CPA Trendlines

Today's Features

Report: Efficiency Still the Top Priority for Accounting Firms

Tech’s the tool, but AI? Not yet.

By CPA Trendlines Research

For the second year in a row, the Thomson Reuters State of Tax Professionals Report finds that improving efficiency is the top strategy priority for accounting firms, but this year, for the first time, it ties with talent.

As the report notes, the two priorities are tightly linked in the sense that efficiency is linked to productivity. The former drives the latter.

MORE: Is Tech Causing Both CPA Shortage and Low Salaries? | Audit Firms Nervous about New Tech | To Replenish the Talent Pipeline, Go Back to the Classroom | Beware the Work-Life/Workload Doom Spiral | Why the Dry Pipeline? It’s About Time | Business Model Transformation: Do It or Die | Whole Person Retention: When It’s Not Just the Money | Global Trends Show Many Dissatisfied CPAs | More Big Firms Shut Their Doors to New College Grads | Seven Enticements to Keep Talent On Board | Let Interns Fix the Staffing Shortage? | Disruptors: Talent Crisis? What Talent Crisis?
Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

The report is based on an international survey of 500 respondents, about half in the United States, with the rest in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Brazil and Argentina. Data comes from the first quarter of 2024.
READ MORE →

PRO Member Exclusive

AI Displacing More Jobs in Banking Than Other Sectors

Upskilling will be key to keeping staff.

By Rick Richardson
Technology This Week

According to Citigroup Inc., artificial intelligence (AI) will likely replace more positions in the banking sector than in any other. Technology is going to transform consumer finance and make employees more productive.

MORE: Your Brain Can Store 10 Times More Than Anyone Thought | How Many EV Charging Stations Will We Need? | Google Launches New Private Space Feature | Microsoft Discovers a Security Flaw Impacting Android Apps | What Is an AI PC, and Should I Get One? | Fool’s Gold May Not Be So Foolish Now | AI-Engineered Enzyme Could Be Solution to Plastic Pollution | German Researchers Develop EV Motor with No Rare-Earth Magnets | AI Named the Highest-Paying In-Demand Tech Skill for 2024
Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

According to Citigroup’s most recent AI assessment, roughly 54 percent of banking professions might be automated. AI technology has the potential to enhance an additional 12 percent of jobs within the business.

STREAMING NETWORK

Adam Lean: Get Out of the Accountant’s Trap

Be unstoppable without sacrificing your soul.

This is a video preview. The complete video episode, with commentary and transcript, is first available exclusively to PRO Members.

Subscribe to CPA Trendlines podcasts anywhere: Apple, Google, Spotify, iHeart, Deezer, Amazon Music and Audible, Player FM, Audacy, Gaana (India), and Boomplay (Africa).

The Disruptors
With Liz Farr

Like many of today’s younger accountants, Adam Lean didn’t want to be relegated to the back office recording history and focused on compliance but wanted to have an impact by helping businesses grow. “I didn’t want to just be that person that just recorded the fact that the Titanic was sinking. I wanted to help the Titanic not sink.” Younger people “want to make waves,” Lean says. “They want to make more money without having to sacrifice their soul.”

MORE PODCASTS and VIDEOS: Geraldine Carter: Charging More is Better for Your Clients | Vimal Bava: When Working Smarter, Not Harder, Is the Only Option | Dawn Brolin Says Grow Your Firm by Shrinking It | Jason Blumer & Julie Shipp: 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 |

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

Lean, the CEO and co-founder of The CFO Project, had an epiphany.

Instead of being “at the whim of my clients or government deadlines, or bookkeeping deadline,” Lean discovered that by helping business owners understand their numbers, he could do something bigger and better. Most business owners don’t understand their numbers, but as Lean says “that’s a skill that if harnessed in the right way, you can be unstoppable.”

POLITICS & GOVERNMENT

Is the IRS Mismeasuring Phone Service?

Bad metrics are hiding problems.

By CPA Trendlines Research

If there’s one nice thing about phoning the IRS, it’s the opportunity to take a nap.

Taxpayer naps were a little shorter this year, especially for those calling 35 of the 102 toll-free lines, known as enterprise lines, that taxpayers can call for assistance. Those 35 lines are for accounts management (AM) issues.

MORE: Is Tech Causing Both CPA Shortage and Low Salaries? | Audit Firms Nervous about New Tech | What Accountants Can Learn from T-Ball | Staffing Tops List of Woes at CPA Firms | To Replenish the Talent Pipeline, Go Back to the Classroom | Beware the Work-Life/Workload Doom Spiral | Why the Dry Pipeline? It’s About Time | Business Model Transformation: Do It or Die | Misperceptions, Corrections, Accountancy and Lemonade
Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

Thanks to a mandate from the Secretary of the Treasury, the IRS hired 7,000 customer service representatives to handle the AM lines.
READ MORE →

AUDIT & ASSURANCE

How ‘Business Expert CPAs’ Get Their Own Business Wrong

Only a small percentage of audit leaders understand businessmindedness’s inward and outward components.

By Alan Anderson, CPA
Transforming Audit for the Future

I talk to leaders of firms all around the country who think that if they get their fee realization right, that’s a sign that they’ve got great business minds. They ask me what the market fee realization is, so I tell them that’s a miserable measure.

MORE: Say Adios to Audit Fee Pressure | Eight Items to Cover in the Audit Exit to Deepen Client Relationships and Prove Value | Know Your Three Audit W’s | Planning Lays the Foundation of Audit Relevance | How Do We Drive Relevance in Audit? | Before the Audit: More Than Just Planning | Are You Correctly Identifying the Relevance Intersection? | Lack of Relevance Drives Audit Commoditization | Five Crucial Attributes for Successful Audit Leadership | Traditional Audits Don’t Deserve Premium Billing | Four Basic Understandings Every Auditor Must Master
Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

There is no perfect fee realization. As extreme examples, I’ve worked with firms with 10 percent and 200 percent fee realizations. Which is better? Neither. The firm with a 10 percent fee realization bills at $5,000 per hour, while the other bills at $20 an hour.