CPA Profession Facing More Battles Across the Country

Disputes revolve around required hours, definitions and “substantial equivalency.”

By Steven Sacks
The NEW Fundamentals: Thriving in Disruption

Of all the states whose legislature has run amok this past year, the Florida legislature passed House Bill 813 – Certified Public Accountants – by both the Florida House and Senate. This bill creates a new “retired status” license category for CPAs. The legislation will now be sent to Gov. Ron DeSantis for consideration for being signed into law.

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According to the Florida Institute of CPAs CEO, the thinking behind this is to “… uphold retired CPAs’ profound sense of pride and accomplishment and preserve their professional identity.” However, they cannot reflect to the public that they have an active license because many believe the public thinks that if you have “CPA” after your name, you have an active license. If an individual wants to return to public practice, they can complete 80 hours of CPE every two years as part of renewing their license.

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Accountants’ Advice: Be Careful, Quick, Creative … and Lean

Businessman giving advice to female coworker

Survey respondents look beyond tax season.

By CPA Trendlines Research

Just about every small business has an accountant, and smart business owners tap their accountant not just for tax prep but for general business advice.

And smart accountants offer smart advice. Because what’s good for the client is good for the accountant.

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The CPA Trendlines 2024 Busy Season Barometer has harvested quite a bit of smart advice with an open-ended question about the best advice for small businesses.

Responses bounced all over the business ballpark, but a lot of them warned of change and economic turbulence.
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Seven Steps to a Stronger Future

six people in business clothing lined up at start of athletic track

Fees and business lines of course, but what about an operations person?

By CPA Trendlines Research

The AICPA’s National Management of an Accounting Practice (MAP) survey took a good look at a lot of data – revenues and profits, staff turnover and professional salaries, services and fees.

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And then, toward the end, it says, “But all the data in the universe won’t do you any good if you don’t do something with it.”

It then calls on CPA firms to evolve if they want to survive and thrive through seismic shifts in technology and marketing.
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Tax Stats Still Playing Catchup

data tableRefund numbers are down but amounts are up.

By Beth Bellor
CPA Trendlines Research

The end is in sight. Documents are signed, buttons are pushed and tax returns are filed. The pile is growing smaller.

If you want optimism, don’t look at the latest Internal Revenue statistics. With the 2023 filing season opening Jan. 23 and the 2024 season kicking off Jan. 29, every week of 2024 reporting has seven fewer days of data than the corresponding period the previous year.

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As of the latest report, for March 22, the IRS had received 80.5 million individual income tax returns and processed 79.2 million returns, down 0.3 percent and 1.4 percent respectively from last year. The impact on your firm? Dare we say, none?

Perhaps you’ve been the beneficiary of another stat, though … the one showing tax professionals gaining ever more ground on the self-preparers.
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Accountants Bullish Locally, Bearish Nationally

One-quarter of accountants see trouble ahead for the source of their bread and butter.

By CPA Trendlines Research

The Trendlines 2024 Busy Season Barometer is unearthing a perplexing paradox.

It seems that most CPAs think their firm and their clients will do better this year – or at least no worse than last year, which itself was a pretty good year.

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At the same time, they tend to see things getting worse for the national economy and small businesses in general.

What’s going on?
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Top Performers Lead in Leverage, Culling, Outsourcing

two hands on keyboard, two hands doing other work with calculator

The causative difference? Look at the amount of work delegated downward.

By CPA Trendlines Research

The AICPA’s 2023 National Management of an Accounting Practice (MAP) survey has detected some of what distinguishes firms that stand out as top performers.

The survey defines top performers as the top 25 percent of firms based on net remaining per partner.

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More, More, More

What makes a CPA firm a top performer? In a nutshell, more:

  • More leverage of partner expertise
  • More culling of clients
  • More CPAs in the firm

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Business Booming, but Not as Much as Last Year

How does your firm compare?

By CPA Trendlines Research

If the early results from the CPA Trendlines 2024 Busy Season Barometer: Emerging Issues, Opportunities, and Trends hold true through April, this will be a pretty good year for the vast majority of accountants and tax practitioners – not quite as good as last year, but still, pretty good.

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Despite difficulties finding staff and professionals, 45 percent of respondents say they have increased their client list by at least 5 percent. (Last year, it was 65 percent.)

In fact, 14 percent have seen an increase of over 10 percent. Good, but not as good as last year’s 22 percent.
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Busy Season Barometer Offers Clues for Better Business

workers in busy office

Take a tip from a peer.

By CPA Trendlines Research

The CPA Trendlines Busy Season Barometer: Emerging Issues, Opportunities, and Trends is more than just a survey of the state of the industry at CPA firms across the nation. It also offers clues to what firms are doing to make the busy season better, easier and more profitable.

The clues are in the comments – open-ended answers where practitioners tell us what they’re doing, how they’re feeling and where they’re going.

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One of the best questions is “What are you doing differently this year?” Each answer reflects an attempt to make the best of a stressful situation – the annual tax season.

Here are a few quotes to think about, categorized by how well various respondents’ seasons are going this year. Each is an idea that might make your year better.
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