OUTLOOK & ANALYSIS

Covid Crushes Rosey Forecasts

By

Survey shows hopes for a smooth and profitable 2020 are destroyed by a floundering economy.

CPA Trendlines Business Barometer:
How accountants are managing:
Join the survey. Get the results.

By CPA Trendlines Research

The resilience of the coronavirus and the continued spread of Covid-19 has accountants shifting the focus of their concerns.

MORE: The Seven Factors Keeping Accounting Firms Afloat Amid Covid-19 [Survey Results] |  Feeling the Pain? The Biggest Job Losses by Client Sector  |  Tax Season Pivots to Covid Rescue Season  |  How Accountants Are Coping with COVID-19 |  SURVEY: Confronting Coronavirus Chaos | Planning for the Coronavirus Recession | Tax Season Turns Ugly under Coronavirus | Tax Season Turns Ugly under Coronavirus | Coronavirus Culture-Shift Hits Accounting Firms | 41 Items to Check on Business Tax Returns | Tax Season Funnies: The Poetic Versions | How to Stop Drowning in COVID Tax Deadlines [Webinar]

CPA Trendlines is providing FREE access to some of our latest coronavirus crisis updates: Start here for a guide to all our free coverage.

GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

Ages ago—back in February, B.C. (Before Covid)—the CPA Trendlines 2020 Busy Season Barometer survey found that out of 14 common concerns, economic conditions were of the least concern, the bottom of the list, worrying just eight percent of respondents.

Covid changes everything.

READ MORE →

The Seven Factors Keeping Accounting Firms Afloat Amid COVID-19

By

And the top five survival strategies, according to CPA Trendlines Research.

Confirmed cases. Source: jhu.edu

CPA Trendlines Business Barometer:
How accountants are managing:
Join the survey. Get the results.

By CPA Trendlines Research

Under the historically unprecedented pressures of the Covid-19 pandemic, U.S. accounting firms large and small are adapting as fast as they can—or rather, as fast as they must.

MORE:  Feeling the Pain? The Biggest Job Losses by Client Sector  |  Tax Season Pivots to Covid Rescue Season  |  How Accountants Are Coping with COVID-19 |  SURVEY: Confronting Coronavirus Chaos | Planning for the Coronavirus Recession | Tax Season Turns Ugly under Coronavirus | Tax Season Turns Ugly under Coronavirus | Coronavirus Culture-Shift Hits Accounting Firms | 41 Items to Check on Business Tax Returns | Tax Season Funnies: The Poetic Versions | How to Stop Drowning in COVID Tax Deadlines [Webinar]

CPA Trendlines is providing FREE access to some of our latest coronavirus crisis updates: Start here for a guide to all our free coverage.

GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

Practitioners are striving, struggling, scrambling to do what they have always done, and on top of that, to learn what they never knew in order to serve clients as in ways they needed to before.

Less than three months from when the first cases were reported, the pandemic has taken the lives of over 70,000 Americans and is approaching 3,000 deaths a day. While the pandemic has been a shock to the economy, tax and accounting practices appear to be maneuvering through it better than many other businesses.

READ MORE →

Feeling the Pain? The Biggest Job Losses by Client Sector

By

Jobs survey pinpoints client niches suffering the most under Covid. BONUS: Infographic.

CPA Trendlines Business Barometer:
How accountants are managing:
Join the survey. Get the results.

By CPA Trendlines Research

Private sector employment decreased by 20.2 million jobs from March to April according to the April ADP National Employment Report, and that doesn’t reflect the full impact of COVID-19.

A quick scan of the data shows the hardest hit client sectors, with the smallest businesses hit particularly hard.

More Staffing and Hiring Trends:  Planning for the Coronavirus Recession |  Automation and the Future of Accounting  |  Getting and Keeping the Best: The Struggle Continues |  Headcounts Dip by 3,500 in Tax & Accounting |  Creative Perks for Remote Employees |  What Staffing Shortage? |  Hiring Trends Flash Warning Signs of Slowdown in Tax & Accounting |  Salary Survey: Top Skills Getting Top Pay

See: All CPA Trendlines Special Coronavirus Crisis Coverage

GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

“Job losses of this scale are unprecedented. The total number of job losses for the month of April alone was more than double the total jobs lost during the Great Recession,” says Ahu Yildirmaz, co-head of the ADP Research Institute. “Additionally, it is important to note that the report is based on the total number of payroll records for employees who were active on a company’s payroll through the 12th of the month. This is the same time period the Bureau of Labor and Statistics uses for their survey.”

The Details by Company Size and Business Sector:

READ MORE →

Tax Season Pivots to Covid Rescue Season

By

Shifting from tax prep to Covid relief: Karyn Vaughn, Deann Hill, and Joanne Bryson.
Shifting from tax prep to Covid relief: Karyn Vaughn, Deann Hill, and Joanne Bryson.

It ain’t pretty: 62% of accountants switch outlook from “better” to “worse.”

BUSY SEASON BAROMETER
How’s COVID-19 impacting accounting firms?
Join the survey. Get the answers.

By CPA Trendlines Research

The sentiments of accountants this busy season have been as up and down as the Dow Jones.

MORE on TAX SEASON: How Accountants Are Coping with COVID-19 |  SURVEY: Confronting Coronavirus Chaos | Planning for the Coronavirus Recession | Tax Season Turns Ugly under Coronavirus | Tax Season Turns Ugly under Coronavirus | Coronavirus Culture-Shift Hits Accounting Firms | 41 Items to Check on Business Tax Returns | Tax Season Funnies: The Poetic Versions | How to Stop Drowning in COVID Tax Deadlines [Webinar]

GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

The year started off on an optimistic note. But by the time the coronavirus got real, all hope had been abandoned.

READ MORE →

IRS Web Traffic Doubles over Year-Ago

By

data chart
^ Data for the week ending April 24, 2020

As filers seek stimulus checks.

BUSY SEASON BAROMETER
How’s COVID-19 impacting your firm?
Join the survey. Sound off. Get answers.

By Beth Bellor

Want a bright spot in the IRS’ weekly updates on tax filings? It’s website traffic, more than double what it was a year ago.

MORE: COVID Drowns IRS in New Filings | 2020 Tax Season Comes to a Screeching Halt | The Tax Season 2020 Dumpster Fire | Tax Pros Fall Behind 6.2% in Returns Filed | Tax Pros Trail by 908,000 Returns | Tax Pro IRS Filings Lag by 532,000 | Tax Pro E-Filings Lag by 512,000 Returns | Tax Pros Kick into High Gear
GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

Everything else? A sea of red.
READ MORE →