CPA Trendlines

Today's Features

Will Unclogging the Accounting Pro Pipeline Kill Mobility?

Changing the 150-hour requirement could have unintended consequences.

By CPA Trendlines Research

The day-to-day of the CPA may be grueling at times, but one thing makes the day a little easier – the facility of mobility.

Not only can a CPA with a driver’s license in one state drive in other states, but in most cases, they can practice their profession in other states, too. If you’re licensed to practice in one state, you’re good to go in every other state except, coincidentally, the one you can’t drive to.

MORE: Accountants Cozy Up to Clients with CAS | Accountants Torn Over 2024 Economy, Offer Advice | Are You Offering the Right Services? | 42% of Accountants Turn Away Work Over Staff Shortages | Talent Gap Widening: Be Very Scared | Looking for Recent Grads? Good Luck
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Practice mobility is crucial in a business system that often as not transcends state borders, and it’s even more important as professionals work remotely, sitting in one state while practicing in another.
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PRO Member Exclusive

Measure Knowledge Gaps (Then Close Them)

Six questions to ask, plus a real-world example.

By Ed Mendlowitz
202 Questions and Answers: Managing an Accounting Practice

QUESTION: I suspect that my partner has “maxed out” and cannot grow further, which will retard our growth. What can I do or how can I deal with this?

MORE: 47 Types of Business Valuation to Provide | Referral Fee? Forget It | How Much Is Your Tax Practice Worth? | Merge in Lower-Priced Work without Losing Out
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RESPONSE: This is a frequent question, and sometimes it is the person asking it who has “maxed out.” But sometimes it is the partner or a key staff who wants to be made a partner.
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ADVISORY & CONSULTING

See Your Client to a Graceful Exit

It takes a few years, so get started.

By Anthony Glomski

Research from the Family Firm Institute shows that only three in 10 (30%) closely held family businesses survive into the second generation. Just one in eight (12%) are still viable into the third generation, and a mere 3 percent operate into the fourth generation or beyond. Those statistics are even more disturbing because the same research shows that the vast majority of business families are overly optimistic – they believe they will be in control of their companies five years hence.

MORE: Is Your Client’s Wealth Truly Protected? | Eight Questions for Estate Planning | Clients Who Don’t Listen | How to Outline Your Client’s Big Picture | Target the Family CEO
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Given this gloomy success record for family business transitions, it is no wonder that 60 to 70 percent of family wealth is lost by the second generation and that 90 percent is lost by the third generation. It does not have to be this way.
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Cornerstone

Cornerstone Report: CPA Billing Rates, Tax Return Fees, and Client Accounting Pricing at CPA Firms | 2024

CPA Trendlines Research Cornerstone Reports deliver instant situational awareness on the day’s hottest topics.

By CPA Trendlines Research

The billing rates, fees, and pricing strategies at CPA firms are influenced by various factors, including the type of service, the CPA’s experience, geographic location, and the client’s financial complexity.

MORE on Pricing.

As the demand for specialized financial services grows and technology evolves, CPA firms adapt their pricing models to meet client needs and ensure sustainable business growth.

Cornerstone

A Brief History of the US Income Tax, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Tax, Accounting and CPA Profession | Cornerstone

Cornerstone Report

By CPA Trendlines Research

The Internal Revenue Service has a long and complex history dating back to the early days of the United States. The story of the IRS intersects at critical points with the development of the tax, accounting and CPA profession.

MORE Cornerstone Reports here

The current federal income tax can be traced back to the Revenue Act 1913, passed after the states ratified the 16th Amendment to the Constitution. The act provided that taxes on individual taxpayers would be imposed beginning in 1913 on incomes of $3,000 and up.

Cornerstone

CPA Trendlines Almanac: Key Data Points for the Tax, Accounting and Finance Profession 2024

Cornerstone Data Points

Market Size and Scope READ MORE →

PRO Member Exclusive

AI Brings Opportunities for Accountants

The profession will reap some of the greatest impact.

By Hitendra Patil
Client Accounting Services: The Definitive Success Guide

OpenAI, the creator of the wildly popular artificial intelligence (AI) tool ChatGPT, conducted a research study with the University of Pennsylvania. It identified the occupations with the most significant impact potential because of large language models (LLMs, like ChatGPT). Among the occupations with the highest exposure to AI are accountants, auditors and tax preparers!

MORE: Seven Things You Must Know about AI
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What does it mean?

1. To quote some (edited somewhat for more straightforward reading) of the essential notes from the research:
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MARKETING & SALES

Six Ways to Market Your Technology Consulting Practice

Plus how to decide what services to offer.

By August J. Aquila
Price It Right: How to Value Accounting Services

Computer consulting has evolved over the last 30 years and there are more choices than ever before. In fact, it is much more than just a computer and is now rebranded as technology consulting. Recent changes in technology will force us to learn a new type of technology consulting. Despite your current level of technology consulting sophistication, you will still need to market your services.

MORE: Five Reasons to Implement Change Orders | Why You Need Progress Billing | Five Tips for Cross-Selling and Upselling | Five Keys to Successful Marketing | Twelve Fundamentals of Planning | One Question to Guide Your Growth Plans | Four Ways to Prepare for New Business Development
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Get started by asking yourself (your team) the following three questions:
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POLITICS & GOVERNMENT

Reader to IRS: Stop Whining and Get to Work

An accountant has had enough of broken promises.

EDITOR’S NOTE: A reader shared with us an open letter sent to the IRS. We removed some capitalization, bold/italic type and extra punctuation, but every word is just as written.

Open letter via priority mail; delivery signature required

The Honorable Daniel Werfel, Commissioner
Internal Revenue Service
1111 Constitution Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20224

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RE: AICPA presentation 11-14-23. Please stop complaining about budgets. Focus on setting priorities, allocating resources, Taxpayer Bill of Rights and the strategic operating plan like the rest of us out here; stop whining and just do your job.
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CLIENT SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES

Eleven Ways to Serve Clients Even Better

Improve your relationships and your revenue.

By Sandi Leyva
The Complete Guide to Marketing for Tax & Accounting Firms

As you build your relationships with your clients, it’s always a good thing to see how you can serve them even better.

Here are 11 ways you can add value to your existing services that will enable you to stand out from the competition, serve the client better and put more green in your bank account.

MORE: Give to Receive, and Eight More Ways to Boost Sales | Five Ways to Target the Low-Hanging Fruit | Are Your Revenue Projections Realistic? | Six Strategies to Make More without Working More | The Art of Prompt Engineering for Accountants | Calculate Your Business Relationship Ratios
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As you go through the list, check them off to see which ones you are doing, and which ones sound good to add to your business.
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PRO Member Exclusive

Core Values: Why Your Firm Needs Them

Plus 12 examples. Which work for you?

By Marc Rosenberg
The Rosenberg Practice Management Library

Core values are the attitudes and beliefs that define a firm’s culture and a critical ingredient in a successful compensation plan.

MORE: Five Keys in Compensating New Managing Partners | Top 20 Tough Choices for the Partner Comp Committee | Tell Potentials What Partnership Takes | Disturb the Present to Improve the Future
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Partners talk about the firm’s core values all the time, pointing out instances when someone’s behavior has clearly been impacted by them. These values are incorporated in processes throughout the firm, such as in the development and evaluation process, in the way income is allocated to partners, and in what raises are given to staff.
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MARKETING & SALES

Bissett Bullet: Who Do You Know?

Today’s Bissett Bullet: “We convert high-profit clients by creating peer-level relationships and earning respect. We convert low-profit ones by discounting and devaluing.”

By Martin Bissett

If you ever hear an expert or practice guru advising you to lowball fees in order to win work, stop listening to them immediately, burn all the books you have in their name and understand that this is a profit-first business. Lowballing always creates a profit-last scenario in your future.

Today’s To-Do:

Take a look today at how many relationships you have with introducers in your locale, be they bank managers, be they financial advisers or be they somebody else altogether. If you do not have many of those, you need to strengthen your peer-level relationships in the town that you are in.

See more Bissett Bullets here

CLIENT ACCOUNTING SERVICES

CAS ‘One-Stop Shop’ Means Steady Clientele

bar chart Accountants share which niches offer the best new opportunities.

By CPA Trendlines Research

How do you measure success in client accounting services?

MORE CAS SURVEY: Accountants Cozy Up to Clients with CAS
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Almost half of early respondents to the CPA Trendlines Outlook 2024: Emerging Issues, Opportunities and Trends survey define success as that glorious moment when they become a one-stop shop for their clients.
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