value for price paid metrics. So we feel good about that continued movement, which we'll do this year. In the DIY business, obviously, it's more dynamic. There are more factors to consider between core SKUs, early season, late season and attached products. In general, we still see opportunity to maintain a price advantage into it, and we'll do that again this year and actively market against what we believe our advantage is and how easy it is to switch to H&R Block.

絕對地。正如你所問的，我們將其分為兩部分。在援助方面，我們相信我們能夠承受個位數的低價格上漲，這是我們今年計劃中所考慮的。正如您多次聽到我說過的那樣，每年我們都會根據客戶滿意度和支付價格指標的價值重新評估這一點。因此，我們對今年將繼續採取的行動感到滿意。顯然，DIY 產業更具活力。核心SKU、早季、晚季和附屬產品之間還有更多因素需要考慮。總的來說，我們仍然看到了保持價格優勢的機會，今年我們將再次這樣做，並根據我們認為我們的優勢以及切換到 H&R Block 的容易程度積極進行行銷。

Our next question comes from Alex Paris of Barrington Research.

我們的下一個問題來自 Barrington Research 的 Alex Paris。

Alex please make sure your line is unmuted and if you are on a speaker phone, lift y our handset.

Alex 請確保您的線路未靜音，如果您使用免持電話，請拿起聽筒。

(technical difficulty)

（技術難度）

And I'm at pause just to see if he queues back up. And he has not. I would now like to turn the conference back to Michaella Gallina for closing remarks. Madam?

我停下來只是想看看他是否要重新排隊。但他沒有。現在我想請米凱拉·加利納 (Michaella Gallina) 致閉幕詞。女士？

Thank you, Latif, and thanks, everyone, for joining us today. This concludes our first quarter 2024 financial results conference call.

謝謝拉蒂夫，也謝謝大家今天加入我們。我們的 2024 年第一季財務業績電話會議到此結束。

And this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。