OUTLOOK & ANALYSIS

Survey Shows Challenges, Priorities Shifting

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two worried businesspeople having coffee and looking at computer

Top concerns vary widely by firm size.

By CPA Trendlines Research

CPA firms small, midsized and large are facing new challenges and reorganizing their priorities as they shake off the aftereffects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the Wolters Kluwer 2024 Accounting Industry Report, based on a survey of 1,509 accounting firms, pricing and competitive fee pressures are the overall biggest challenges firms are dealing with. The pressure is most prominent at small firms, which comprised 90 percent of the survey respondents. Forty percent of those smaller firms said it was their top concern.

MORE: Survey Shows That Tech Remains the Great Divide | Is the CPA Business Model the Clog in the Pipeline? | Accountants Cozy Up to Clients with CAS |  CPAs Culling Clients for Better Work-Life Balance | Women-Owned Businesses Upbeat but Need Help | Accountants to the Rescue as Startups Struggle | Looking for Recent Grads? Good Luck
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This is the first time pricing has ranked among the top five challenges since 2015.

Pricing ranked third among large firms, 39 percent of which said it was a problem.
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Amber Setter: Coaching Helps Resolve the Tension Between Safety and Purpose

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Safety’s knowing you can pay the bills. Purpose is knowing there’s something more.

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The Disruptors
With Liz Farr

Amber Setter, the chief enlightenment officer for Conscious Public Accountants, started out as a Type A overachiever CPA, but after a few busy seasons, she realized that she “didn’t want to be an accountant anymore.”

 

MORE PODCASTS and VIDEOS: Blumer CPAs: Move Leaders Out of Client Service | James Graham: Drop the Billable Hour and You’ll Bill More | Karen Reyburn: Fix Your Marketing and Fix Your Business | Giles Pearson: Fix the Staffing Crisis by Swapping Experience for Education | Jina Etienne: Practice Fearless Inclusion | Bill Penczak: Stop Forcing Smart People to Do Stupid Work | Sandra Wiley: Staffing Problem? Check Your Culture | Scott Scarano: First, Grow People. Then Firm Growth Can Follow | Jody Padar: Build a Practice that Works for You, Not Vice-Versa | Ira Rosenbloom: With M&A, Nobody Wants a Fixer-Upper | Peter Margaritis: The Power Skills Every Accountant Needs | Joe Montgomery: Find the Sweet Spot of the Right Clients, Right Services and Right Prices | Marie Green: Your Bad Apples Are Ruining You | Megan Genest Tarnow: Hire for Curiosity Rather Than Compliance |

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Today she’s an executive leadership coach for accountants, helping them transform their lives and careers.

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Survey Shows That Tech Remains the Great Divide

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casually dressed man working at laptop, money stacks covering surrounding desk space

Why are the non-adopters not adopting?

By CPA Trendlines Research

Wolters Kluwer Tax and Accounting has issued its annual tax and accounting survey. The results show an industry re-evaluating its criteria for success as firmwide changes occur.

Technology is the driver of those changes, and its rapid evolution is enabling, and even necessitating, innovation.

MORE: Is the CPA Business Model the Clog in the Pipeline? | Can Big Data Spot Financial Fraud? | Accountants Torn Over 2024 Economy, Offer Advice | SURVEY: Are You Offering the Right Services? | 42% of Accountants Turn Away Work Over Staff Shortages | Talent Gap Widening: Be Very Scared | CPA Biz Is Booming, But for How Long? | SURVEY: Accountants Economic Outlook Brightens
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In her introductory letter, Cathy Rowe, Wolters Kluwer senior vice president, professional market, says, “Those who embrace innovation will be able to redefine their firms, leave no spreadsheet untouched by the winds of change, and truly be future-ready accountants.”

The numbers back up the increasing use of and dependence on technology, but they also reveal a significant part of the industry declining to board the tech train.
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Accounting Hiring Hits Another High

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line chart
Overall employment in the accounting profession

 

Tax prep is less than half the increase.

By Beth Bellor
CPA Trendlines Research

Is the accounting profession closing its staffing gap?

It sure seems that way, as employment hit an all-time high in January. Women fared well, too, reaching record levels in the field overall and in payroll services.

MORE: Staff Wages Hit Record High | Despite Staffing Crunch, Firms Freeze Pay Raises | Tax & Accounting Firms Grow for 9th Straight Month | Tax & Accounting Profession Grows, but Wages Don’t | Tax and Accounting Pay Advancing at 5.9% Pace | Accounting Jobs Up 4% for Year
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Nationally, unemployment held at 3.7 percent as total nonfarm payroll employment increased 353,000, according to the latest data available to CPA Trendlines Research. Of those new hires, 74,000 came in professional and business services, well above 2023’s monthly average of 14,000.
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Tax Pros File 33% of Early Returns

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table of IRS filing data for week ending Feb. 2, 2024

A shorter season to date makes comparisons difficult.

By CPA Trendlines Research

The Internal Revenue Service has fired up the machinery and begun cranking out tax returns. And so begins our annual ritual of tracking how well they do that.

All of the initial figures are double-digit down, largely because of seven days’ fewer collections. The 2023 filing season began on Jan. 23 vs. 2024’s Jan. 29, so 2023 totals cover 12 days as opposed to this season’s five days.

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