Here’s what you’re looking for: CPA Trendlines Research

CHARTS & GRAPHS

Clients Want to Pay You More (Really!)

New research shows opportunities to boost revenues by up to 31%.

What clients want: Adding strategic advisory services to your tax prep and payroll bundle could increase fee income by more than 48 percent. (cpa.com)

By CPA Trendlines

As CPAs know better than anyone, these are turbulent times. Whatever the situation was, it just changed. CPAs know because they are at the center of it all — the calm, analytic eye at the center of Hurricane Upheaval.

MORE in COVID TRENDS in SURVEYS & RESEARCH: The Forecast: Partly Gloomy, Chance of Doom | Busy Season Benchmarks in Free Fall | Say Hello to the New 24-Month Busy Season | COVID Drives New M&A Trends | Re-Thinking Today’s Firm with Five Global Leaders | The No. 1 Reason Accountants Fail To Build Advisory Practices

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So consider for a moment the desperation of the businesses that are or could be your clients. They are suffering:

  • the financial and logistical onslaught of the pandemic,
  • the ever-evolving rules on taxation,
  • the constant change in compliance,
  • the lack of time for issues not within their core business (accounting, for example),
  • the problems and insecurities of their own clients and customers, and
  • concerns about the future.

In other words, clients have more important things to do than keep track of financial matters.

And they’re willing to pay for the freedom to stick to their core business.

The trick…

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CHARTS & GRAPHS

The Forecast: Partly Gloomy, Chance of Doom

Almost three in four accountants now foresee a deeper downturn for the U.S. economy.

It gets worse: Almost 25 percent of accountants forecast a “much worse” outlook for the nation’s economy over the next 12 to 18 months. And another 48 percent predict “somewhat worse.” (CPA Trendlines Research)

BUSY SEASON BAROMETER:
How accountants are battling the Coronavirus recession
Join the survey. Get the answers.

By CPA Trendlines Research

New CPA Trendlines 2020 Busy Season Barometer results bear bad tidings for CPA firms, their clients, and their families. The forecast is not good. Accountants know numbers, and the numbers they are seeing do not bode well.

MORE BUSY SEASON 2020: Busy Season Benchmarks in Free Fall | FIinal RS eFiling Stats: The End of Tax Season? | Say Hello to the New 24-Month Busy Season | 9 Big Ways the IRS Could Help Accountants | The Mystery of 10 Million Missing Tax Returns | Tax Pro E-Filings Down 20 Percent | IRS Web Traffic Doubles over Year-Ago | COVID Drowns IRS in New Filings |   Percent | IRS Web Traffic Doubles over Year-Ago | COVID Drowns IRS in New Filings | 2020 Tax Season Comes to a Screeching Halt | The Tax Season 2020 Dumpster Fire | Tax Pros Fall Behind 6.2% in Returns Filed
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As the U.S. braces for a summer surge in coronavirus infections, the economy is crashing – with GDP down at an annual rate of 33 percent last quarter, and a 10 percent drop from the first quarter – the worst declines in more than 70 years of record-keeping. And new jobless claims in the latest week rose by 867,000 to 17 million.

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CHARTS & GRAPHS

Busy Season Benchmarks in Free Fall

Major declines in all KPIs: Clients, revenues, profits, revenue per client, and profit per client.

BUSY SEASON BAROMETER:
How accountants are battling the Coronavirus recession
Join the survey. Get the answers.

By CPA Trendlines Research

Last year’s busy season was complicated, no doubt about it. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and the IRS shut-down made life difficult for tax practitioners. But ultimately, they had a good year. A good 56 percent enjoyed an increase in clientele, and only 16 percent saw a decrease.

Flash forward to the annus horribilis, aka 2020. According to this year’s CPA Trendlines Busy Season Barometer, only 46 percent of accountants are gaining clients — a 10-point reversal from last year. And another 25 percent are losing clients – a 15-point swing from 2019.

MORE BUSY SEASON 2020: FIinal RS eFiling Stats: The End of Tax Season? | Say Hello to the New 24-Month Busy Season | 9 Big Ways the IRS Could Help Accountants | The Mystery of 10 Million Missing Tax Returns | Tax Pro E-Filings Down 20 Percent | IRS Web Traffic Doubles over Year-Ago | COVID Drowns IRS in New Filings |   Percent | IRS Web Traffic Doubles over Year-Ago | COVID Drowns IRS in New Filings | 2020 Tax Season Comes to a Screeching Halt | The Tax Season 2020 Dumpster Fire | Tax Pros Fall Behind 6.2% in Returns Filed
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It’s impressive that so many tax offices have actually expanded their clientele during such hard times. And it’s not surprising that so many have lost clients.

What happened?

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