pay & compensation
three ways to thrive with limited capacity
turn the staffing shortage into a new opportunity.
by frank stiteley
the relentless cpa
charles dickens had to be writing about the accounting profession when he wrote, “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”
clients are plentiful. i met a new client coming out of the restroom at our office complex. we get four to five inquiries a day – out of tax season. during tax season, we turned down four out of five prospective clients.
more on staffing: tax and accounting jobs and salaries show strength | olympics of outsourcing and offshoring for accountants | new study: strong and steady growth for accountant jobs and salaries | can’t recruit? retain! | is tech causing both cpa shortage and low salaries? | staffing tops list of woes at cpa firms | to replenish the talent pipeline, go back to the classroom | whole person retention: when it’s not just the money | more big firms shut their doors to new college grads | seven enticements to keep talent on board | employee retention is easier than attraction | let interns fix the staffing shortage? | disruptors: talent crisis? what talent crisis? | firms culling clients as staffing woes persist
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staff are not plentiful – at least not good ones. i’m getting two or three resumes a day, but they’re the warm body sort most of us learned the hard way not to hire during the pandemic. you’ve seen these resumes too. they are people with six employers in eight years. you are certain to be number seven in nine years. they claim eight years of experience, but you can see from their job history that it’s really two years of experience repeated four times. and – they want $100k for those two years of real experience.
tax and accounting jobs and salaries show strength
hourly earnings fluctuate.
by beth bellor
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research
despite a slowing increase in employment for the u.s. economy in general, the nation’s tax and accounting sector is improving on most fronts, marking more than four years of solid year-over-year gains.
more: new study: strong and steady growth for accountant jobs and salaries | more big firms shut their doors to new college grads | seven enticements to keep talent on board | payroll leads job gains in tax & accounting sector
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to be sure, tax and accounting employment nudged slightly down in july, according to the latest data available to 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research. but it remains ahead of last year’s figures. and record highs are popping in key hiring segments, including staff, cpa firms and payroll services. is talk of staffing shortages overblown, or would growth be even stronger if more qualified candidates were available? read more →
is tech causing both cpa shortage and low salaries?
there’s a paradox going on.
by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research
a working paper by three academics presents a paradoxical contradiction in the accounting industry. somehow, technology, which is starting to replace some accounting functions, is causing a shortage of accounting professionals. and despite the high demand for the few graduates who major in accounting, starting salaries are lower than in related professions.
more: audit firms nervous about new tech | what accountants can learn from t-ball | staffing tops list of woes at cpa firms | to replenish the talent pipeline, go back to the classroom | beware the work-life/workload doom spiral | why the dry pipeline? it’s about time | business model transformation: do it or die | misperceptions, corrections, accountancy and lemonade | whole person retention: when it’s not just the money | global trends show many dissatisfied cpas | more big firms shut their doors to new college grads
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and in a related paradox, technology’s most powerful tools may be augmenting the accountant’s workload.
how can all this be concurrent?
read more →
how firms are compensating their coos
real-life examples. about 29% are owners.
by kristen rampe
rosenberg associates
more and more firms are exploring the benefits of adding a chief operating officer (coo) to their leadership ranks. the coo role often encompasses strategic cpa firm leadership, holding partners accountable, making decisions in line with the firm’s strategy and overseeing all administrative functions.
more: help! a partner wants to retire really early
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this position can significantly reduce the time client service partners spend attending to these duties. and often the coo can do them better, as they aren’t distracted by the next fire drill from a high-profile accounting client. their only client is the firm.
read more →
more big firms shut their doors to new college grads
firms that overhired in the covid-19 boom are now trimming their ranks.
by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research
despite widespread concerns in the profession about a talent shortage, the largest accounting firms in a new survey are cutting back on their hiring of new college accounting graduates by 16.1 percent this year.
more in staffing & recruiting: employee retention is easier than attraction | payroll leads job gains in tax & accounting sector | disruptors: talent crisis? what talent crisis? | letting staff go after tax season? bad idea | firms culling clients as staffing woes persist | compensation’s up, but up enough to retain staff?
reflecting broader economic uncertainties and budgetary constraints, half of all the biggest firms surveyed are gearing down for a recession, marking a sharp turnaround from the hiring spree sparked by a global pandemic that forced industries across the globe into transformational change, often staffed and driven by the biggest accounting and consulting firms.
payroll leads job gains in tax & accounting sector
everyone is earning more this month, and most downs are slight.
by beth bellor
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research
the tax and accounting profession is not a bad place for job seekers, it seems. a new analysis by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 shows a lot of up notes, including some in the double digits.
more on jobs: let interns fix the staffing shortage? | accountants bullish locally, bearish nationally | accounting hiring hits another high | compensation’s up, but up enough to retain staff? | staff wages hit record high | despite staffing crunch, firms freeze pay raises | tax & accounting firms grow for 9th straight month | tax & accounting profession grows, but wages don’t
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new highs are coming in:
- the accounting profession overall
- staff earnings
- payroll staff
- payroll staff earnings
- women overall and in cpa firms
compensation’s up, but up enough to retain staff?
people are leaving the profession. more money is one solution.
by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research
the aicpa’s 2023 national management of an accounting practice (map) survey came up with an odd statistic. kind of hard to believe until you get the context.
the finding: the median employee turnover rate across all cpa firms is … 0 percent.
yes, that’s a zero.
more: are accountants charging too little? | chatgpt for the reluctant accountant | survey shows challenges, priorities shifting | can big data spot financial fraud? | accountants torn over 2024 economy, offer advice | survey: are you offering the right services? | survey: 42% of accountants turn away work over staff shortages | talent gap widening: be very scared | cpa biz is booming, but for how long? | the 7 categories of cybersecurity solutions firms need
but wait. a median, as they say, is only half the story.
the bigger story – the broader context – is that more than half the responding practices had zero turnover, so the median fell at zero percent. but that goose egg doesn’t reflect the reality of firms at the other side of the spectrum.
read more →
tax & accounting profession keeps growing
more workers, with some making quite a bit more money.
by beth bellor
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research
winter doldrums didn’t seem to affect the tax and accounting profession, which saw several sectors hit new hiring highs in february.
elsewhere in the nation, total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 275,000 in february, nudging the unemployment rate up to 3.9 percent. professional and business services saw little change for the month.
more: accounting hiring hits another high | staff wages hit record high | despite staffing crunch, firms freeze pay raises | tax & accounting firms grow for 9th straight month | tax & accounting profession grows, but wages don’t | tax and accounting pay advancing at 5.9% pace | accounting jobs up 4% for year
overall accounting profession employment at a record 1,163,600 was up 1,000 or 0.1 percent for the month and 29,600 or 2.6 percent for the year. employees averaged 35.9 hours per week, down 6 minutes or 0.3 percent for the month but up 6 minutes or 0.3 percent for the year. their earnings hit a new high of $41.41, up 21 cents or 0.5 percent for the month and 34 cents or 0.8 percent for the year.
read more →
accounting hiring hits another high
tax prep is less than half the increase.
by beth bellor
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research
is the accounting profession closing its staffing gap?
it sure seems that way, as employment hit an all-time high in january. women fared well, too, reaching record levels in the field overall and in payroll services.
more: staff wages hit record high | despite staffing crunch, firms freeze pay raises | tax & accounting firms grow for 9th straight month | tax & accounting profession grows, but wages don’t | tax and accounting pay advancing at 5.9% pace | accounting jobs up 4% for year
nationally, unemployment held at 3.7 percent as total nonfarm payroll employment increased 353,000, according to the latest data available to 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research. of those new hires, 74,000 came in professional and business services, well above 2023’s monthly average of 14,000.
read more →
cornerstone report: cpa billing rates, tax return fees, and client accounting pricing at cpa firms | 2024
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research cornerstone reports deliver instant situational awareness on the day’s hottest topics.
by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research
the billing rates, fees, and pricing strategies at cpa firms are influenced by various factors, including the type of service, the cpa’s experience, geographic location, and the client’s financial complexity.
more on pricing.
as the demand for specialized financial services grows and technology evolves, cpa firms adapt their pricing models to meet client needs and ensure sustainable business growth.
five keys in compensating new managing partners
plus five things the other partners should expect from their leader.
by marc rosenberg
the rosenberg practice management library
top 20 tough choices for the partner comp committee
production isn’t all that matters.
by marc rosenberg
the rosenberg practice management library
increasingly, cpa firms are adopting the compensation committee system for allocating partner income. firms are finding that systems such as formulas, pay based on ownership percentage or pay-equal no longer work.
more: voting on ownership basis? three better methods | what partners do and don’t deserve | tell potentials what partnership takes | fifteen big questions for your next strategy session | five steps to transition to partnership | disturb the present to improve the future
if there is one overarching cause for this significant trend, it’s that firms are understanding that their partners need to be something more than production machines. in addition to bringing in business, managing a client base and working billable hours (all of which continue to be important values in a compensation committee), partners need to excel in intangible areas such as helping staff grow and develop, developing specialized expertise and teamwork. the compensation committee is one of the best systems available to cpa firms to allocate income based on this diverse array of performance criteria.
read more →