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

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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POLITICS & GOVERNMENT

IRS vs. Fraudsters

The endless war is not going well.

By CPA Trendlines Research

The fraudsters of the world continue to see the U.S. Treasury as a bountiful chest of riches just waiting to be plundered.

It doesn’t take much. A taxpayer’s name, a Social Security number, a bank account number, maybe an email address, a phone number and a little luck.

MORE: Imagine! The National Tax Advocate Does | Art Werner: Maximizing Fringe Benefits | Is the IRS Mismeasuring Phone Service? | IRS Makes Big Progress But … | Business Booming, but Not as Much as Last Year | Busy Season Barometer Offers Clues for Better Business | 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 | Tax Pros File 33% of Early Returns | Can’t IRS Online Accounts Be More Useful?
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The IRS is used to this. It knows what to do about it.

It just doesn’t do it very well.
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OUTLOOK & ANALYSIS

150 Credit Hours: Helping or Hindering?

One study suggests there is little if any upside but plenty of downside.

By CPA Trendlines Research

Four decades ago, the American Institute of CPAs promulgated a rule requiring accountants to complete 150 credit hours to qualify for certification, an increase from 120 hours. Basically, it required a fifth year of college education.

MORE: 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? | 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 | Whole Person Retention: When It’s Not Just the Money | Global Trends Show Many Dissatisfied CPAs | More Big Firms Shut Their Doors to New College Grads | Seven Enticements to Keep Talent On Board
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State boards of accountancy had discretion over when to enact the rule. By 2015, all states and U.S. territories had adopted it.

Fun fact: the national rule did not impose any requirements on what courses the students had to take. It didn’t have to be courses on tax law or accounting standards. Philosophy, music theory or basket-weaving would do. State boards, however, often mandate specific course requirements.
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PRO Member Exclusive

Can’t Recruit? Retain!

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Other options: outsourcing, M&A, even freelancers with different skill sets.

By CPA Trendlines Research

There’s no good news coming out of the talent pipeline. There are fewer accounting majors coming in at the college end, and fewer coming out at the CPA exam end.

The reasons are legion. Kids these days have little interest in a career reputed to be boring and exhausting. They can make more money in some other area of finance or business. The extra credit hours take too long and cost too much.

MORE: 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 | Business Model Transformation: Do It or Die | Misperceptions, Corrections, Accountancy and Lemonade
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The 2024 Thomson Reuters State of Tax Professionals Report sums it up with illustrative stats.

  • 39 percent say recruitment will be “highly challenging” in 2024.
  • Another quarter say it will be “somewhat challenging.”
  • 33 percent of firms with four or more employees say talent will be a top priority.

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