Keeping Up With Demand

Source: CPA Trendlines

The following includes excerpts, reproduced with permission, from an article by Rick Telberg.

CPAs across all areas of the profession this summer are confirming the best hopes and worst fears that the profession felt when the year was beginning. Yes, business is up across all sectors and should continue to improve but there are not enough people to handle the work.

Our readings are showing that two-thirds of CPAs in all sectors of the accounting profession are enjoying better business than last year. Asked to look 12 months into the future, roughly the same number expect their business conditions to be even better, although members in public practice are slightly more optimistic than members in business and industry.

However, there's still not enough staff to handle the added work. Seven in 10 CPAs across the profession cite the potential shortage of next-generation CPAs as a serious, looming issue. Public practitioners are most concerned.

One of this year's most obvious lessons is that CPAs must learn to do more work with fewer people.

This may be the time for seasoned and savvy CPAs, particularly those in public practice, to hone their management skills. The head of a firm in Jericho, N.Y., expects that “firms that can properly manage their staff and workload will find the next few years to be healthy, growth years,” adding that if new techniques are not mastered, “the level of service that most accounting firms provide will only worsen.” He plans to learn how to better use “the manpower we have” and to screen the “C” and “D” clients from his business.

And that may be tough for some people to hear.

For the complete article, read “Is Business Too Good for Your Own Good?”

From CPA Trendlines, July 7, 2012, http://cpatrendlines.com.