Leadership Forum Report - Observations of CPA Firm Growth

This month's Leadership Forum Question is:  What is your current observation of the growth of CPA firms? Over the next three years, what do you expect of the growth of CPA firms?

Here is a first look at an early response from Joe Tarasco:

I’m predicting slow organic growth for those firms that fail to adapt to the changing market place due to an exceedingly competitive and price sensitive marketplace, combined with lack of innovation in the types of services offered by traditional accounting firms. An overwhelming number of firms have been providing the same types of services for years, and subsequently, their growth has been a challenge for them even after making significant investments in marketing and public relations. These firms continue to encounter significant competition in traditional commodity-driven services, but relatively few are attacking the marketplace with new and innovative services. As competition for traditional compliance services increases, they are quickly commoditizing, and fee sensitivity is intensifying as firms compete on price instead of value. A change in marketing strategy is required to meet the needs and desires of the marketplace and to gain a competitive edge over larger firms with more resources. What better way to differentiate a firm in its marketplace than to be at the leading edge of a new and appealing service? Firms must maintain a contemporary marketing strategy to adapt to the changing marketplace by using an integrated services approach to achieve future organic growth. Firms that provide integrated services focus on discerning clients’ actual needs beyond compliance. They determine how to meet those needs and deliver commensurate service to the marketplace on an accelerated time frame and will experience above average growth rates. Delivering quality compliance-type services is no longer enough to be considered a firm that provides quality service. Clients and the marketplace are demanding much more. They want their accounting firm to be an “integrated solutions services provider.” Relying on compliance services for organic growth simply isn’t a strategy that will provide the type of growth necessary to take a firm to the next level of success.