COVID-19 and its variants forced a number of challenges upon the accounting profession. Accountants are telling us that tops on that list were communication and workflow, at 49.4 and 49.1 percent respectively. Even solos felt the burn, at 40.6%, so it wasn’t all internal communication to blame, although large firms of 51-100 felt it most sharply, at 60%.
Survey Results
Top Corona Problems: Communication, workflow, and digitizing paper top the list.
Some responses that didn’t hit the top six still were notable. Postal mail was called out by 21.9 percent, including 40 percent of solos and 33.3 percent of large firms. Solos also reported phone calls and lost income at 24.6 percent. Despite most groups saying lost income was a challenge, relatively few put that figure anywhere near the one for paying bills, except extra-large firms noting 11.8 percent difficulty with lost income and 5.9 percent with paying bills.
One of the benefits of an annual report such as the Accounting Firm Operations and Technology Survey is the opportunity to see not only the current sentiments but those from years before. Sometimes, though, new issues arise and are momentous to warrant inclusion via a new question … as when COVID-19 crashed onto the scene.
Of those working at home for the first time, by far the largest group fell into large firms of 51 to 100 employees, where 93.3 percent were new to remote work. Medium and extra-large flanked them in those results, at 51.9 percent and 47.1 percent respectively. See table: READ MORE →
According to the CPA Trendlines Business Barometer, accountants are getting used to working out of their spare bedrooms and living room nooks, and managers are getting used to managing from afar. READ MORE →
Most tax and accounting practitioners see a bleak outlook ahead.
By CPA Trendlines Research
Tax and accounting professionals are launching into Busy Season 2022 with widespread fears of crisis and chaos, facing a third year of pandemic conditions, the staffing shortage, a sputtering IRS, and political and economic uncertainties.
Full results available for participants and PRO Members
A majority of accountants are telling the CPA Trendlines Busy Season Barometer that they are expecting an even worse year than last year, with 40 percent bracing for “somewhat” worse and 11 percent girding for “much “worse.
And just in case Congress didn’t get the message, National Tax Advocate Erin M. Collins submitted to that august body an annual report that pulled no punches and spared no explication. The new filing season starting Jan. 24 could bring hitherto unbelievable problems.
Small-business start-up rate running 50% higher than pre-pandemic. (via Zapier)
71% plan to continue with their new ventures.
By CPA Trendlines
As the world bemoaned the cruelty and inconvenience of the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of entrepreneurs were making the best of times in the worst of times.
The result: a lot of new small businesses. And each one is an opportunity for an accountant.
The pandemic years have seen a huge spike in not just COVID-19 cases but new business creation, a breathtaking increase of 50 percent, according to a survey from Zapier, the software automation company. It started just as existing businesses went into lockdown, and the trend isn’t stopping any more than the virus is. READ MORE →
By CPA Trendlines Research
CPA Trendlines-Avalara Business Confidence Index
New readings from the CPA Trendlines-Avalara Business Confidence Index are unearthing a lot of good advice for firms venturing into the post- (let’s-hope-) COVID-19 world.
Busy Season Barometer: 53% report a “worse” year, compared with 31% reporting “better.”
Ironically, the chaos translates into expanded business.
By CPA Trendlines Research
It was a pretty bad busy season for most of the nation’s tax preparers. COVID-19 was on the wane, but Congress was on the job, jiggering tax rules even as the season was underway.
And, now, with the prospects of a federal government shutdown and a multi-trillion-dollar spending bill, 2022 is shaping up to be deja vu all over again.
To be sure, a good number of accountants are assuaged by more clients and more revenue. But the CPA Trendlines Business Barometer finds preparers experiencing a long, tough slog.
On the frontlines (from left): Hochberger, Wright, Speed, Frazier, Widmann.
In all, 53 percent say they had a busy season somewhat worse (27 percent) or much worse (26 percent) than last year.
For some, it seems like a good time to call it quits. “Thank you for all the love and support,” says one firm’s auto-responder to incoming emails.
“As some of you may know, this past few tax seasons have been nothing short of chaotic, to say the least,” the three-office, North Carolina tax shop tells callers. “But I have enjoyed being able to assist each and every one of my clients.”
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When things aren’t turning out the way you dreamed, it’s time to think about an overhaul. Here’s how to start
