staffing shortage

The Fastest-Growing Jobs in Accounting Are Not Accounting Jobs

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CPAs Not Wanted: Firms Build a New Workforce – without Accountants

CPA firms have added just 3,930 accountants and auditors in the last five years, far fewer than the expansions in sales, finance, technology, project management and data science.

By CPA Trendlines
Cornerstone Report

CPA firms are building a new workforce, and they’re doing it without CPAs.

Firms are hiring thousands of new staffers in jobs that look less like traditional accounting and more like sales, systems and management, according to new data parsed by CPA Trendlines.

MORE Private Equity’s Accounting Playbook Is Shifting from Dealmaking to Operating Systems | Why CPAs Quit Public Accounting | Inside Tax Season’s Hidden Shift: Same Work, Fewer People, Higher Cost | MORE Cornerstone Reports | Outlook & Analysis | Staffing & Recruiting | Surveys & Research | Tax | Pay & Compensation |

The public accounting profession has added 3,930 accountant and auditor positions since 2021, which pales in comparison to the 12,250 new sales representatives, 11,140 new financial managers, or 8,130 new computer and information systems managers. Firms added 4,370 new software developers and 4,190 new project management specialists. They also added 2,210 new data scientists. Even the number of chief executives has grown faster.

The pattern shows firms are not simply replacing missing CPAs and CPA candidates. They are building a different kind of firm, with more people assigned to sell services, manage clients, run systems, build software and coordinate projects. CPAs need not apply. READ MORE →

Rampe: Make Strategy Stick | Gear Up For Growth

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Five steps turn vision into execution.

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Gear Up for Growth
With Jean Caragher
For CPA Trendlines

On the latest episode of “Gear Up for Growth,” host Jean Caragher interviews Matt Rampe, partner at Rosenberg Associates and author of the forthcoming book, “CPA Firm Strategic Planning: Your Roadmap for Long-Term Success,” about how accounting firms can move beyond ad-hoc retreats to a disciplined, accountable planning process that sticks.

Rampe, who advises firms on strategy, succession, partner development, and profitability, said the book grew out of years of facilitation and coaching with firms of all sizes. “The book was in my brain for a long time before it got put on paper,” he says. “When I started writing, it actually came pretty quickly—but I learned there’s a lot more to making a book than a Word document.”

More Jean Caragher here | Get her best-selling handbook, The 90-Day Marketing Plan for CPA Firms, here | More Gear Up for Growth

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Rampe argues that the profession has reached a disruption point, citing converging pressures including private equity, technology, staffing shortages, succession for retiring Baby Boomers, and a shift toward advisory services. “What worked for us 10 years ago isn’t going to work for us 10 years in the future,” he says. “The old model, where a few partners disappear into a room and come out with a plan, doesn’t work in this age. We need to be nimble.”

READ MORE →

CPAs Regain Upper Hand in Pricing Battles

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Advisory and specialty services lead the way.

Tax pricing pulls away from audit, year-over-year percent change. (CPA Trendlines)

By CPA Trendlines

After two years of mostly weak pricing power, accounting firms appear to be regaining the initiative on billing rates, led by tax services with eye-popping 8% increases.

MORE in Pricing: Tax Prep Billing Rates Lift Busy Season | The Hidden Data Behind CPA Firm Burnout and Profit Pressure | Six Steps to High-Value Tax Advisory |

CPAs are raising rates by 4.2 percent year over year, reversing a 2.1 percent decline recorded a year ago, according to new CPA Trendlines findings.

READ MORE →

The Google Playbook for Young Accountants | Accounting Conversations

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Networking, timing, and intentional career planning help candidates stand out in competitive hiring processes.

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Accounting Conversations
With Chayton Farlee
Center for Accounting Transformation

For many accounting students, the profession can seem narrowly defined by tax returns, audit rooms, and busy season deadlines. But according to Mike Manalac, CPA, accounting can also become a pathway into some of the world’s most innovative companies and industries.

In a recent episode of Accounting Conversations, host Chayton Farlee speaks with Manalac about how young accounting professionals can strategically leverage public accounting experience to build careers at companies like Google, Tesla, Uber, and Salesforce. 

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Manalac, an accounting manager at Google, currently leads a distributed team working on Google Search and YouTube advertising contracts. His role involves collaborating with engineering, legal, sales, finance, and compliance teams across the organization.

Farlee, an assurance associate at CliftonLarsonAllen, says conversations like these are important because many students are not exposed to the full range of accounting career opportunities.

READ MORE →

Why Strategic Planning Matters More Than Ever

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Ten benefits and ten challenges.

diagram
Based on a concept by Eric Teller, director of Google X

By Matt Rampe

Our world is changing at an increasing rate.

Eric Teller, CEO of Google X research and development lab, says that “even though human beings and societies have steadily adapted to change, on average, the rate of technological change is now accelerating so fast that it has risen above the average rate at which most people can absorb all these changes.”

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This probably will not come as a surprise. Artificial intelligence, cloud-based solutions, automation and data analytics are rapidly advancing and changing the way accountants work forever.

And the rate of change is not limited to just technology. Barry Melancon, former CEO of the AICPA, said, “We faced a level of disruption none of us had ever experienced before,” at the end of 2020, but the changes have not stopped or slowed. Similarly, in an Accounting Today article, current AICPA CEO Mark Koziel said, “You’re going to hear, ‘Disrupt, disrupt, disrupt.’ I hate that word. How many people want to be disrupted? How many people want a root canal? But the whole marketplace is being disrupted – it’s not just us.”
READ MORE →