The eminent sage, August J. Aquila (right), has an eminently practical to-do list to help firm managers get ready for tax season.
(RELATED: Click here for more about managing busy season.)
1. Prioritize issues and work on the low hanging fruit first. Do not try to fix all your problems at one time. READ MORE →
Work/life balance proves essential to recruiting, retaining staff.
by Rick Telberg
If that CPA working next to you appears stressed out by the job, take a long, hard look because you may not see him or her again in the future.
While CPAs in all walks of the profession are strained and face tough workloads, those feeling the greatest stress and workplace demands are more likely to be seriously in the market for another job. At any given moment, according to my studies, about one on three CPAs would consider changing jobs, even it meant a pay cut, in exchange for better working conditions. Among the most stressed-out CPAs, the ratio of job seekers jumps to about half.
So it’s imperative for managers of CPAs to offer state-of-the-art workplaces if they want to retain hard-to-find staff. READ MORE →
…then your CPA firm may be below average.
Sageworks, a Raleigh, N.C.-based business analytics software provider, reports in Forbes that CPA firms may just be the most profitable business an entrepreneur can choose.
T
he offices of CPAs tops a list of 20 other industries, with an average pretax margin of 17.1%. Wired communication carriers (transmission-line operators and the like), with a 10.1% margin, rank 20th.
“Industries which provide need-to-have solutions rather than nice-to-have solutions tend to do better,” says Sageworks founder Brian Hamilton.
The data are drawn from financial statements on nearly 300,000 companies, most with under $10 million in annual revenue, and bucketed by five- and six-digit North American Industry Classification System codes. The figures were gathered between 2000 and 2009, to capture an entire business cycle. To be considered, each category included at least 100 companies.
But Some Challenges May Still Be Ahead
via CCH
Accounting firms are doing well weathering the effects of the current economic slump, but unfortunately there may still be challenges ahead, even as the economy picks up, according to the findings of an independent nationwide survey of 100 U.S. accounting firms. The survey was conducted by Opinion Research Corporation, and commissioned by CCH, a Wolters Kluwer business (CCHGroup.com).
According to the survey, despite the downturn, firms have been successful overall in maintaining rates, client services and staff productivity as they carefully manage the bottom line.
But even during the recession, firms reported difficulty in finding good staff. And, with the Baby Boomers about to retire in record numbers, a talent crunch looms on the horizon as the opportunity for business growth returns with the economic recovery.
“The accounting profession has performed well in a poor economy, but it should be a wake-up call for many that staffing challenges have persisted through the recession,” said CCH President Mike Sabbatis. “Firms should be considering right now what they need to do to win that talent war as the economy heats up again.”
The Talent Crunch
The good news is that the level of job reductions in accounting firms has been relatively low. Twelve percent of firms surveyed had layoffs, while 18 percent instituted hiring freezes. However, firms highlighted difficulty in finding good staff even in the recession, with 20 percent reporting that they are unable to find people to fill open positions despite record-high unemployment rates.
If it’s after Oct. 15, then it’s now CPE season.
We’re launching a new survey to gather the profession’s plans for continuing professional education this year.
Join the survey and be the first to get the answers to:
Click here to join the survey; get the results. Or just add your comments below. The best comments may win a special preview of the survey findings.
You might have thought this was settled in the 1990’s.
But Oklahoma remains one of six states left in the U.S. that still (technically, at least) bans non-CPAs from owning a piece of a CPA firm.
Today the Oklahoma society of CPAs will be emailing a survey to members to see if they want to bring their state’s rules into the mainstream. In a straw poll of directors and committee chairs, 40 out of 45 voted in favor of lifting the ban.
Under the proposed change:
The state society says small to mid-sized firms will benefit from the change because it will allow them to “increase the scope of services to their clients” and “offer attractive partnership positions to non-CPA specialists in areas such as information technology or estate planning.”
But it’s always been the small and mid-sized firms who have traditionally opposed opening up CPA firms to non-CPAs, fearing larger firms were more able to take advantage of the strategy.
Only Alaska, Hawaii, New York, Connecticut and Delaware remain in Oklahoma’s camp.
And two more CPA-related laws, too.
via CalCPA
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed into law legislation (SB 819) that requires all California CPAs licensed after 2014 to have 150 hours of college education prior to licensing.
By adopting the 150-hour rule as the only pathway to licensure in California, the state legislature has lifted California’s long-standing roadblock to substantial equivalency. The new law will allow California CPAs to more seamlessly serve their clients’ needs in other states. Most states will recognize a license from a 150-hour state as substantially equivalent and not require a CPA to obtain a state-specific license to provide services in their state. Only Colorado, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands have not adopted the 150-hour rule as of this writing.
California CPAs licensed prior to 2014 will be grandfathered in as substantially equivalent.
Additionally, the governor signed AB 138, which requires mandatory peer review for CPA firms. The peer review requirement will start in 2010, but implementation will be phased in over a three-year period.
Also signed into law were AB 117, which requires license status disclosure for inactive CPAs, and AB 129, which reinstates a taxpayer privilege provision.
.