Big Firms Continue Their Uphill Battle

Source: CPA Trendlines

The following includes excerpts, reproduced with permission, from an article in CPA Trendlines.

So, when's the rebound?

The revenue decline is the second in a row for the profession's largest firms. Although the top-line shrinkage is slowing, firms continue to cut back partners and staff.

The bigger the firm, the tougher the year:

• Only Deloitte, No. 1 in the rankings, with $10.9 billion in revenue, could boast of revenue gains – up 2 percent.
• You need to go to the 14th spot on the list to find the next firm with positive results – Marcum, up 7 percent, to $251 million. Then skip a few rungs to LarsonAllen at 18th, Reznick at 21st, and Eide Bailly at 24th.
• In all, 43 of the top 100 suffered revenue declines; 19 of them were among the top 25.
• 37 firms cut partners; 16 of them were among the top 25 firms.
• 54 firms cut professionals; 19 in the top 25.

The biggest losers:

1. UHY Advisors, down 13 percent, to $205 million.
2. Mohler, Nixon & Williams, down 10 percent, to $33 million.
3. Anchin, Block & Anchin, down 8 percent, to $89 million.
4. Baker Tilly Virchow Krause, down 8 percent, to $238 million.
5. Ernst & Young, down 7 percent, to $7.1 billion.
6. Aronson, down 7 percent, to $57 million.
7. SVA, down 7 percent, to $45 million.
8. Holtz Rubinstein & Reminick, down 7 percent, to $33 million.
9. Joseph Decosimo & Co., down 6 percent, to $38 million.
10. Kaufman Rossin & Co., down 6 percent, to $44 million.

Overall, the top 100 firms garnered $42.6 billion in revenue, down 2 percent from the year before; and total employment sank about 1 percent, to 184,429 partners and professionals.

For the complete article, read “Revenues Sink 2% at Top 100 Firms.”

From CPA Trendlines, http://cpatrendlines.com, March 15, 2011.