OUTLOOK & ANALYSIS

What’s Keeping Firms from Growing?

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Despite ideal market, challenges obstruct expansion.

By CPA Trendlines Research

If CPAs were farmers, they’d be praising the fertile fields, the shining sun, the plentitude of rain.

To put that in terms more accounting than agricultural, the market is rife with clients, the need for accounting and tax work has never been stronger, and rainmakers have never had an easier time of seeding the clouds for showers.

MORE: Five Ways to Fill the Staffing Gap | Top 10 Red Flags to Watch for in Accounting Offices | ARC | Deals 2024: Over 100 CPA Firm Mergers and Acquisitions | Barry Melancon: Private Equity and the Partnership | Gear Up For Growth | Does Your Firm Suffer Cultural Deficiencies? | Audit Fees Continue to Climb | CFOs See AI as Top Risk and Opportunity | Does Accounting Belong in STEM? | Accounting ARC | Opportunity Awaits Incoming AICPA CEO | Artificial Intelligence May Already Be Plateauing | Regulation, Geopolitical Instability Spark Concern
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But that doesn’t mean that growing an accounting firm is as easy as growing corn in Kansas. Just as firms have every chance to bring in more clients, and better clients, they find themselves needing to clear some serious obstacles before they can move ahead.
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Tax Pros See Better Year for Those Close to Home

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Young man facing image of himself

Nationally … they’re not so sure.

By CPA Trendlines Research

CPAs, Enrolled Agents and other tax practitioners are always on the front line of the economy. With offices in tens of thousands of locations across the country, they know who’s making money and who’s struggling.

According to early results from the 2025 Busy Season Barometer, accountants have completely reversed their 2024 predictions for the economy.

MORE: Art Werner: The Godfather and Tax Issues | Quick Tax Tip | Advanced Tax Preparers Need Managing, Too | The Top Ten Problems the IRS Still Needs to Fix | Tax Pros Gear Up for a Better Busy Season | IRS Processing Up; Payouts Down | Help Tax Clients Help You | Art Werner: Beneficial Ownership and Control | Four Challenges of Managing New Tax Preparers | IRS Funding Pays Eye-Popping 415x ROI | Tax Season 2025 Begins. Ready or Not. | Every Tax Reviewer Should Be Able to Answer These Ten Questions | Taxpayer Advocate Sees Big Improvements at IRS | Ask Tax Clients the Right Questions | Major Changes to Circular 230: Implications for Tax Professionals | Cornerstone Report
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A Mirror Image

What a difference a year can make. Look how the numbers have switched places, almost as if in a mirror image.
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Five Ways to Fill the Staffing Gap

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It takes more than moolah.

By CPA Trendlines Research

The 2025 CPA Trendlines Busy Barometer is finding that the talent shortage is one of the accounting industry’s primary concerns, and the Wolters Kluwer Future Ready Accountant Report confirms that the shortage of accounting professionals is expected to be a top issue over the next five years.

MORE: Show Us the Money! Accountants Are Making More | Twelve Years and Out: Seasoned Accountants Join the Exodus | How Accounting Firms Are Handling the Staff Shortage
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The shortage is global, the Wolters Kluwer report says. Around the world, 35 to 40 percent of firms identify recruitment and retention as their biggest challenge.
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Tax Pros Gear Up for a Better Busy Season

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Survey respondents say the new year means new plans.

By CPA Trendlines Research

It’s shaping up to be a pretty good year, according to early results from the 2025 Busy Season Barometer. Half expect a year better than last year’s good year, and less than 10 percent think it will be worse.

MORE: IRS Funding Pays Eye-Popping 415x ROI | Tax Season 2025 Begins. Ready or Not. | Every Tax Reviewer Should Be Able to Answer These Ten Questions | Art Werner: Corporate Transparency Act and FinCEN Reporting | Quick Tax Tip | Taxpayer Advocate Sees Big Improvements at IRS | Ask Tax Clients the Right Questions | Major Changes to Circular 230: Implications for Tax Professionals | Cornerstone Report
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Why?

  • The market’s in a good place. Plenty of clients out there.
  • So far (fingers crossed) no big changes to the tax code.
  • No pandemic quarantines (more fingers crossed).
  • The economy’s chugging right along (keep them crossed).

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IRS Processing Up; Payouts Down

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Figures for 2024 topped those of 2023 until it came to refunds.

By Beth Bellor

As the 2025 busy season kicks off and we wait for the first individual income tax return reports to trickle in, let’s take a peek at how the last drips of 2024 compared to the dregs of 2023.

MORE: Tax Pros are Making Changes for a Better Busy Season | IRS Funding Pays Eye-Popping 415x ROI | Tax Season 2025 Begins. Ready or Not. | Every Tax Reviewer Should Be Able to Answer These Ten Questions | Art Werner: Corporate Transparency Act and FinCEN Reporting | Taxpayer Advocate Sees Big Improvements at IRS | Ask Tax Clients the Right Questions | Major Changes to Circular 230: Implications for Tax Professionals | Cornerstone Report | Art Werner: Due Diligence and IRS Enforcement | Make ‘Done But’ Tax Returns a Thing of the Past | Six Methods for Getting Paid Faster This Tax Season | Use Humor to Get Tax Documents in Early
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By the end of 2024, the Internal Revenue Service had received 163.5 million returns, up 0.9 percent from the end of 2023. It had processed 163.5 million returns, up 0.3 percent, which included returns received in the prior or current year and processed in the calendar year.
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