H & R Block Inc (HRB) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Thank you for standing by, and welcome to H&R Block's Third Quarter Fiscal Year 2024 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) I would now like to hand the call over to Michaella Gallina, Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

感謝您的耐心等待，歡迎參加 H&R Block 2024 財年第三季財報電話會議。 （操作員指示）我現在想將電話轉給投資者關係副總裁 Michaella Gallina。請繼續。

Thank you, Lateef. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to H&R Block's Third 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 財年第三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.

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。

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.

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 the 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, May 9, 2024. 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（2024 年5 月9 日）的時間敏感資訊。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. Good afternoon, everyone, and thanks for joining us. I will begin by providing commentary on the third quarter, detail on our tax season performance, and discuss our Block Horizons progress, then Tony will share more on our financials, and we'll open it up for Q&A.

謝謝你，米凱拉。大家下午好，感謝您加入我們。我將首先對第三季度進行評論，詳細介紹我們的納稅季表現，並討論我們的 Block Horizo​​ns 進展，然後托尼將分享更多有關我們財務狀況的信息，我們將開放問答。

Beginning with Q3 results ending March 31, revenue grew 4%, EBITDA grew 6% and EPS grew 18%. In the quarter, performance was driven by improvements in net average charge or NAC in both assisted and DIY, DIY volume growth and ongoing disciplined expense management. Based on how we ended tax season and our third quarter performance, we now expect to finish the year near the high end of our outlook. Tony will share more thoughts on outlook in a moment.

從截至 3 月 31 日的第三季業績開始，營收成長 4%，EBITDA 成長 6%，每股盈餘成長 18%。本季度，業績的推動因素包括輔助和 DIY 領域的淨平均費用或 NAC 的改善、DIY 數量的增長以及持續嚴格的費用管理。根據我們結束納稅季節的方式和第三季的業績，我們現在預計今年將接近我們預期的上限。托尼稍後將分享更多關於前景的想法。

Turning to the tax season. After a bit of a slow start, the overall industry grew about 2% this year, with DIY growing 3% and assisted growing about 1%. Our data indicates that last year's California extension had a positive impact on category growth this year. Our overall market share was about flat, driven by share gains in DIY that were offset by assisted.

談到報稅季節。經過一段緩慢的起步後，今年整個產業成長了約 2%，其中 DIY 成長了 3%，輔助成長了約 1%。我們的數據表明，去年加州的擴展對今年的品類成長產生了積極影響。我們的整體市場份額基本上持平，這是由 DIY 市場份額增長推動的，但被輔助技術所抵消。

Let's discuss our results in more detail, beginning with DIY. Our formula for success is to offer an award-winning product, make it easy for clients to switch and price competitively. This strategy continued to work and we're very pleased with the results in our DIY business.

讓我們從 DIY 開始更詳細地討論我們的結果。我們的成功秘訣是提供屢獲殊榮的產品、讓客戶輕鬆更換產品並提供具有競爭力的價格。這項策略繼續發揮作用，我們對 DIY 業務的成果感到非常滿意。

We had meaningful growth in paid clients and NAC season, which translated to strong revenue growth. We have an intentional focus on driving more paid SKUs, and this effort is working well. You'll see in the appendix of our presentation that for the first time, we broke out free and paid DIY filings in the volume table to add additional transparency.

我們在付費客戶和 NAC 季節方面取得了顯著的成長，這轉化為強勁的收入成長。我們有意識地致力於推動更多付費 SKU，而且這項努力效果良好。您將在我們簡報的附錄中看到，我們首次在捲冊表中劃分了免費和付費 DIY 文件，以增加額外的透明度。

We saw an increase in taxpayer identity fraud in the industry, concentrated in free SKUs that were e-file accepted by the IRS. Beyond our own fraud prevention measures, we're in discussions on how the IRS and industry can partner to reduce fraud in the future. As you can see, our paid DIY growth significantly outpaced the DIY category. Through April 30, paid volumes grew 6%, and many of these filers came from TurboTax.

我們看到該行業的納稅人身分詐欺行為有所增加，主要集中在美國國稅局接受的電子文件的免費 SKU 中。除了我們自己的詐欺預防措施之外，我們還在討論國稅局和行業如何合作以減少未來的詐欺。正如您所看到的，我們的付費 DIY 成長明顯超過了 DIY 類別。截至 4 月 30 日，付費量增加了 6%，其中許多申報者來自 TurboTax。

We saw strong NAC growth of 7% in paid clients. And at the same time, customer satisfaction metrics including ease of use and price for service improved. In addition, we focused on curated experiences to help self-employed workers feel more confident in their tax outcome, which resulted in notable increases among those filers.

我們看到付費客戶的 NAC 成長了 7%。同時，包括易用性和服務價格在內的客戶滿意度指標也得到了改善。此外，我們也專注於精心策劃的體驗，幫助自僱人士對自己的報稅結果更有信心，這導致這些報稅者的數量顯著增加。

Our genAI-powered AI Tax Assist performed well. As we've shared, this innovation was launched for the first time this year. Feedback indicated that the tool was easy to use and helpful in the tax prep process and clients found value-added. Importantly, we saw greater conversion among new clients who leveraged AI Tax Assist. Both AI Tax Assist and human help were included at no additional charge in all of our DIY paid online SKUs, which we believe is a competitive differentiator.

我們的 genAI 支援的人工智慧稅務助理表現良好。正如我們所分享的，這項創新是今年首次推出的。回饋表明，該工具易於使用，對稅務準備過程很有幫助，客戶發現增值。重要的是，我們發現利用 AI Tax Assist 的新客戶的轉換率更高。我們所有的 DIY 付費線上 SKU 都包含人工智慧稅務協助和人工幫助，無需額外付費，我們認為這是一個競爭優勢。

As a result, we exceeded our operational metrics with human help and believe this combination provides clients with the confidence they need in DIY. We also continue to see more DIY clients accessing human help with Tax Pro Review, which grew more than 15%, continuing its multiyear trend of double-digit annual growth.

結果，我們在人工幫助下超越了我們的營運指標，並相信這種組合為客戶提供了 DIY 所需的信心。我們也繼續看到越來越多的 DIY 客戶透過 Tax Pro Review 獲得人工幫助，其成長率超過 15%，延續了多年來兩位數的年度成長趨勢。

Overall, we feel great about the help we're providing DIY customers.

總體而言，我們對 DIY 客戶的幫助感到非常滿意。

Now let's turn to our consumer tax Assisted performance. For several years, we've had a focus on transforming our assisted tax client experience. We've been improving the quality and value of our service. We've developed plans to attract and serve more complex and higher lifetime value clients.

現在讓我們轉向我們的消費稅輔助績效。多年來，我們一直致力於改變我們的稅務協助客戶體驗。我們一直在提高服務的品質和價值。我們制定了吸引和服務更複雜、更高終身價值客戶的計畫。

We've made tangible progress in building better digital options for our clients and tax pros and we've been modernizing our technology across the board. This year, we saw many of these efforts yield encouraging results. We saw client growth in each segment above $60,000 of income. Like last year, our fastest-growing segment was in those with more than $100,000 of income.

我們在為客戶和稅務專業人士建立更好的數位選擇方面取得了切實進展，並且我們一直在全面實現技術現代化。今年，我們看到其中許多努力取得了令人鼓舞的成果。我們看到每個細分市場的客戶成長都超過了 60,000 美元的收入。與去年一樣，我們成長最快的群體是收入超過 10 萬美元的群體。

Our efforts slowed the decline of EITC filers, which was a goal for this year, but we still have work to do in lower income segments. In total, our assisted volumes declined about 1% through April 30. However, modest price increases alongside the mix shift among clients led to 4% NAC growth while improving client satisfaction scores. Our continuous improvement of MyBlock led to double-digit growth in the number of authenticated accounts, and a nearly 20% increase in the number of documents uploaded to share with a tax professional.

我們的努力減緩了 EITC 申報者的下降速度，這是今年的目標，但我們在較低收入領域仍有工作要做。截至 4 月 30 日，我們的協助量總共下降了約 1%。我們對 MyBlock 的不斷改進使得經過身份驗證的帳戶數量實現了兩位數的增長，上傳與稅務專業人士共享的文件數量增加了近 20%。

We also saw growth in the number of assisted clients working with us completely virtually increasing more than 25% year-over-year. We expect this number to continue to grow in the future. Additionally, our Gen AI efforts to improve the customer experience in our call center operations provided great learnings in its initial pilot. We were pleased with its accuracy, which was relatively high compared to similar offerings.

我們也看到與我們合作的受協助客戶數量年增了 25% 以上。我們預計這個數字未來將持續成長。此外，我們的 Gen AI 為改善呼叫中心營運中的客戶體驗所做的努力在最初的試點中提供了很好的經驗。我們對其準確性感到滿意，與類似產品相比，其準確性相對較高。

We are looking forward to applying our learnings in order to expand the usage so that we can better serve more customers at a lower cost. While I'm proud of our progress, I also recognize that our pace of change in field offices this year was high. We rolled out our new tax platform to all company and franchise locations.

我們期待應用我們的知識來擴大使用範圍，以便我們能夠以更低的成本更好地服務更多的客戶。雖然我對我們的進步感到自豪，但我也意識到今年外地辦事處的變革步伐很快。我們向所有公司和特許經營地點推出了新的稅務平台。

We introduced a new phone system. We set lofty goals for scanning more documents in the office and printing fewer pages. We modified our Tax Pro compensation model, and we introduced an entirely new system for measuring performance down to each tax professional. These kinds of changes are necessary to our future, but it was a lot in 1 year.

我們推出了新的電話系統。我們設定了崇高的目標，即在辦公室掃描更多文件並列印更少的頁面。我們修改了 Tax Pro 薪酬模型，並引入了全新的系統來衡量每個稅務專業人員的績效。這些變化對我們的未來來說是必要的，但一年之內發生了許多變化。

While the appointments and visits to our tax offices were encouraging, too many clients that started tax prep ultimately did not finish, and I see a large opportunity to ensure those who start with us become happy and loyal clients, and this will be a major focus in fiscal '25.

雖然對我們稅務局的預約和訪問令人鼓舞，但太多開始稅務準備的客戶最終沒有完成，我看到了一個很大的機會來確保那些從我們這裡開始的客戶成為快樂和忠誠的客戶，這將是一個主要焦點在 25 財年。

Now let's move on to our Block Horizons imperatives. We continue to see positive trends in assisted small business tax. Through April 30, NAC increased 3%. We're outperforming among higher-income small businesses and our focus on growing our share of the entity return market is paying off.

現在讓我們繼續討論 Block Horizo​​ns 的要求。我們繼續看到小型企業稅收援助的正面趨勢。截至 4 月 30 日，NAC 上漲了 3%。我們在高收入小型企業中表現出色，我們對增加實體退貨市場份額的關注正在獲得回報。

Bookkeeping and payroll services continue to increase double digits driven by our dedicated sales force. Overall, we are optimistic about the trajectory of small business and the long runway of this opportunity ahead.

在我們敬業的銷售團隊的推動下，簿記和薪資服務繼續以兩位數的速度成長。總體而言，我們對小企業的發展軌跡以及未來這個機會的長遠發展持樂觀態度。

Moving to Wave. Revenue growth was 7% in the quarter. As you recall, a couple of months ago, Wave launched a new paid tier subscription service and a new paid receipt product. While early, monetization has been better than anticipated, we feel good about the strategic direction as we execute against our goals of accelerating revenue growth and driving profitability.

轉向波浪。該季度營收成長 7%。您還記得，幾個月前，Wave 推出了新的付費訂閱服務和新的付費收據產品。雖然早期的獲利情況比預期要好，但我們對策略方向感到滿意，因為我們正在執行加速收入成長和提高獲利能力的目標。

Turning to financial products. This was the second season that Spruce, our mobile banking platform, was offered in the assisted channel. Since launch through April 30, Spruce had 470,000 sign-ups and $852 million in customer deposits. We saw strong growth this year and customer deposits have nearly tripled from last year.

轉向金融產品。這是我們的手機銀行平台Spruce在輔助管道中提供的第二個季節。自推出以來截至 4 月 30 日，Spruce 已有 47 萬名註冊用戶和 8.52 億美元的客戶存款。今年我們看到了強勁的成長，客戶存款比去年增加了近兩倍。

We're starting to gain traction with how we offer this product, and I'm proud we saw significant growth this year. This season was the first time we offered assisted and DIY tax in the Spruce app, and we saw good results. Among new Spruce clients that also filed a tax return, 54% were new to H&R Block, and we are pleased with the low associated customer acquisition costs.

我們開始關注如何提供該產品，我很自豪我們今年看到了顯著的成長。這個季節是我們第一次在 Spruce 應用程式中提供輔助和 DIY 稅收，我們看到了良好的效果。在也提交報稅表的 Spruce 新客戶中，54% 是 H&R Block 的新客戶，我們對相關客戶獲取成本較低感到滿意。

We continue to make significant improvements and release new features on the platform. Last month, Spruce launched a variable interest rate feature that pays 3.50% APY on savings account balances, which is 7x the national average. There are no monthly fees and no minimum balance or direct deposit requirements, making it an appealing option for clients versus other competitors in the marketplace.

我們繼續在平台上進行重大改進並發布新功能。上個月，Spruce 推出了浮動利率功能，儲蓄帳戶餘額的年利率為 3.50%，是全國平均的 7 倍。沒有月費，也沒有最低餘額或直接存款要求，這使其成為與市場上其他競爭對手相比對客戶有吸引力的選擇。

We're proud of how Spruce is delivering on its mission to help people take control of their finances. Stepping back to review results holistically. In DIY, we were pleased with our strong performance driven by paid clients and paid NAC, Tax Pro Review growth, customer satisfaction scores, and the launch of AI Tax Assist.

我們對 Spruce 如何履行其幫助人們掌控財務的使命感到自豪。退一步全面審查結果。在 DIY 方面，我們對付費客戶和付費 NAC、Tax Pro Review 成長、客戶滿意度評分以及 AI Tax Assist 推出所推動的強勁業績感到滿意。

In assisted, I'm happy to see our brand resonating with higher-value clients, the NAC increase this year and the strength in assisted small business tax. At the same time, we can improve the experience for assisted clients. And with so many new changes now behind us, I'm excited to see the improvements I know we can make.

在輔助方面，我很高興看到我們的品牌與高價值客戶產生共鳴，今年 NAC 增加，以及輔助小型企業稅的實力。同時，我們可以改善受協助客戶的體驗。現在我們已經經歷了這麼多新的變化，我很高興看到我知道我們可以做出的改進。

From a financial perspective, as I shared earlier, we expect to deliver results near the high end of our outlook ranges, which means top line growth, robust cash flow generation and double-digit EPS growth that allows for continued returns of capital to shareholders through dividends and repurchases.

從財務角度來看，正如我之前分享的那樣，我們預計將取得接近預期範圍高端的業績，這意味著營收成長、強勁的現金流產生和兩位數的每股盈餘成長，從而可以通過以下方式持續向股東回報資本：股利和回購。

With that, I will now turn it over to Tony to discuss our financials.

現在，我將把它交給托尼來討論我們的財務狀況。

Thanks, Jeff, and good afternoon, everyone. In the third quarter, we delivered $2.2 billion of revenue, which grew 4% or $91 million to the prior year. The increase was primarily due to a higher net average charge and higher company-owned volumes in assisted, and higher volumes and NAC in DIY, partially offset by lower volumes in franchise locations due to franchise acquisitions.

謝謝傑夫，大家下午好。第三季度，我們實現了 22 億美元的收入，比上年增長 4%，即 9,100 萬美元。這一增長主要是由於更高的淨平均費用和更高的公司自有輔助銷售以及 DIY 銷售和 NAC 的增加，部分被特許經營收購導致的特許經營地點銷售下降所抵消。

Total operating expenses in the quarter were $1.3 billion, an increase of $27 million or 2%, primarily due to higher field wages because of greater company-owned volumes and higher legal fees and settlements, partially offset by lower marketing and advertising expenses.

本季的總營運費用為13 億美元，增加了2,700 萬美元或2%，主要是由於公司自有銷售增加導致現場工資上漲以及法律費用和和解費用增加，但行銷和廣告費用的減少部分抵消了這一影響。

EBITDA was $964 million compared to $910 million in the prior year, an increase of 6%. Interest expense was $26 million compared to $22 million in the prior year due to higher borrowings on our line of credit and the higher interest rate environment. We will benefit from higher interest rates as we move into a positive cash position.

EBITDA 為 9.64 億美元，較上年的 9.1 億美元成長 6%。由於我們的信貸額度借款增加以及較高的利率環境，利息支出為 2,600 萬美元，而上一年為 2,200 萬美元。當我們進入正現金狀況時，我們將受益於更高的利率。

Pretax income increased by $52 million to $907 million, primarily due to higher revenues in the current year, and our effective tax rate in the quarter was 23.8% compared to 24.5% last year. We did not execute any share repurchases in the third quarter. You'll recall that given our narrow trading windows, we typically execute most of our share repurchases in the first half of the year. In Q1 and Q2, we completed $350 million of share buybacks, or another 5.5% of shares outstanding.

稅前收入增加了 5,200 萬美元，達到 9.07 億美元，主要是由於本年度收入增加，我們本季的有效稅率為 23.8%，而去年為 24.5%。我們在第三季沒有執行任何股票回購。您可能還記得，鑑於我們的交易窗口很窄，我們通常會在今年上半年執行大部分股票回購。第一季和第二季度，我們完成了 3.5 億美元的股票回購，即已發行股票的 5.5%。

Both earnings per share from continuing operations and adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations increased 18% to $4.87 and $4.94, respectively. We continue to be opportunistic in our franchise acquisitions, which are a core driver of our long-term revenue growth target of 3% to 6%. This year, we have purchased 156 offices, which is lower than the approximately 200 offices we repurchased last year.

持續經營業務的每股盈餘和調整後的持續經營業務的每股盈餘分別成長 18% 至 4.87 美元和 4.94 美元。我們繼續在特許經營收購中抓住機會，這是我們 3% 至 6% 的長期收入成長目標的核心驅動力。今年，我們購買了 156 間辦公室，低於去年回購的約 200 間辦公室。

We feel great about franchisees' willingness to sell to us and are pleased with how this strategy supports our longer-term revenue and earnings growth. As Jeff shared, based on how we ended the tax season and our performance in the third quarter, we now expect to finish the year near the high end of our outlook.

我們對特許經營商願意向我們出售產品感到非常高興，並對這項策略如何支持我們的長期收入和獲利成長感到滿意。正如傑夫分享的那樣，根據我們結束納稅季節的方式和第三季度的業績，我們現在預計今年將接近我們預期的上限。

We also expect our effective tax rate to be in the 21% to 22% range. As I've said for a long time, despite year-to-year nuances, the strength of our capital allocation story remains the same. We produce consistent cash flow, pay a growing dividend and buy back a meaningful amount of shares. Fiscal year '24 will be another year of top line growth, strong cash flow generation and double-digit EPS growth.

我們也預計有效稅率在 21% 至 22% 範圍內。正如我長期以來所說，儘管每年存在細微差別，但我們的資本配置故事的強度仍然相同。我們產生穩定的現金流，支付不斷成長的股息，並回購大量股票。 24 財年將是營收成長、現金流強勁和每股盈餘兩位數成長的另一年。

Now I will turn it back over to Jeff for some closing remarks.

現在我將把它轉回傑夫做一些結束語。

Thank you, Tony. As we end our prepared remarks, I want to thank our tax professionals, associates and franchisees for their efforts this tax season. Together, we are continuing to deliver on our purpose of providing help and inspiring confidence in our clients and communities everywhere. I look forward to sharing more details on our year-end call in August.

謝謝你，托尼。在我們結束準備好的演講時，我要感謝我們的稅務專業人士、同事和特許經營商在本納稅季所做的努力。我們將共同努力，繼續實現為世界各地的客戶和社區提供幫助並激發信心的目標。我期待在八月的年終電話會議上分享更多細節。

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)

（操作員說明）

Our first question comes from the line of Kartik Mehta of Northcoast Research.

我們的第一個問題來自北海岸研究中心的卡蒂克·梅塔 (Kartik Mehta)。

Jeff, maybe just on the assisted market share loss on the EIT side. What could the company do, do you think to mitigate that, and maybe even turn that around?

傑夫，也許只是 EIT 方面的輔助市佔率損失。您認為公司可以做些什麼來緩解這種情況，甚至扭轉局面？

Kartik, thanks for the question. Listen, this has obviously been a challenge for us for a long time, and we remain focused on trying to solve it. And we think it's a combination of the right message in the market, the role of refund advance, getting pricing and value right in the moment when we're providing service, and we remain focused on continuing to slow the decline and ultimately turn it.

卡蒂克，謝謝你的提問。聽著，這顯然長期以來對我們來說都是一個挑戰，我們仍然致力於解決它。我們認為，這是市場上正確的資訊、預付款的作用、在我們提供服務時獲得正確的定價和價值的結合，我們仍然專注於繼續減緩下降並最終扭轉局面。

I am very happy with what we're seeing on the other end of the spectrum. We continue to attract higher-value clients, higher AGI, more complexity. So it is definitely a balance of both, but we're not going to let up our focus on continuing to try to make that value for the under $30,000 customer better and better, while we're also attracting more clients at the higher end.

我對我們在光譜另一端看到的情況感到非常滿意。我們持續吸引更高價值的客戶、更高的 AGI、更高的複雜性。因此，這絕對是兩者的平衡，但我們不會放棄繼續努力為 30,000 美元以下的客戶提供越來越好的價值，同時我們也吸引更多的高端客戶。

So would you say, Jeff, was almost all of the market share loss the result of the EITC clients.

Jeff，你會說幾乎所有市佔率的損失都是 EITC 客戶造成的嗎？

It was a big part, Kartik, but as you heard in my prepared remarks, first of all, there are a number of great things we did in assisted this year. I don't want to overlook that. But you also heard me mention that I just saw too many experienced breaks overall than assisted.

這是一個重要的部分，卡蒂克，但正如你在我準備好的發言中聽到的那樣，首先，我們今年協助做了許多偉大的事情。我不想忽視這一點。但你也聽到我提到，我只是看到了太多經驗的突破，而不是協助。

I spent more time in the field this year than I ever have, and I just saw too many examples of brakes in the experience standard that we have for our clients really across the board and definitely at lower income, and keep in mind, when I talk about this, I'm talking about clients that chose Block, made an appointment, came to the office, started tax prep, and for a variety of reasons, didn't complete.

今年我在該領域花費的時間比以往任何時候都多，而且我剛剛看到了太多我們為客戶提供的經驗標準中的剎車例子，這些標準確實是全面的，而且收入肯定較低，並且請記住，當我談論這個，我說的是選擇 Block、預約、來到辦公室、開始報稅，但由於各種原因沒有完成的客戶。

This year, for the first time, we started surveying those clients. And actually, the #1 reason they told us was we did not demonstrate enough expertise, and the #2 reason they told us was we didn't do a good job of managing their expectations.

今年，我們第一次開始對這些客戶進行調查。事實上，他們告訴我們的第一大原因是我們沒有展示足夠的專業知識，他們告訴我們的第二大原因是我們沒有很好地管理他們的期望。

And so while that's obviously frustrating, this is a significant number of clients that are choosing us, coming to the office, and starting, and I know we can do better at executing, and I'm excited about what that volume opportunity really represents.

因此，雖然這顯然令人沮喪，但有大量客戶選擇我們，來到辦公室，開始工作，我知道我們可以在執行方面做得更好，而且我對這個批量機會真正代表的東西感到興奮。

And then just one last question, Jeff. Obviously, a very good NAC on both the assisted and DIY side. As we move forward, do you think you'd be able to sustain that type of NAC? Or was this a little bit of an unusual year?

最後一個問題，傑夫。顯然，無論是在輔助方面還是在 DIY 方面，這都是一個非常好的 NAC。當我們前進時，您認為您能夠維持這種類型的 NAC 嗎？或者今年有點不尋常？

Well, I think our strategy for NAC is unchanged. I mean we feel very good about the value we're delivering in general across the board. Obviously, the dynamics are different in DIY versus assisted. In DIY, we continue to believe that with the mix changes and modest price increases, we can continue to see that NAC increase.

嗯，我認為我們的 NAC 策略沒有改變。我的意思是，我們對我們所提供的整體價值感到非常滿意。顯然，DIY 與輔助的動力是不同的。在 DIY 領域，我們仍然相信，隨著產品組合的變化和價格的適度上漲，我們可以繼續看到 NAC 的成長。

We pay close attention to competition there, obviously. And in the assisted business, every year, we'll do the same thing. We'll wrap the season. We'll evaluate client feedback, which, by the way, for those that we're surveying continues to remain strong on value for price paid, and we continue to think that price can play a role in our growth, that has not changed.

顯然，我們密切關注那裡的競爭。在援助業務中，每年我們都會做同樣的事情。我們將結束這個賽季。我們將評估客戶的回饋，順便說一句，對於我們正在調查的那些人來說，這些回饋在所支付的價格上仍然保持強勁的價值，並且我們仍然認為價格可以在我們的成長中發揮作用，這一點沒有改變。

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。

You mentioned both your AI Tax Assist and human help were included at no additional charge in all of your DIY paid online SKU's can you elaborate on that and your monetization strategy and how going forward you might look to potentially monetize Gen AI or human help within DIY.

您提到您的所有DIY 付費在線SKU 中均免費包含了AI 稅務協助和人工幫助，您能否詳細說明一下這一點以及您的盈利策略，以及未來您可能如何在DIY 中通過Gen AI 或人工幫助獲利。

Yes. George, thank you. I mean, first of all, including it in our paid SKUs, I'm sure, was part of the strength and growth in our paid SKUs. That's a great value proposition for customers. And so with respect to what we do next on monetization, especially with Gen AI, I'd say it's just too early to say. I mean we believe that Gen AI can play a strong role in improving customer experience.

是的。喬治，謝謝你。我的意思是，首先，我確信，將其納入我們的付費 SKU 中，是我們付費 SKU 實力和成長的一部分。這對客戶來說是一個巨大的價值主張。因此，關於我們下一步在貨幣化方面所做的事情，特別是在 Gen AI 方面，我想說現在說還為時過早。我的意思是，我們相信 Gen AI 可以在改善客戶體驗方面發揮強大作用。

As you also heard me mention, we saw the new clients that engage with AI Tax Assist, convert at a higher level, and so we'll continue to learn and test different ways of including Gen AI in our DIY products, but I feel very good about year 1 at such an early stage of what we saw this year.

正如您也聽到我提到的，我們看到新客戶使用 AI Tax Assist，轉換率更高，因此我們將繼續學習和測試將 Gen AI 納入我們的 DIY 產品中的不同方法，但我覺得非常在我們今年所看到的如此早期的階段，第一年的情況很好。

Of course, Tax Pro Review is another product that's performing very well, where we're monetizing human help, and that DIY filer chooses to get access to humans, and that product has been growing very, very nicely for many years in a row now, so that's another way we're monetizing.

當然，Tax Pro Review 是另一個表現非常好的產品，我們透過人工幫助獲利，DIY 申報者選擇接觸人工，而該產品已經連續多年增長得非常非常好，這是我們盈利的另一種方式。

That's helpful. And then last year, there were a couple of filing extensions. You previously noted, California had the biggest impact. Can you estimate how much the filing extensions from last year potentially impacted the growth from a comp perspective this year? And if any of the filing extensions this year would impact results?

這很有幫助。去年，出現了幾次申請延期。您之前指出，加州的影響最大。從比較的角度來看，您能否估計去年的申請延期對今年的成長可能產生多大影響？今年的申請延期是否會影響業績？

George, it's Tony. So as Jeff said in the opening comments, we think the industry grew about 2%, and we think in California, probably had close to 1% impact on that year-over-year growth given the extension from last year. Obviously, the other smaller states had some marginal impact, but I think most of it is California, and this year, while there have been some extensions, we think they're relatively small versus what we saw last year. So we don't think it's having a material impact on the performance of the overall industry this year.

喬治，是東尼。正如傑夫在開場白中所說，我們認為該行業增長了約 2%，考慮到去年的延長，我們認為在加利福尼亞州，可能對同比增長產生了接近 1% 的影響。顯然，其他較小的州產生了一些邊際影響，但我認為其中大部分是加州，今年雖然有一些延期，但我們認為與去年相比，影響相對較小。因此，我們認為這不會對今年整個產業的表現產生重大影響。

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。

I'd like to start out, Slide 7 highlights that many of the filers you took share relative to industry in DIY, many of those filers came from TurboTax. Was that specifically paid? Or was that overall? Could you just elaborate on how you track that and what you saw.

首先，投影片 7 強調了您在 DIY 行業中所佔份額的許多申報人，其中許多申報人來自 TurboTax。是專門付錢的嗎？或者整體就是這樣？您能否詳細說明一下您是如何追蹤的以及您所看到的情況。

Yes. Scott, I mean, we obviously have some insight based on when clients upload documents from prior years and where they likely filed, and I think it's across the board. Obviously, some of those are starting the free SKU. Some of those are in the paid SKU.

是的。斯科特，我的意思是，我們顯然根據客戶前幾年上傳文件的時間以及他們可能提交的位置有了一些見解，我認為這是全面的。顯然，其中一些正在啟動免費 SKU。其中一些包含在付費 SKU 中。

I think when you look at the appendix slides, we included a breakout of free versus paid, as Jeff said, for the first time, and you can see we had really strong performance in the paid SKU. So I think it shows that, that obviously, a portion of that had to come from TurboTax as well given the size that they are in the marketplace. So I think it was across the board from our perspective.

我認為，當您查看附錄幻燈片時，正如傑夫所說，我們第一次包含了免費與付費的突破，您可以看到我們在付費 SKU 方面的表現非常強勁。所以我認為這表明，考慮到 TurboTax 的市場規模，顯然其中一部分也必須來自 TurboTax。所以我認為從我們的角度來看這是全面的。

Yes, I mean, very, very strong in both. Tony, do you have a sense of the IRS data shared in the DIY category, I think it grew 2.7%, do you have an estimate of what of that is paid versus what of that is free?

是的，我的意思是，兩者都非常非常強。托尼，您是否了解 DIY 類別中共享的 IRS 數據，我認為它增長了 2.7％，您是否估計其中哪些是付費的，哪些是免費的？

We don't for the category, Scott. I mean, all we know is our data. I mean, we are pleased to see that. Obviously, the paid number grew so much and grew more than the overall category. We obviously know that free is a big part of the growth in the category, and to see that our paid number grew almost double what the category, a little bit more than what the category grew in total. I think it's a really good sign that we just delivered a really solid year in DIY.

我們不適合這個類別，斯科特。我的意思是，我們所知道的就是我們的數據。我的意思是，我們很高興看到這一點。顯然，付費人數的成長如此之大，並且超過了整體類別的成長。我們顯然知道免費是該類別增長的重要組成部分，並且看到我們的付費人數增長幾乎是該類別的兩倍，略高於該類別總數的增長。我認為這是一個非常好的跡象，表明我們剛剛在 DIY 領域取得了非常紮實的一年。

I appreciate that, and then curious on your comments and also in your section of the press release, the timing of the marketing, and all we're seeing is the quarter here. So I'm just curious what -- was that a pull forward? Was it a pushback on the marketing? If you could elaborate on that a little bit.

我很欣賞這一點，然後對您的評論以及您在新聞稿中的部分、行銷的時間表感到好奇，而我們所看到的只是這裡的季度。所以我只是好奇──這是一種推動嗎？這是行銷上的阻力嗎？如果你能詳細說明一下的話。

Yes. It was -- last year, we did more in Q3. So this year, more of it's going to show up in Q4. So I don't think we think there's going to be much of a change for a full year basis. So it is just timing of shifting from Q3 to Q4.

是的。去年，我們在第三季做得更多。所以今年，更多的內容將出現在第四季。因此，我認為全年不會有太大變化。所以現在只是從第三季轉向第四季的時機。

Okay. But it was 3 and 4. Okay. Well, with the new structure, I guess, that captures different.

好的。但那是 3 和 4。嗯，我想，有了新的結構，它就會捕捉到不同的東西。

Our next question comes from the line of Alex Paris of Barrington Research.

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

Congrats on a strong quarter. I got a couple of clarification sort of questions. You had said in prepared comments that the company-owned operations outperformed the franchise operations, and I can see that in the appendix as well, and attributing the relatively worse position in franchise due to franchise repurchases, but was that the only thing? Or are there other things? Any other color there would be helpful.

恭喜季度表現強勁。我有幾個需要澄清的問題。您在準備好的評論中說過，公司自有業務的表現優於特許經營業務，我在附錄中也可以看到這一點，並且由於特許經營權回購而將特許經營業務的地位相對較差，但這是唯一的事情嗎？或是有其他的事情嗎？任何其他顏色都會有幫助。

Yes. Alex, thanks for the question. Yes, most of that -- almost all of that difference in performance is due to franchise buybacks. So I think we highlighted that, the revenue growth was driven by company-owned volumes, not necessarily relative outperformance versus franchise. So it's a little bit of left pocket to right pocket as we've talked about in the past.

是的。亞歷克斯，謝謝你的提問。是的，其中大部分——幾乎所有業績差異都是由於特許經營權回購造成的。因此，我認為我們強調，收入成長是由公司擁有的銷售所推動的，而不一定是相對於特許經營的相對優異表現。所以就像我們過去討論過的那樣，從左口袋到右口袋有一點點。

Okay. Got you. And then you've said a couple of times now, both in the prepared comments and in questions that the DIY outperformance versus the category, a lot of it came from TurboTax and you could see that because they're uploading previous year returns. On the assisted side, the underperformance down 1.2% in volume versus up 1.2% for the category is -- where are you losing market share? In assisted, I mean.

好的。明白你了。然後你已經說過幾次了，無論是在準備好的評論中還是在問題中，DIY 的表現優於同類產品，其中很多來自TurboTax，你可以看到這一點，因為他們正在上傳上一年的回報。在輔助方面，表現不佳的銷量下降了 1.2%，而該類別的銷量卻增長了 1.2%——您在哪裡失去了市場份額？我的意思是，在輔助方面。

Yes. Alex, it's Jeff. Thank you. At this stage of the year, we don't know where our business is going to. Like we do every year, we'll have a sense once we file for the Freedom of Information Act report this fall. So I don't know where. But as I alluded to, we're down, call it, 130,000 clients year-over-year in our own performance.

是的。亞歷克斯，這是傑夫。謝謝。在今年的這個階段，我們不知道我們的業務將走向何方。就像我們每年所做的那樣，一旦我們今年秋天提交《資訊自由法》報告，我們就會有一個感覺。所以我不知道在哪裡。但正如我所提到的，我們的業績年減了 13 萬名客戶。

The number of clients that came to our offices, started tax prep, and didn't finish tax prep is significant, hundreds of thousands of clients, and so that's really what I'm focused on now is how do we solve some of these experienced breaks that are keeping people who are choosing us from actually converting.

來到我們辦公室、開始報稅但尚未完成報稅準備的客戶數量非常可觀，有數十萬客戶，所以我現在真正關注的是我們如何解決其中一些有經驗的問題阻礙選擇我們的人真正轉變的障礙。

Great. That's very helpful. I appreciate that additional color, and I'm sure this is a de minimis thing, but just following up on the news story that you had a tax day outage in your downloaded software business. You had indicated, at least in a press article that there maybe was 2,000 inquiries out of 20 million who filed through H&R Block during tax season. Obviously, that has been resolved at this point? And what is the likely impact on H&R Block and on its fourth quarter results.

偉大的。這非常有幫助。我很欣賞這種額外的色彩，而且我確信這是一件微不足道的事情，但只是跟進您的下載軟體業務在納稅日中斷的新聞報道。您至少在一篇新聞文章中指出，在報稅季期間，透過 H&R Block 提交的 2000 萬次查詢中可能有 2000 次。顯然，這件事已經解決了？這對 H&R Block 及其第四季業績可能產生什麼影響？

Yes, I appreciate that question. I mean, obviously, we don't want to disappoint any single client with a technical outage like that. It was not material to business or results in any way that doesn't take away from what it might have felt like to that client. But we had it resolved in a couple of hours that day, and it was more of an inconvenience in filing as opposed to an inability to file.

是的，我很欣賞這個問題。我的意思是，顯然，我們不想讓任何一個客戶因為這樣的技術中斷而失望。這對業務或結果並不重要，不會影響客戶的感受。但那天我們在幾個小時內就解決了這個問題，這更多的是歸檔帶來的不便，而不是無法歸檔。

Got you. And then the last question kind of along in the same vein, the IRS put out a press release that they hit their goal of 100,000 filers in their direct file product. Just wondering if you have any thoughts there. I think it was only offered in 12 pilot states.

明白你了。最後一個問題也是同樣的，國稅局發布了一份新聞稿，稱他們在直接申報產品中實現了 10 萬名申報者的目標。只是想知道你是否有什麼想法。我認為它只在 12 個試點州提供。

Yes, absolutely. No, that's -- we've seen the same thing, what they reported, we also know we had very strong DIY paid growth performance, and our stand on direct file really hasn't changed, we know that there are over 30 organizations that already offer free tax prep, and we think it's a solution in search of a problem.

是的，一點沒錯。不，那是 - 我們已經看到了同樣的事情，他們報告的內容，我們也知道我們有非常強大的 DIY 付費成長績效，而且我們對直接文件的立場確實沒有改變，我們知道有超過 30 個組織已經提供免費報稅服務，我們認為這是尋找問題的解決方案。

Totally agree. I'll take the other questions offline.

完全同意。其他問題我會離線解答。

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。

Just a quick follow-up question, and this is related to some of the questions asked previously on TurboTax, but they've stated that they're increasingly focused on the assisted category. I guess, over the past tax season, have you noticed any changes in competitive behaviors or competitive dynamics from TurboTax in the assisted category.

只是一個快速的後續問題，這與先前在 TurboTax 上提出的一些問題有關，但他們表示他們越來越關注輔助類別。我想，在過去的納稅季中，您是否注意到 TurboTax 在輔助類別中的競爭行為或競爭動態發生了任何變化。

George, obviously, we don't know how they performed this year. We'll hear more in a couple of weeks, but I've seen no signs that what they're doing is impacting our assisted business. I think the only thing we saw different competitively this year was they were very promotional and sweep stakes driven. So I guess we'll see what those promotions and sweep stakes may have done. But -- our -- what we really saw that impacted our own assisted performance this year was in our own shop of not doing a great job of converting.

喬治，顯然，我們不知道他們今年的表現如何。幾週後我們會聽到更多消息，但我沒有看到任何跡象表明他們的做法正在影響我們的援助業務。我認為今年我們在競爭中看到的唯一不同的是他們非常促銷和掃賭驅動。所以我想我們會看看這些促銷和抽獎可能會產生什麼效果。但是，我們今年真正看到影響我們自己的輔助績效的是我們自己的商店沒有做好轉換工作。

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

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

It's 2 separate questions, separately. The first one, Jeff, you cited -- you mentioned some reasons of the assisted filers not completing, didn't demonstrate expertise. It sounds like execution there, and didn't manage expectations, that could be anything, child tax credit that created some confusion this year. Could you address if you think that had anything to do with that second point? And of those, how much of this -- I guess what I'm getting at is, how much of it is execution, what you can control? And how much of it is maybe other competitors promoting something that you simply are not going to offer.

這是兩個單獨的問題。第一個，傑夫，你提到了輔助申報者未完成的一些原因，沒有表現出專業知識。這聽起來像是那裡的執行，並且沒有達到預期，這可能是任何事情，今年造成了一些混亂的兒童稅收抵免。如果您認為這與第二點有關，您能談談嗎？其中，有多少——我想我想說的是，有多少是執行，你可以控制什麼？其中有多少可能是其他競爭對手在推銷你根本不會提供的東西。

Yes, a very good question. I'm going to simplify it and say it is execution, but let me give you a couple of examples of what I saw too often. So imagine the marketing team drives a new client to the office, they sit down for tax prep, and the new client doesn't know how to do business with us, they don't understand how the process works, they don't know how long it will take, they don't know what it will cost.

是的，這是一個非常好的問題。我將簡化它並說它是執行，但讓我給你舉幾個我經常看到的例子。因此，想像一下，行銷團隊開車送一位新客戶到辦公室，他們坐下來準備稅務，而新客戶不知道如何與我們開展業務，他們不了解流程如何運作，他們不知道需要多長時間，他們不知道要花多少錢。

So the breakdown in execution is around managing expectations, how it's going to work, make sure we're always delivering upfront transparent pricing, and that's about the new client experience. We've been successful in getting them to the building, but we haven't done a good job of teaching them how to work with us, I think that's one category of examples.

因此，執行的分解是圍繞著管理期望、它如何運作、確保我們始終提供預先透明的定價，這就是新的客戶體驗。我們已經成功地將他們帶到大樓，但我們沒有很好地教導他們如何與我們合作，我認為這是一個類別例子。

Another category of examples is really in the clients that are working with us virtually. So whether that's completely virtually or exchanging documents with a Tax Pro, we just saw too many times this year that we weren't responsive enough. A client would wonder the status of their return, they weren't getting e-mails quick enough to let them know the progress, and how things were happening.

另一類例子其實是與我們虛擬合作的客戶。因此，無論是完全虛擬還是與稅務專家交換文件，今年我們多次看到我們的反應不夠及時。客戶會想知道他們的退貨狀態，他們沒有足夠快地收到電子郵件來讓他們知道進度以及事情是如何發生的。

And so you can imagine you're not physically together and you're wondering what's happening, and that's a breakdown in communication. So I think those are 2 broad categories of examples where, of course, all the newness we had in retail this year certainly could impact our ability to execute. Most of those things are now behind us. But this is an area where I'm just excited because I see how many people are choosing us and coming to the office and are wanting to do business with us, and I know we can do better.

所以你可以想像你們不在身邊，你想知道發生了什麼，這就是溝通的障礙。因此，我認為這是兩大類例子，當然，我們今年零售業的所有新事物肯定會影響我們的執行能力。現在，這些事情大部分都已成為過去。但這是一個讓我感到興奮的領域，因為我看到有多少人選擇我們並來到辦公室並希望與我們開展業務，而且我知道我們可以做得更好。

Part of that ending there was a segue to my next question, which is, the changes in retail, and specifically my question is, modified Tax Pro compensation, is that going to have -- maybe address a little bit if -- I guess, will that have any material financial impact this year? Is it relative to your expectation at the start of the year, and now what you're saying about the guidance for the full year, is it same as it was, just in a different structure? Or did it move the needle one way or the other?

結尾的一部分是我的下一個問題，即零售業的變化，具體來說，我的問題是，修改後的稅務專業補償，是否會——也許會解決一點，如果——我想，這會對今年的財務有重大影響嗎？這是否與您年初的預期有關，以及您現在所說的全年指導，是否與以前相同，只是結構不同？或者它以一種或另一種方式推動了這一趨勢？

It's mainly the same as it was just a different structure, and we tested this Tax Pro comp for a couple of years before we implemented it, and the real goal was to make it more clear about driving revenue growth and more transparent and easier for the Tax Pro to understand, but it was one of several changes we made that they had to learn and execute against, so that was really more of the point I was making. Tony, anything you could add?

它主要是相同的，只是結構不同，在實施之前，我們對這個Tax Pro 補償進行了幾年的測試，真正的目標是讓它更清楚地推動收入增長，並且對納稅人來說更加透明和更容易。東尼，你還有什麼可以補充的嗎？

Yes. I mean, you said it, but it's -- we expect it to be cost neutral. So it wasn't a change in how much or how we're ultimately paying them, but it does simplify the program.

是的。我的意思是，你說過，但我們希望它是成本中立的。因此，這並沒有改變我們最終支付給他們的金額或方式，但它確實簡化了計劃。

Thank you. I would now like to turn the conference back to Michaella Gallina for closing remarks. Michaella?

謝謝。現在我想請米凱拉·加利納 (Michaella Gallina) 致閉幕詞。米凱拉？

Thanks, Latif, and thanks, everyone, for joining us today. We look forward to speaking with you next quarter.

謝謝拉蒂夫，也謝謝大家今天加入我們。我們期待下個季度與您交談。

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。