Your mother was right: “Become an accountant and you’ll always make a living.”
Take a look, for instance, at the latest jobs report from the U.S. Department of Labor, which showed the overall economy lost 533,000 jobs in November – but it also showed gains for CPA firms against non-CPA accountants and bookkeepers.
For the broad accounting and bookkeeping services category, the government counted 974,500 persons employed — which includes everyone from staff accountants to self-employed tax practitioners. November’s figure represents a loss of 1,700 jobs in the month, and an 18,800 loss from the record peak of 993,300 in December 2007.
But look a little closer, and the numbers tell another story: The market appears to be consolidating around the market leader – the Certified Public Accountant.
CPA firms are expanding their employee rosters and continuing to gain market share against non-CPA accountants. CPA firms had 450,200 employees in the latest month, for which data is available, up 23,300 jobs from the year-ago month, or 5.5%.
Meanwhile, non-CPA-owned payroll services and other accounting services showed declines.
So far, CPAs and CPA firms are positioned to gain market share and even grow their business in this economic cycle.
