Accounting Hiring Hits Another High

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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How to Craft a Service Level Agreement

Man and woman at table in client meeting

BONUS: A sample checklist.

By Penny Breslin
It’s Not Just the Numbers

Anytime there is a business relationship between entities, expect to see a contract or some form of written agreement. In outsourcing, as in many other relationships, this is called a service level agreement (SLA). This agreement is used to establish the scope of the engagement. It clearly states who is responsible for what, when, where and how. It provides a quid pro quo that you can verify with the business owner(s), so that both parties are fully aware of their obligations.

MORE: Three Examples: Pricing Your BOS Value Add | How to Assess Needs for a Client Proposal | Best Practices for Source Doc Permissions and Handling | Every Back Office Support Client Needs a Playbook | Strengthen Client Ties with Workflow Tools | Understand Your Online Marketing Options | Narrow Your Prospects by Choosing a Vertical | Build Your Team, Then Choose Your Clients | How Back Office Support Adds Value
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The important thing is to go through each function and each area with the business owners(s), have them read it with you together and check off each item so that they are clear on what you expect from them, and so you are clear on what deliverables you are promising.
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How to Use the Three Types of Artificial Intelligence

Your firm will need to redefine its processes.

By Hitendra Patil
Rise of The AiCCOUNTANTS

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a rage worldwide now, and accountants are racing ahead to test/try out publicly available AI tools. AI-powered tools can potentially automate tasks outside the purview of the software solutions created by programmers. AI also has the potential to help accountants to better understand and analyze data, which is essential for helping their clients, and accountants themselves make better informed business decisions.

MORE: AI Means Clients Need You More Than Ever | Seven Changes AI Brings to Accounting | Humans Beat AI in Some Aspects | Why Accountants Should Embrace Artificial Intelligence | AI Brings Opportunities for Accountants | Seven Things You Must Know about AI
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All of you (almost) have already tried ChatGPT. But it is just one type of AI – a generative, large language model (LLM). As it is “language”-based, it can, right now, quickly help accountants enhance marketing and client communications.
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Three Examples: Pricing Your BOS Value Add

 

Woman examining document

How to take that big first step.

By Penny Breslin
It’s Not Just the Numbers

The big part of pricing is the value added. How do we go from fixed to value-added pricing where the firm actually can really make a difference and move from just back-office support to client advisory services? The steps to get there mean providing the base of BOS so that you have the needed knowledge to perform client advisory services.

MORE: How to Assess Needs for a Client Proposal | How to Maximize On-Site Client Meetings | Sixteen Guidelines for Naming Conventions | You Have to Manage Three Kinds of Procedures | Tech Tips for Back Office Support | Decoding Accounting Tech (and All Those Acronyms) | Digital Marketing Strategies Level the Playing Field | Eight Tasks to Delegate Today
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The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics states that about 20 percent of small businesses will fail in their first year and by the end of the fifth year 50 percent will fail.
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AI Means Clients Need You More Than Ever

Businesswoman in wheelchair meeting with potential client

Four ways to prepare.

By Hitendra Patil
Rise of The AiCCOUNTANTS

We have discussed that AI-powered functions will become more potent with time. It will not feel like an overnight apocalypse, provided you are keeping yourself abreast of the progress of artificial intelligence in the accounting profession.

MORE: Seven Changes AI Brings to Accounting | Humans Beat AI in Some Aspects | Why Accountants Should Embrace Artificial Intelligence | AI Brings Opportunities for Accountants | Seven Things You Must Know about AI
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But how exactly can you prepare for the era when AI metamorphoses your work?

Before entering the new AI-powered era, let us figure out what is happening now.
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Accounting Jobs Back On the Rise

line chart
Overall accounting profession employment

 

Tax prep is an exception.

By Beth Bellor

The accounting profession has regained some ground in the most recent jobs data available to CPA Trendlines Research. There are 1,162,100 people employed in the field, up 4,400 or 0.4 percent for the month and 30,400 or 2.7 percent for the year. The figure is just 1,200 shy of the record set in July.

 

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, overall employment – total nonfarm payroll – increased by 216,000 the same month, pegging unemployment at 3.7 percent. Professional and business services added 13,000.

Accountants are putting in 36.2 hours weekly – the highest mark since October 2022 – up half an hour or 1.4 percent for the month and 12 minutes or 0.6 percent for the year.
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How to Assess Needs for a Client Proposal

Businesswoman using a tablet

Use an anticipatory set to make things easier for both sides.

By Penny Breslin
It’s Not Just the Numbers

In 2000, our company created a QuickBooks training DVD. The owner wanted it done professionally and hired a movie company and rented a studio. The RFP went out. All proposals received had a fee for discovery.

MORE: How to Maximize On-Site Client Meetings | Use Timesheets for Productivity, Not Billing | Revisit Your Back Office Support Procedures | Federated Search: What It Is, Why It Matters | Accounting Tech Tools to Minimize Your Pain | Do Your Apps Play Well with Others? | It’s OK to Have Favorite Clients | Ten Questions for Teamwork
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Today, if you were to hire a development team to create, update or install code, they would charge you a certain amount for discovery before they would do any actual coding. What you are paying for is the development of the anticipatory set and a clear definition of the scope.
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How to Maximize On-Site Client Meetings

Plus two traps to avoid.

By Penny Breslin
It’s Not Just the Numbers

“We can evade reality, but we cannot evade the consequences of evading reality.” – Ayn Rand

The reality is that the robots and AI are here, and they will eventually take over much – if not all – of the day-to-day work that is typically done by a human interacting with a computer. You may not like it, but you cannot avoid it. So utilize robots to make your life easier.

MORE: Use Timesheets for Productivity, Not Billing | Best Practices for Source Doc Permissions and Handling | Every Back Office Support Client Needs a PlaybookStrengthen Client Ties with Workflow Tools | Understand Your Online Marketing Options | Narrow Your Prospects by Choosing a Vertical | Advisory Services Done Your Way | AI Is Not Your Enemy
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Prepare for Your Meeting

Do your homework before going out to the client’s office. If this is an existing client where you have been doing standard compliance work, review the data in their accounting program and make sure you are working with up-to-date information. If this is a new back office support prospect, ask to review their accounting data before going out to their offices. If they are not open to this, it may require an extra visit. The steps below assume you have either worked on the client’s accounting in some capacity, or you have had the opportunity to review the accounting files.
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