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OUTLOOK & ANALYSIS

Tax Law is Driving Practice Development

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Virtual communication, hybrid work environments still pose challenges.

By CPA Trendlines Research

New laws and regulations now rank as the primary management challenge at accounting practices around the world, according to a report from Caseware.

MORE: Olympics of Outsourcing and Offshoring for Accountants | New Study: Strong and Steady Growth for Accountant Jobs and Salaries | Turnover Timebomb: 4 of 5 Senior Managers At Risk | Are Client Services a Fourth-Rate Priority? | Revenues Rising as Pricing Models Evolve | 150 Credit Hours: Helping or Hindering? | Can’t Recruit? Retain! | The Accountant as a Strategic Business Partner | Report: Efficiency Still the Top Priority for Accounting Firms | Is Tech Causing Both CPA Shortage and Low Salaries? | Audit Firms Nervous about New Tech | Staffing Tops List of Woes at CPA Firms | To Replenish the Talent Pipeline, Go Back to the Classroom | Beware the Work-Life/Workload Doom Spiral
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And though the difficulty, and even impossibility, of meeting all legal requirements is a massive challenge, meeting that challenge is a driver of rapid change in the industry. This is evidenced by the second-most serious challenge, adopting new technologies – technologies directly or indirectly aimed at meeting legal requirements.
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CHARTS & GRAPHS

Student Accounting Enrollment Shows Third Year of Recovery | Cornerstone

But

New data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center shows a 12 percent increase in fall 2024 accounting enrollment compared to fall 2023. The increase amounted to an additional 28,672 students.

Total undergraduate accounting enrollment for fall 2024 was 267,278 students, the highest accounting enrollment reported since fall 2020 (263,092 students) and just shy of the pre-pandemic fall 2019 enrollment (275,963 students).

Understanding the Inflection Points
in Number of CPA Exam Candidates

CPA Trendlines Cornerstone Report

The key factors contributing to the ups and downs – mostly downs in the last three decades – of CPA exam candidates reflect broader trends in the economy, regulatory environment, and demographic landscape.

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CLIENT SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES

Are Client Services a Fourth-Rate Priority?

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There are a few barriers hindering expansion.

By CPA Trendlines Research

When the Thomson Reuters 2024 State of Tax Professionals survey asked 500 professionals in tax and accounting firms what their top priorities were, client services came in fourth, behind efficiency/automation, talent retention/hiring, and pricing/revenue.

MORE: Revenues Rising as Pricing Models Evolve | 150 Credit Hours: Helping or Hindering? | Can’t Recruit? Retain! | The Accountant as a Strategic Business Partner | Report: Efficiency Still the Top Priority for Accounting Firms | Is Tech Causing Both CPA Shortage and Low Salaries? | Audit Firms Nervous about New Tech | What Accountants Can Learn from T-Ball | Staffing Tops List of Woes at CPA Firms | To Replenish the Talent Pipeline, Go Back to the Classroom | Beware the Work-Life/Workload Doom Spiral | Why the Dry Pipeline? It’s About Time
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Note how the top three all might be included in a category called “getting your act together.” They basically deal with fine-tuning the accounting firm machine.

Putting that machine to work aims at offering more or better client services and, the fifth priority, growing the practice.
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PRICING, FEES & BILLING RATES

Revenues Rising as Pricing Models Evolve

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Boosting your bottom line could come down to better billing.

By CPA Trendlines Research

One thing CPA practices aren’t complaining about is revenue. According to a Thomson Reuters survey conducted in the first quarter of 2024, 72 percent of 500 respondents say their firms’ revenues increased over the previous 12 months.

MORE: 150 Credit Hours: Helping or Hindering? | Can’t Recruit? Retain! | Is Tech Causing Both CPA Shortage and Low Salaries? | Staffing Tops List of Woes at CPA Firms | Why the Dry Pipeline? It’s About Time | Whole Person Retention: When It’s Not Just the Money | Seven Enticements to Keep Talent On Board | Disruptors: Talent Crisis? What Talent Crisis? | Seven Steps to a Stronger Future | Auditing Standards ‘Yellow Book’ Updated | Compensation’s Up, but Up Enough to Retain Staff?
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Average increase: 24 percent.

Not bad, if you like money.
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POLITICS & GOVERNMENT

Pause to Praise the Tax Pro Volunteers

Two businesswomen meeting in an office

They prepared 9.3 percent more returns this year.

By CPA Trendlines Research

CPA Trendlines hereby calls for a pause in the post-season doldrums to salute the 67,000 tax pro volunteers and other concerned citizens who helped the needy file their tax returns this year.

MORE: IRS vs. Fraudsters | Imagine! The National Tax Advocate Does | Art Werner: Maximizing Fringe Benefits | Is the IRS Mismeasuring Phone Service? | IRS Makes Big Progress But … | Tax Practitioners Say Happy Days Are Here … Again | The IRS Is Coming! Get Your Clients into Compliance | End Tax Season Meetings with Clients … Seriously | Brandon Hall: Firms Try to Make Too Much on Tax Prep | Eight Steps to Getting Started with AI: A Guide for Tax Professionals | FTC Nails TurboTax for ‘Free Filing’ Scam | If Only the IRS’s Tax Pro Were Useful | ID Theft a Problem for IRS Even When It Doesn’t Exist | The Nightmare of Non-credentialed Tax Preparers | Taxpayer Assistance Centers: A Good Idea That Should Be Better | IRS Still Falling Short on Service | Must the IRS Be a Dark Hole?
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Yes, 67,000. That’s really an impressive number of people. Not only are they coming to the rescue of people who, despite their problems and limitations, really want to pay their taxes, but they are doing so during the tax season.
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