Elder Care

Source: The CPA Journal

The AICPA developed a model called ElderCare services in 1999 and changed the name to PrimePlus in 2002, apparently because people in the 66 to 80 age bracket thought ElderCare referred to health care.

The service includes the traditional accounting, tax, and financial advisory services plus nontraditional services such as evaluating the performance of caregivers, visiting elderly parents who live far from their children, and arranging for housekeeping and transportation. Surveys of practitioners in Maine indicate minimal acceptance of this niche as a viable practice area. A study in South Carolina in 2002 revealed that CPAs believe there is a need for the service, but few firms offered it.

Few of the firms in Maine that offer elder care services considered it to be part of a special practice. A majority of the firms felt the services in the AICPA model were outside the scope of their practices.

While the population in Maine is aging faster than the national average, it is a largely rural state with below average per-capita income, and that may account for some of the weak interest.

While need for the services appears to be strong, being the nucleus of a service program for the elderly may be incompatible with the traditional operations of a CPA firm. A better model may be to locate lower cost providers who might refer the traditional services to the CPA firm.

From The CPA Journal, May 2005. Click on the following link for the full article: http://www.nysscpa.org/cpajournal/2005/505/essentials/p60.htm.