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OUTLOOK & ANALYSIS

Desperate CFOs are Outsourcing Accounting Functions

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25 percent of CFOs will be looking for staff accountants. Personiv

Can CPA firms take advantage?

By CPA Trendlines Research

CPA firms have long been aware of the worsening talent shortage. Fewer students are majoring in accountancy. Fewer are pursuing CPA certification. And baby boomer leaders of accounting firms are retiring more often than ever.

MORE: Does Firm Culture Still Matter? | Tax and Accounting Jobs and Salaries Show Strength | Tax Law is Driving Practice Development | 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
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Now financial leaders in the corporate sector are feeling the pinch. A survey issued by personnel agency Personiv finds that 83 percent of senior corporate leaders recognize the accounting talent crunch, way up from 70 percent in 2022 and 63 percent in 2020. And 10 percent say the shortage is getting worse.

No surprise, then, that 90 percent of CFOs who responded to the survey say they have outsourced at least some accounting functions.
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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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