QUESTION: Most of my clients are either tax returns or small business clients. The number of individual tax returns grows each year, but I seem to be standing still with business clients. For every new one I get, I lose one. Otherwise, I have about a 6 or 7 percent turnover. Is there anything I can do to keep them?
RESPONSE: I think small business clients need extra hand-holding from us because they are really alone.
Attending and learning from conferences can be amazing opportunities for your career or your business. They can also be huge money drains. It’s easy to take a look at the conference registration and make a quick decision about whether we can afford it – or even worse – whether it will clear our credit card limit or not. READ MORE →
With practitioners across the country reporting strong demand for new hires, the nation’s tax, accounting and bookkeeping industries added 1,400 new jobs last month, with some sectors marking new highs for 2014 and approaching the pre-crash peak six years ago.
Jennifer Dizon, an audit and advisory partner at Hood & Strong’s San Jose, Calif., office, tells CPA Trendlines her firm is looking to hire.
“We need more staff to service business growth,” says Dizon, who is also the newly elected state chapter president of the National Association of Women Business Owners.
Ryman
In Elkhart, Kan., enrolled agent Terri Ryman at Southwest Tax & Accounting says the office is “getting busier.” She “can’t keep up.”
In Northridge, Calif., Gene Wechsler at Wechsler Accountancy reports a similar trend. “The firm continues to grow at the rate of 1 to 2 new clients per week.”
Needs vary though. “We need an additional tax preparer and accountant for small business monthly work,” says one of the owners of a seven-person firm in Prescott, Ariz., which is “currently advertising for an accountant/tax preparer.”
Hutchinson
In Bellevue, Wash., managing partner Marc Hutchinson at the six-CPA Bashey, Hutchinson, & Walter reports, “We need experienced accountants, and ones that can take over the firm’s clients over the next 10 years.”
In this study, CPA Trendlines reports on:
Current hiring trends in each of the bookkeeping, tax, payroll and CPA firm segments of the industry.
Average hourly wages for key segments.
Typical hours worked per week.
And trends concerning women in the accounting workforce.
With 80 percent of first-generation firms never turning over to a second generation of owners, it’s no wonder that merger mania continues unabated. Each year sees increased merger activity over the one previous.
“Merger mania” is particularly prevalent among the top 10 to 25 firms in the largest 75 markets in the U.S. and Canada, partly due to the “new normal” – an economy that remains too sluggish to satisfy the ambitious growth targets of these top performers. But acquiring talent and niches is equally as important a reason for mergers to these larger firms, as is increased revenue.
The Internet has had a profound impact on accounting firm operations and communications. What if you lost your Internet connection? On April 13? READ MORE →
By Ed Mendlowitz
What’s on accountants’ CPE agendas this year? 
Two strategies to minimize business risk from Internet failure.