outlook & analysis

as private equity closes in, firms seek new answers to staffing problems

by

smart leaders are investing in tech, talent and orderly retirement timing.

by jennifer wilson
the rosenberg national survey of cpa firm statistics

we’ll see positive movement in staffing with more firms investing in outsourcing, offshoring, non-accounting staff added to work streams, increasing starting salaries, providing more support on campus to students and candidates, and other pipeline initiatives. the pace of consolidation and private equity investment will only accelerate, changing the face of the top 100, with firms separating their audit practices .

editor’s note: every year, the 2024 rosenberg national survey of cpa firm statistics asks the profession’s top consultants two sets of questions:

    • how do you think the next 12 months will unfold? trends? predictions? other thoughts?
    • how would you assess the last 12 months? trends? observations? struggles?

more: when staffing falls short, clients get culled | how accounting firms are dealing with retirement | next five years are critical for accounting firms | staffing turnover’s down, but why? | what’s your firm worth? private equity wants to know | the new pipeline: outsourcing and offshoring | is this the last year of accounting’s golden age?
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

pe investors will have their hands full, trying to manage by the numbers, and drive change with traditionally change-averse, entrepreneurial partners who didn’t sign up originally to submit to a boss. and i fear that pe firms are overpaying for their equity stakes (and driving firm prices up for acquirers) and that realization will begin to dawn on some of them who realize there might not be a flip in sight.
read more →

when staffing falls short, clients get culled

by

man in suit exiting office building

revenues are taking a hit.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

who ever thought it would come to this – accounting firms reducing their clientele?

it seems to be increasingly common, and the reasons are clear. it isn’t a desire to reduce revenues. it’s a desire to keep up with the workload without burning out.

more: how accounting firms are dealing with retirement | next five years are critical for accounting firms | staffing turnover’s down, but why? | what’s your firm worth? private equity wants to know | the new pipeline: outsourcing and offshoring | is this the last year of accounting’s golden age?
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

with fewer professionals entering the profession, and more of them leaving, more than half of practices are culling their less profitable or more problematic clients.

read more →

tim brackney: don’t blame private equity. blame the accountants | accounting influencers

by

the profession’s problems are the profession’s own fault.

subscribe to 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 podcasts anywhere: apple, google/youtube, spotify, iheart, deezer, amazon music, audible, player fm, audacy, rss.

accounting influencers
with rob brown

tim brackney, ceo of a private equity-backed accounting and advisory firm, is challenging the widespread notion that private equity harms the accounting industry.

“private equity is not killing public accounting,” brackney tells rob brown in this episode of accounting influencers. “public accounting was killing public accounting.” read more →

how accounting firms are dealing with retirement

by

older businessman sitting at desk smiling as wall clock indicates 5 minutes to retirement

burnout is driving some increases.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

retirement’s great! long awaited, well deserved.

more: next five years are critical for accounting firms | staffing turnover’s down, but why? | what’s your firm worth? private equity wants to know | the new pipeline: outsourcing and offshoring | is this the last year of accounting’s golden age?
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

but it’s not so great if you’re not the one retiring. at accounting firms, retirement often means trouble.

  • there may be no one to replace the retiree.
  • there may not be a succession plan in place.

read more →

next five years are critical for accounting firms

by

how deeply are you investing in your future? how are you treating the “three levels” of partners?

by allan koltin
the rosenberg national survey of cpa firm statistics

the next 12 months will start with a handful of firms breaking out of the pack and substantially raising starting salaries for new accountants in a way never seen before (see e&y’s recent announcement on staff salaries). the domino effect will play out here because if you raise first-year salaries to second-year compensation levels, your second-year staff will need to be paid like third-year staff, and this move will go all the way up to senior managers and principals.

editor’s note: every year, the rosenberg national survey of cpa firm statistics asks the profession’s top consultants two sets of questions:

    • how do you think the next 12 months will unfold? trends? predictions? other thoughts?
    • how would you assess the last 12 months? trends? observations? struggles?

more: staffing turnover’s down, but why? | what’s your firm worth? private equity wants to know | the new pipeline: outsourcing and offshoring | is this the last year of accounting’s golden age?
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

the firms that are “uber” profitable will have an easier time funding this change than their peers. however, if you want to win the important war for talent (i mean attract, keep and grow future stars!), you will now need to pay up for them in a way we never envisioned (simple supply and demand economics in play).
read more →

staff turnover’s down, but why?

by

the aftermath of the great resignation leaves many questions.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research
rosenberg national survey of cpa firm statistics

as the pandemic wound down, there was a pretty big shakeup at cpa firms. almost a fifth of employees left their firm. some moved on to similar positions. some got canned. and some ditched the whole profession in a search for satisfaction elsewhere.

more: what’s your firm worth? private equity wants to know | the new pipeline: outsourcing and offshoring | is this the last year of accounting’s golden age?
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

charles hylan – managing director of the growth partnership, which conducts the rosenberg national survey of cpa firm statistics – hazards a guess, based on his experience with cpa firms, that “a large number are leaving the profession altogether.” among all firms surveyed, i.e., firms with over $2 million in billings, “a whopping 75 percent of staff turnover is voluntary.”

read more →

what’s your firm worth? private equity wants to know

by

businessman holding box with money flying out of it

the m&a picture has changed.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research
rosenberg survey

you probably thought you’d never hear these three words together, but here they are: accounting is hot.

this isn’t to say that cpa practices have six-pack abs and saucy haircuts. they don’t. but as far as markets go, accounting firms are hot items for investors looking to snatch up profitable organizations.

more: the new pipeline: outsourcing and offshoring | is this the last year of accounting’s golden age?
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

the attraction is the consequence of two years of double-digit growth – the golden age of the accounting industry. revenues jumped in 2022, and then they jumped again in 2023. and 2024 ain’t looking too bad, either.

according to the 2024 rosenberg national survey of cpa firm statistics – the 26th edition of the gold standard analysis of the industry – fee growth in 2023, excluding mergers, ranged from 3.2 percent for firms billing under $2 million, to 11.4 percent for firms with over $20 million in billings.
read more →

are you earning what you deserve?

by

young woman seated at laptop counting money

plus some predictions about where the job market is headed.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

here’s a statistic you can probably sympathize with. according to new salary data, 99 percent of finance professionals report experiencing some level of burnout in the past year.

research: partners: your middle managers are getting burnout

more: the slow, painful death of the 150-hour rule | partner comp earnings gap: what’s the right spread? | main street accountants see turbulence ahead for small business | partners: your middle managers are getting squeezed | gear up for growth |
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

unless you’re in that other 1 percent, you know how it feels. and who could blame you for feeling that feeling and then looking at your paycheck?

read more →

the new pipeline: outsourcing and offshoring

by

businessman's hand pointing to icons, one of which is labeled "outsourcing"

firms still are working out their options and business models.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

the 2024 rosenberg national survey of cpa firm statistics has found something that everybody knew. it has also found that there’s more of it than anybody knew.

and that there’s more coming.

more: is this the last year of accounting’s golden age?
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

this swelling tsunami sweeping over the accounting industry is the use of outsourced staff, outsourced tax returns, and the ultimate in remote work, offshoring assignments and functions to foreign lands.
read more →

the slow, painful death of the 150-hour rule

by

ending a 50-year mandate, now “competency” counts (again).

by rick telberg
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

after a quarter century of campaigning to get the 150-hour rule passed by all 50 states, overcoming opposition that seemed at one time as if it would rend the profession’s institutions, and after another quarter century of finding that the rule was failing by all critical measures, the aicpa and nasba are rolling out a workaround that could kill the rule.

more 150-hour rule  | download the exposure draft

the organizations are offering a “competency-based” hurdle for cpa licensure that signals abject surrender.

this is the story, 50 years in the making, of (mostly) good intentions gone bad, unintended (but not unforeseen) consequences, and how rank-and-file cpas (eventually) overcame the power plays of multinational firms. read more →

is this the last year of accounting’s golden age?

by

hourglass breaking, sand blowing away

the authors of the rosenberg map survey have some thoughts.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research
rosenberg survey of cpa firm statistics

one thing cpa firms can’t gripe about is revenue. yeah, the hours seem to be getting longer, the struggle harder, the rules more complex, and the technology continuously antiquated. but the money: it’s good.

goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

the 2024 rosenberg survey of cpa firm statistics—the 26th annual edition of the premier report on the state of the industry—confirms that in 2023, virtually all indicators of cpa firms’ health were good. and, generally speaking, the bigger the firm, the better they’re doing.
read more →

main street accountants see turbulence ahead for small business

by

the avalara accountants confidence report points to difficulties.

via avalara

nearly 50 percent of accountants surveyed believe the outlook for over 80,000 small business clients they represent will turn sour over the next 1avalara (prnewsfoto/avalara, inc.)2 to 18 months, according to a new 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 study conducted with avalara, the sales tax automation provider.

full report: download (pdf)

fielded during the 2024 tax season, the survey shows accounting professionals flashing warning signs around key business issues, leading with clients’ abilities to hire and retain employees, manage costs and price increases, and keep up with technology changes ushered in by artificial intelligence. read more →

partners: your middle managers are getting squeezed

by

staff just don’t feel comfortable asking for things that help their mental and physical well-being.

client pressure: 84 percent can work from home at least sometimes. however, only 44 percent say the firm has their back with difficult clients.

by seth fineberg
accountants forward

crabtree

this may seem mysterious, but when it comes to ensuring job satisfaction and retaining staff, firm leaders should pay closer attention to middle management/mid-career staff and their connection to employees and the work itself, according to a survey conducted by tri-merit group co-founder randy crabtree, hb publishing & marketing company founder hank berkowitz, and myself at accountants forward.

more staffing here | more surveys and research here | more seth fineberg here

“everything about putting your people first leads to increasing the satisfaction of those who work in the profession,” says crabtree. “things like firms having your back, supporting their growth or getting to know who the people you work with are matters greatly.” he added, “when you have a good variety of work to do and find you enjoy that work, you won’t mind working the extra hours at times either.”

read more →