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

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Mergers vs. Clients: Winners and Losers

As firms pursue M&A at any cost, who’s taking care of the clients?

2008-2017: Two years of slowdowns in organic growth rates signal a bevy of underlying problems. (Rosenberg Survey)

By Rick Telberg
Rosenberg Survey

Golden and Loerzel: Problems in merger strategies

The many challenges tax and accounting firms face today can be daunting:

  • Accelerating changes in technology (now reaching beyond blockchain to the frontiers of artificial intelligence)
  • Staffing shortages (not just a rarity of professionals but too few up to speed on regs and tech)
  • A new generation (young professionals who expect flex time, time off, telecommuting, fewer hours, and similar perks and benefits)
  • An old generation (baby boomer partners working more years but getting older nonetheless)
  • Increased competition crossed with ever-evolving marketing media (a battlefield unknown to people trained only in accountancy)
  • The evolution of auditing (or is it an ongoing revolution?)
  • New client opportunities (maximizing potential of niches, IT service, consultation, etc.)

Practitioners in firms large and small are doing their best to meet the challenges, but meeting challenges can divert energy and effort from actually growing a business.

And merger mania may be to blame.

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FEATURED

Benefits, Perks, and Incentives: The Happy-Packs of Employee Satisfaction

How CPA firms can muscle up in the war for talent.

By Rick Telberg
CPA Trendlines

It takes more than a steady paycheck to attract new talent and keep good staff happy in today’s tight candidate market. But there’s a huge gap between what firms are offering and what top candidates expect, according to a CPA Trendlines analysis of a new nationwide compensation study.

In a new survey of the most common benefits, perks, and incentives offered by companies and accounting firms, Robert Half, the nationwide recruiting agency, finds many tax, accounting, and finance employers are offering less than competitive benefits, perks, and incentives.

In a war for talent, you need all the ammunition you can get. Accounting and audit firms work with high-caliber professionals. These professionals are looking for packages. Salaries are a good start, but firms that want to attract and retain the best need to consider what really appeals to them.

What do candidates want and what are firms offering? Here are the details:

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CHARTS & GRAPHS

Salary Survey: Top Skills Getting Top Pay

Public accounting starting salaries (Robert Half)

Bonus Checklist: Five keys to winning the talent wars.

By Rick Telberg
CPA Trendlines

The digital transformation of the accounting profession is creating a surge in demand for high-skilled, business-savvy professionals, and firms are clearly willing to pay top dollar for the best candidates, according to a CPA Trendlines analysis of new research.

Pay rates and headcounts appear to be rising in tandem at leading firms, according to data gathered by one of the leading recruiters in the business.

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FEATURED

SURVEY: Three Reasons To Be Bullish on CPA Firms

Photo Copyright 2016 R. Telberg

New practice management study reveals four strategies to maximize your profits.

By Charles Hylan, CPA
Rosenberg Survey

Hylan

Charles Hylan is one of the authors of the Rosenberg Survey report and a shareholder in The Growth Partnership, a business development training and consulting firm for CPA practices, which fields the survey.

What an exciting time to be working in the accounting profession!

Why do I say this? Three reasons:

  1. The shift from compliance to advisory work.
  2. Unlimited career paths.
  3. Record levels of profitability

Our profession would be better off if younger staff and managers knew what a lucrative career they could have in the industry. I’m not suggesting that partners share tax returns or W2s and K1s. However, education around practice management topics would enable the profession’s future leaders to understand the “business” side of the profession, the entrepreneurial opportunities, and the economic upside.

Let’s run the numbers…

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CLIENT SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES

CLIENT INSIGHT: Small Businesses Sell for Highest Prices on Record

Tariffs and Elections Take Center Stage as Market Aims to Continue Record Pace.

A new report obtained by CPA Trendlines reveals record highs in small business financials, allowing sellers to ask and receive more money than ever recorded.

Sale prices of businesses sold in the third quarter of 2018 reached new highs, according to the BizBuySell Third Quarter 2018 Insight Report. The record sale prices are directly related to stronger business financials which also hit new levels in Q3.

With buyers able to offset increasing prices by acquiring healthier businesses, the result is a well-balanced market.

Full results are included below, with statistics from business-for-sale transactions reported by participating business brokers nationwide.

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