compensation

CPA Firm Wages Surge 9%

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In payroll, employment is up, but earnings are down.

By Beth Bellor
CPA Trendlines Research

Want an easy way to make employees happy? Give them more money – and that’s just what’s happening in the latest jobs report.

MORE: Accounting Staffs Grow 4%; Pay Rates Surge 8% | Headcounts Grow 5%; Pay Rates Surge at 7% Pace | CPA Staff Wages Hit New High and Keep Climbing | Firms Battle Staff Shortages with Pay Hikes | Tax & Accounting Firms Beef Up Wages and Headcounts | Employee Counts, Earnings Rise
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Except for payroll services, all tax and accounting sectors are seeing higher earnings year over year. Overall pay was up 6.7 percent, with CPA firm staff pay close behind at 6.6 percent. CPA firms beat the national 7.7 percent inflation rate, increasing hourly earnings by a heady 9.2 percent.
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Top Trends ’23: Look Who’s Making Money Now

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Partners’ percentages surge substantially.

By CPA Trendlines Research
The Rosenberg MAP Study

Financially, it’s been a good year for accountants – especially at the partner level.

MORE: OUTLOOK 2023: Compensation Gets Creative | What New Leaders Want in Ownership | Getting Partners to Accept a New Pricing Philosophy | Survey Results: Partners Rejoice on Surging Fee Growth | Headcounts Grow 5%; Pay Rates Surge at 7% Pace | Fourteen Rules for Lateral Partner Hires

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Revenues are up. The income per partner (IPP) is up. Profitability is up. Firms that qualify as “elite” are more elite than ever. And, yes, size matters.

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Accounting Staffs Grow 4%; Pay Rates Surge 8%

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Weaker signs in tax and payroll.

By CPA Trendlines Research

It’s not a bad time to be an accountant.

The accounting sector is charting stable, predictable expansion in an uncertain economic environment, with some signs of weakness in tax prep and at payroll agencies, according to a new CPA Trendlines study.

MORE: Headcounts Grow 5%; Pay Rates Surge at 7% Pace | CPA Staff Wages Hit New High and Keep Climbing | Firms Battle Staff Shortages with Pay Hikes | Tax & Accounting Firms Beef Up Wages and Headcounts | Employee Counts, Earnings Rise
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We report here on the accounting profession as a whole as well as:

  • CPA firms
  • Tax preparation services
  • Payroll services
  • Bookkeeping
  • Women

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Staffing Crisis: 40% Are Looking for New Jobs

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data chart
Adecco Group 2022 Salary Guide

Money isn’t the biggest draw.

By CPA Trendlines

America’s workers are on the move. Maybe it’s post- (let’s hope) pandemic restlessness. Maybe it’s the closing of companies and the loss of jobs. Maybe it’s the windows of opportunity that opened during remote work.

MORE: The FinTech Flood: Accounting Will Never Be the Same | CPA ROI DOA: Why the Next-Gen Accountant Won’t Be a CPA | Matt Wilkinson: Think Small to Think Big | How to Communicate Your Value  | Payroll Services Rocket with U.S. Economy | Internal Communication Can’t Be Overlooked | Top Issues: Talent, Time, and Transformation |  The Disruptors: Re-Inventing Accounting with Tyler Anderson |

More in RECRUITING  & TALENT MANAGEMENT

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Whatever it is, an astonishing 40 percent of workers say they are likely to consider a new job opportunity in 2022, according to the 2022 Salary Guide issued by The Adecco Group.
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Comp: What New Partners Don’t Know

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Businessman sitting on scales with stack of coins in other trayBest Practices: Top firms use these seven systems for allocating income.

By Marc Rosenberg
The Rosenberg Practice Management Library

It would take a book much longer than this post to properly explain the finer points of partner compensation, especially how each of the major compensation systems works.

(Oh, did I forget? We wrote such a book, CPA Firm Partner Compensation: The Art and Science.)

MORE: Making Partner: 15 Steps to the Buy-In | Making Partner: Do the Math | A Crash Course in the Business of Public Accounting | Making Partner: What Managers Need to Know | Nine Reasons People Are Promoted to Partner
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As is the case with all of my lists, no one firm incorporates all of these practices in its partner compensation policy.

But I have observed all of the practices below in one or more of the best firms I’ve worked with over 20 years.
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Women Lag Men in Accounting Jobs Recovery

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New records set in hourly earnings.

By Beth Bellor

Across the tax and accounting industry, almost all the jobs relinquished by men in the Coronavirus layoffs have been regained by men. The jobs given up by women, on the other hand, are still largely vacant.

MORE ON JOBS: Comeback Stalls as Layoffs Hit 1,500 in Accounting | Tax & Accounting Regains 3,800 Jobs | Accounting Jobs Recovery Slows | Tax & Accounting Firms Rehire Two-Thirds of Pre-COVID Workforce | Tax & Accounting Firms Rehire Two-Thirds of Pre-COVID Workforce
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Overall, the tax, accounting, tax prep, payroll, and bookkeeping sectors employed 1.02 million full-time equivalents in March 2020, before 70,000 layoffs hit in April. So far, the industry has re-filled all but 17,600 positions.

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Tax & Accounting Regains 3,800 Jobs

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Tax prep down, payroll sees big swings.

By Beth Bellor

Some of those heady new highs the accounting profession was seeing a year ago are seeing reversals now. We’re looking squarely at you, COVID-19. Feel free to move along anytime.

MORE ON JOBS: Accounting Jobs Recovery Slows | Tax & Accounting Firms Rehire Two-Thirds of Pre-COVID Workforce | Tax & Accounting Firms Rehire Two-Thirds of Pre-COVID Workforce | New Job Cuts at CPA Firms | More Jobs Trends and Staffing
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In this report, CPA Trendlines highlights:

  • Current and long-term hiring trends in each of the bookkeeping, payroll, tax, and CPA segments of the industry (all data seasonally adjusted)
  • Average hourly wages for key segments
  • Typical hours worked per week
  • Trends concerning women in the accounting workforce

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Accounting Jobs Recovery Slows

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CPA firms and tax prep still down somewhat.

By Beth Bellor

Unemployment edged down to 6.7 percent in November, but the accounting profession saw few of those gains, with its only upticks coming in the payroll services sector.

MORE ON JOBS: Tax & Accounting Firms Rehire Two-Thirds of Pre-COVID Workforce | New Job Cuts at CPA Firms | COVID Job Toll: Tax & Accounting Cuts 17,500 Employees | Firms Recall Half of Furloughed Staffers | Covid Kills 67,600 Jobs in Tax and Accounting | Pre-COVID-19, Accounting Profession Hits New Highs
GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

In this report, CPA Trendlines highlights:

  • Current and long-term hiring trends in each of the bookkeeping, payroll, tax, and CPA segments of the industry (all data seasonally adjusted)
  • Average hourly wages for key segments
  • Typical hours worked per week
  • Trends concerning women in the accounting workforce

READ MORE →