PAY & COMPENSATION

CPA Pricing Power Falters as Salaries March Upward

By

The tax and accounting sector shows signs of accelerating change.

By CPA Trendlines

Salaries at CPA firms are entering their second year of marked year-over-year gains, even as billing rate increases remain few and far between, according to a new analysis by CPA Trendlines.

MORE: Most Tax and Accounting Firms Are Relying on Pay Raises in a Losing Battle for Talent | Higher Wages, Fewer Jobs: A New Era for CPA Staffing | Struggling to Keep Up with Market Salaries? |

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

An industry that once seemed stable and predictable is now anything but. Some can call it a transformation. For others, it’s a massive dislocation.

READ MORE →

Most Tax and Accounting Firms Are Relying on Pay Raises in a Losing Battle for Talent

By

Hiring in the management consulting sector slows, but remains positive. Tax & accounting sector shrinks workforce.

By CPA Trendlines Research

The professional services industry is accelerating a quiet but consequential reshaping toward higher-end advisory services and away from low-end compliance work.

ASK CPA Trendlines A.I.: Where do accountants go when they quit?

Consulting firms have added more than 27,000 jobs over the past 12 months, pushing total headcount to 1.56 million. In contrast, the accounting, bookkeeping, and payroll sector remains stuck near 1.155 million employees, a plateau that has persisted for much of the past three years, according to a new analysis by CPA Trendlines Research.

READ MORE →

Longobardi: Governance, Growth, & the PE Playbook | Big 4 Transparency

By

“I had to learn to be a political animal.”

This is a preview. The complete video episode, with commentary and transcript, is first available exclusively to PRO Members | Go PRO here
Sponsored by “It’s NOT Just the Numbers: How to Move Beyond the Numbers and Deliver REAL Value for Your Clients.”
by Penny Breslin and Damien Greathead. See Today’s Special Offer

Stream, listen, download, and subscribe to CPA Trendlines podcasts anywhere: Apple, Google/Youtube, Spotify, iHeart, Deezer, Amazon Music and Audible, Player FM, Audacy, RSS

Big 4 Transparency
By Dominic Piscopo, CPA
For CPA Trendlines

In a candid conversation on the Big 4 Transparency show, former CohnReznick CEO Frank Longobardi offers a sweeping view of the accounting industry’s transformation, advocating for private equity investment as a necessary catalyst for modernization. Speaking with host Dominic Piscopo, Longobardi explains how traditional partnership structures have often hindered strategic decision-making, especially in large firms where a board of ten or more can slow progress. “You’ve got people on the board at different ages, different objectives, and different disciplines,” he says. “A smaller circle with clear strategic goals allows partners to do what they do best: serve clients and lead people.” 

MORE Dominic Piscopo

MORE Pay & Compensation

Longobardi also highlights how the profession’s talent model is out of step with the expectations of today’s workforce.

“You hire a top student and tell them they’ll make partner in 16 years,” he notes. “Meanwhile, their friends in finance are seeing returns now—when they’re raising kids and buying houses.”

Private equity, Longobardi argues, can address this by offering earlier equity opportunities and aligning incentives across generations. “We need to make accounting a profession of choice again,” he says, pointing to declining enrollment in accounting programs and the deterrent of the fifth-year requirement for CPA licensure. 

READ MORE →

Higher Wages, Fewer Jobs: A New Era for CPA Staffing

By

AI and India Replace U.S. Staff in CPA Industry Shakeup.

The great restructuring: After the pandemic rebound, hiring gradually slows, finally going negative this year.

By CPA Trendlines Research

The nation’s tax and accounting firms are cutting job rosters even as they’re aggressively raising wages, signifying a structural retrenchment redefining how firms produce and deliver services, according to a new study by CPA Trendlines Research.

MORE Tax and Accounting Wages Hit Record Highs | Show Us the Money! Accountants Are Making More | Chris Vanover: Audit, Now with 100% Less Misery | The Disruptors | Gen AI in Accounting: Epic Transformation, or Overheated Hype? | AI Will Steal Your Job. And That’s a Good Thing | Accounting ARC | Steve Evans: Why Traditional Hiring Methods Fail | The Disruptors

U.S. firms are scaling back staff-level roles, favoring automation and offshore operations. Generative AI and cloud platforms now perform tasks once handled by entry-level staff, including reconciliations, bookkeeping, and basic tax prep. Simultaneously, more firms are offloading transactional services to overseas teams, particularly in India, in response to domestic labor shortages and cost containment efforts.

READ MORE →

Struggling to Keep Up with Market Salaries?

By

portrait of Dominic Piscopo
Piscopo

Three common misconceptions and how you can compete.

By Dominic Piscopo, CPA
Founder of Big 4 Transparency and
host of the Big 4 Transparency Podcast

I can’t tell you how many firm owners complain to me about the talent shortage and how it’s holding back their growth. In truth, plenty of talent exists. It just may not be out there at the prices you’re willing to pay.

MORE: Tax and Accounting Wages Hit Record Highs | Panel: Radical Changes Coming in Pay and AI | Accounting Influencers
GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

 

When firms come to us to source an open position, they usually share a job description that looks solid. But when we get to the salary range they have in mind, it’s often way below what’s being paid in today’s market. That’s usually why they’re not generating as many good candidates as they hope.
READ MORE →

Dominic Piscopo: Clear Pay=Bargaining Power | The Disruptors

By

“If you can’t afford fair salaries, it’s time to fix your machine—not squeeze your people.”

This is a preview. The complete 1-hour video episode, with commentary and transcript, is first available exclusively to PRO Members | Go PRO here
Sponsored by CPA Trendlines Pro Membership, Where Accounting Pros Go Pro  – See Today’s Special Offer

Subscribe to CPA Trendlines podcasts anywhere: Apple, Google/Youtube, Spotify, iHeart, Deezer, Amazon Music, Audible, Player FM, Audacy, RSS

The Disruptors
With Liz Farr

Like many accountants, Dominic Piscopo, the founder of Big4Transparency.com, was frustrated by the lack of transparency in salary data. “I’d found it really, really frustrating trying to get good quality data on what to expect, looking ahead for my salary,” Piscopo explains. Before creating the platform, Piscopo discovered his firm offered the lowest starting salaries in his city. By gathering compensation data from peers and presenting it to leadership, he secured “a little bit under a 10% pay bump” for his entire cohort.

MORE PODCASTS and VIDEOS: Debbie Kilsheimer: Stop Thinking Small | Dave Kersting: Collaborate with Co-Firming | Ashley Francis: AI’s a Partner, Not a Replacement | Richard Roppa-Roberts: Collaboration Over Competition | Ira Rosenbloom: M&A Numbers Are Easy – Culture Fit Is Hard | Roman Villard: Ditch the Suit & Shine | Monique Swansen: Align Firm Values with Services | Tina McGill: How to Create Lasting Client Impact | Stefan van Duyvendijk: Develop Operational Mindset | Steve Evans: Why Traditional Hiring Methods Fail | Roger Knecht: Can You Be an Accountrepreneur? | Beth Whitworth: Focus on Outcomes Not Hours |Mike Sylvester: Learn to Say No | Salim Omar: Identify Your Client’s $100,000 Problem | Jackie Meyer: Earn More with Fewer Clients | Jack Fleherty: Don’t Be a ‘Yes’ Person | Greg Adams: From Finance to Storytelling | The Disruptors | Jody Padar: Make Radical Changes Now If You Want to Be Relevant in 2030 | Rebecca Driscoll: Amplify Reach By Helping Other Firm Owners | Rory Henry: Create the Return on Relationships | Mike Maksymiw: Be the Leader You Wish You Had |

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

“Data is so powerful,” he says. “If you can advocate for yourself and show real objective numbers, then it becomes a real conversation, versus just like, ‘Oh, my employee is throwing a fit.’”

What began as a simple spreadsheet shared on Reddit “went really, really viral, kind of right away,” confirming a significant need in the accounting community.

READ MORE →

Accounting Profession Sees Some Job Losses

By

line chart
Overall accounting profession employment

 

Payroll earnings up 11 percent.

By CPA Trendlines Research

A bit up here, a bit down there is the story for January employment figures, the most recent data available. Professional and business services saw little change, total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 143,000 and the national unemployment rate ticked down to 4.0 percent.

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

 

There are 1,144,700 people employed in the accounting profession as of January, up 600 for the month but down 9,500 or 0.8 percent for the year. They average 35 hours, down 6 minutes for the month and 1 hour or 2.8 percent for the year. They earn $42.79, up 12 cents for the month and $1.58 or 3.8 percent for the year.
READ MORE →

Kristen Rampe: Accountability and Simplicity in Partner Comp Drive Success | Gear Up For Growth

By

“Compensation is one tool, not the tool, to change behaviors and outcomes.”

Click to subscribe anywhere: Apple, Google/Youtube, Spotify, iHeart, Deezer, Amazon Music and Audible, Player FM, Audacy, Gaana (India), Boomplay (Africa), or RSS.

Gear Up for Growth
With Jean Caragher
For CPA Trendlines

Kristen Rampe, managing partner of Rosenberg Associates, spotlights two key drivers for CPA firm success: accountability and simplicity in partner compensation systems. 

Gear Up for Growth spotlights the best strategies for smart and efficient growth in today’s competitive landscape. More Gear Up for Growth every Friday here | More Capstone Conversations with Jean Caragher every Monday | More Jean Caragher here | Get her best-selling handbook, The 90-Day Marketing Plan for CPA Firms, here | More CPA Trendlines videos and podcasts here

Rampe shares insights from Rosenberg Associates’ recent report, “Partner Compensation: Why Accountability Matters,” revealing a strong correlation between accountability and firm profitability. According to the report, firms with high accountability systems reported an average income per partner of $617,000, compared to $411,000 in firms with low accountability. 

READ MORE →

Show Us the Money! Accountants Are Making More

By

young woman holding giant dollar sign in modern office

Want to retain employees? Here’s one way.

By Beth Bellor

More money. That’s what the latest data show for the accounting profession.

The final jobs report of 2024 saw the accounting profession’s numbers slip a bit, but the bodies in those seats were pulling down record earnings. Employees in the profession overall, at CPA firms and non-staff in payroll services saw their highest hourly wages ever.

MORE: Survey Says 57% of Firms Are Raising Prices Next Year | How Accounting Firms Are Handling the Staff Shortage | More Big Firms Shut Their Doors to New College Grads | Seven Enticements to Keep Talent On Board | Despite Staffing Crunch, Firms Freeze Pay Raises
GoProCPA.comExclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

 

And about time! We heard the call for better compensation in the most recent Rosenberg National Survey of CPA Firm Statistics.
READ MORE →