Is the Accounting Profession Entering a New Golden Age?

Source: CPA Trendlines

Following is a complete blog post, reproduced with permission, by Rick Telberg.

The soon-to-be-released Rosenberg MAP Survey of over 400 mid-market CPA firms is expected to show average net income per partner of $354,000, down 3% from the year before.

Marc Rosenberg, the creator and author of the survey for the last 12 years, said many partners are grateful it wasn't worse. Meanwhile firm revenues inched up a bare 1.4%. But the disparities between the high performing firms and the rest was pronounced, with 38% of firms reporting growth of 5% or more and 41% reporting a decline.

For 2010, firms are projecting revenue gains of 2.6%, with few expecting any declines, a considerable improvement over the latest year.

Will the profession get another Golden Age, like the period from 2002 to 2007 as the result of Sarbanes-Oxley? It's possible.

“Whenever legislation changes,” Rosenberg said, “accounting firms clean up.” Even in recession, accounting firms have already been out-performing most of the rest of the economy.

Visit www.rosenbergsurvey.com to purchase a copy of the full report.

To view the original post, click here.

From CPA Trendlines, August 20, 2010, “Partner Pay Off 3% on 1.4% Revenue Rise.”