NEW RESEARCH: CPA Firms Hiring More, Paying Less
Overall headcounts expand as average wages decline.
By CPA Trendlines Research
The accounting profession is on a roll, at least where employment is concerned. Record highs are being set for all sectors except bookkeeping, which tied May’s mark, and tax preparation, which has fallen for two months.
Meanwhile, women continue to make strong gains, with year-over-year increases ranging from 6.8 to a staggering 23.8 percent. And payroll continues the same path it’s been on for months: more employees, who work longer and make less.
The rise in demand for labor while prices decline would seem to defy the laws of supply and demand.
One or more of several factors may be at play. Labor supply may be suddenly expanding as new workers enter the market from the sidelines. Or, CPA firms may be throttling wages in order to increase partner incomes, a key factor in potentially lubricating the M&A frenzy as partners age out. Or, it could mean firms are replacing high-wage workers with new technologies and pushing more work down the pyramid, raising partner-to-staff leverage — a trend detected in other research studies. In any case, it’s a phenomonon CPA Trendlines is investigating.
In this report, CPA Trendlines highlights:
- Current hiring trends in each of the bookkeeping, payroll, tax and CPA segments of the industry
- Average hourly wages for key segments
- Typical hours worked per week
- Trends concerning women in the accounting workforce
Professional and business services remain one of the bright spots in U.S. employment, which rose by 161,000 in October. The sector rose 43,000 during the month and has added 542,000 jobs over the course of the year. Unemployment overall was little changed at 4.9 percent.
Nearly 40% of them are in the health care industry.
