2019: Tech Isn’t the Problem. It’s the Solution

Dobek
Dobek

Sarah Dobek foresees new leaders, new services, new clients.

By Rick Telberg
The Rosenberg Survey: National Study of CPA Firm Statistics

It may seem too obvious to bother mentioning, but the accounting industry, from audit firms to tax prep to corporate finance, is in the process of transition. But too many managers think that just means technological transition.

MORE FROM THE MAP SURVEY: 2019: More Focused Training | 2019: Expect More Alliances | 2019 Trends: Client Service Changes | 2019: Shifts in Hiring & Office Space | 2019: Firms Grapple with Change | Staff Policies Improve, But Not Mentoring
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Technology may be behind a lot of the transition, but technology itself is not the transition. It’s the enabler of transition.

Sarah Dobek, president and founder of Inovautus Consulting, has identified numerous interwoven transitions in process, some already peaked and passing, others coming down the pike.

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Survey: Clients Rush for TCJA Answers

Iceberg ahead: Tax hazards hidden below the surface.

8 good reasons to call every client for a year-end review.

By Rick Telberg
CPA Trendlines

Thanks to the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act, the 2018 tax year has been unlike any other. CPAs and tax preparers have been busy helping clients make, or think about making, a new menu of possible adjustments to their financial plans.

The questions started coming in even before the Act was passed into law, and they haven’t stopped. In fact, as the end of the year approaches, the pleas for counsel are accelerating, according to a new survey.

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29 Things Smart Firms Do

Happy multi-ethnic business team with thumbs up in the officeWhat the best firms already know.

By Rick Telberg
The Rosenberg Survey

CPA Trendlines finds a wealth of information in the new Rosenberg Survey, the leading national compendium of financial and operating statistics for CPA firms.

A host of consultants points out some of the things they see CPA firms doing right and wrong.

Here are some of the rights.

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Redefining Today’s Firm

Carrie Steffen at cpatrendlines.com
Steffen

Clients, services and the partnership.

By Rick Telberg
The Rosenberg Survey

Ask Carrie Steffen of The Whetstone Group where accounting practices are going in 2018 and beyond, and you’ll probably get at least three key issues that are being addressed at some forward-thinking firms.

MORE: The Do’s and Don’ts for a Happy Accounting Office

  1. Redefinition of client services and providing consistent services across the firm
  2. Redefinition of business advisory services
  3. Redefinition of the partnership model

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Staff Pay: Problem or Solution?

Probing the roots of the so-called staffing crisis.

By Rick Telberg
CPA Trendlines

Lagging pay raises and a dearth of top talent appears to be contributing to astonishing turnover rates, recurring staff shortages, and even profit squeezes, according to a new CPA Trendlines analysis.

RELATED: Retention, Retention, Retention  |  SURVEY: Getting Staff up to Snuff  |  Tax Shops Cut Staff by 10%  |  Benefits, Perks, and Incentives: The Happy-Packs of Employee Satisfaction  |  Salary Survey: Top Skills Getting Top Pay  |  SURVEY: Three Reasons To Be Bullish on CPA Firms  |

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Accounting professionals have every right to expect excellent compensation. They work very hard, they need a huge body of knowledge, their ranks barely fill available jobs, and the firms that hire them are desperate to attract and retain them. It shows.

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Retention, Retention, Retention

Source: Accounting Principals

Four tactics for keeping the best talent, from a new salary survey.

By Rick Telberg
CPA Trendlines

The three most important words in practice management today are

  1. Retention
  2. Retention, and
  3. Retention.

More:  Benefits, Perks, and Incentives: The Happy-Packs of Employee Satisfaction  |  Salary Survey: Top Skills Getting Top Pay  |  Deciding How to Allocate Partner Income  |  Accounting Wages Set New Record  |  Solve the Partner Comp Problem  |

See more in Pay & Compensation and Talent Managment

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High turnover has practically become synonymous with the larger public accounting firms, with turnover rates reaching as high as 30 percent. The AICPA Top Issues Survey says quality staff ranks as the top concern for U.S. accounting firms, hitting number one for the first time post-recession in 2015, and among the top ever since.

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