even if the client isn’t always right, helping clients understand and make the best financial decisions is always the right course of action.
cpas understand the implications of financial decisions and strive to advise clients in ways that improve their financial well-being. however, clients frequently have multiple – sometimes conflicting – financial goals, and use other financial professionals, including financial advisors, attorneys and business consultants, to achieve them. read more →
the number of restatements by public companies has leveled off and severity has remained low in the last five years, but restatements have increased from accelerated filers for the fourth straight year, according to audit analytics, a research firm.read more →
irs projects even worse taxpayer service for the 2016 filing season (fy 2015).
by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间
the 2015 filing season was akin to a tale of two cities, according to the irs’s own watchdog.
“for the majority of taxpayers who filed their returns and did not require irs assistance, the filing season was generally successful,” according to the report issued to congress by the national taxpayer advocate’s office headed by nina olson. “for the segment of taxpayers who required help from the irs, the filing season was by far the worst in memory.”
meanwhile, olson urges congress to undertake “fundamental tax reform,” pass a “taxpayer’s bill of rights” law, and boost irs funding.
“everyone is in collective denial about what inadequate funding for the irs means to taxpayers,” olson says. read more →
staffers showing increased restlessness with their current jobs. (source: 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research)
foot-dragging firms lose out on best candidates as hiring trend forces wages upward.
by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research
the tax and accounting industry’s new growth spurt is leading to increased volatility in the ranks, with a surge in the number of cpas looking for better jobs and firms scrambling for talent, according to 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research.
in this report, 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 covers:
current hiring trends in each of the bookkeeping, tax, payroll and cpa segments of the industry, indicating growth and shrinkage among sectors.
average hourly wages for key segments, with trends in employee pay rates.
typical hours worked per week, showing utilization and productivity.
trends concerning women in the workforce, including hiring rates.
today 28% of employees report they could change jobs in the next few months, up from a preceding12-month average of 19%, according to 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research. this comes as 57% of firms say they are adding to their rosters, with only 39% holding steady and 6% cutting staff.
lewis
“we need to continue to build depth,” says jim lewis, managing shareholder at kpm cpas in branson, mo. “staff isn’t as loyal as in the past, so turnover continues to be a problem.”
riddick
at the xponent group n lagrange, ill., founder catherine riddick reports “business is growing and we need additional staff to handle the workload.”
mackenstadt
at vine dahlen in lynnwod, wash., becky mackenstadt reports, “we are currently looking to fill about six positions.” she adds, “we offer a great variety of career options. you get to interact directly with clients quickly. and we have a great client base to work with.”
chavez
jodi chavez, senior vice president of accounting principals, says that right now, accounting is one of the fields where there are more openings than candidates. the better news? “we don’t see any indication that it is lightening up.”
in the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 tracking poll, a manager at a smaller regional firm said they will be adding as well, “because my firm had significant turnover in the past year and a half of experienced staff.” calling it “a great place to start with a fantastic culture,” the same manager noted that because they specialize in a few industries, “our scope of work is somewhat limited.”
specialization is a positive elsewhere. a manager at one large firm said they will be adding staff because of “growth in certain sectors, especially healthcare it transformation.”
employers also may be taking advantage of the large number of candidates to do some weeding out they couldn’t afford when times were worse.
a metro atlanta firm noted, “we have to replace a couple positions that we had laid off non-ideal staff from,” and a manager elsewhere said, “we have assessed our needs after this past tax season and hired new individuals to replace others that were not productive.” read more →
accounting today’s annual listing of its top 100 firms reflects what the industry as a whole is seeing: business is good and it’s getting better.
overall growth was a healthy 8.44 percent, similar to but slightly higher than recent years.
firms with revenues between $100 million and $1 billion outpaced the others in growth mode, although mergers had a great deal to do with that.
the most difficult challenge cited was – no surprise – recruiting and retaining qualified staff, especially those with three to five years of experience. pressure is being put on the talent pool by retiring baby boomers only exacerbates the problem. tools to counter it include: read more →
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 joins with the succession insititute to launch new practice management resource center for firms of all sizes. 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 is pleased to offer growth-minded firms a vast new set of resources through a special alliance with the succession … continued
is money is the no. 1 motivator for employees? maybe not.
“money is important. but if someone doesn’t like their job or the way they are treated, i don’t care how much you pay them, they still won’t like it,” says arnold sanow, a seminar leader and coach. “in fact, in numerous surveys the no. 1 motivating factor to get employees to perform at their best focuses on appreciation and recognition.”
referrals remain stalwart. social media weakens. websites advance.
by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间
some practices just need more clients. some need a more cost-effective way to find them and sign them up. some are looking for ways to liberate their less profitable or more difficult clients and replace them with others more conducive to getting the job done with minimal hassle and maximum moolah.
to no one’s surprise, referrals from current clients remains the most common source of new clients. no fewer than 95.1% of respondents report referrals as a sales channel. that number was close to consistent across all sizes of firms. for solo practitioners, it was 94.2%. it was highest for small firms (1-10 employees) at 96.8%. it was lower for mid-sized firms (11-50 employees) at 93.9%, and lowest of all for large firms, where referrals are the source of 92% of new clients.
what’s interesting, however, is that the overall percent has increased since last year, when 92.6% reported new clients by referral. with all the new and burgeoning sources of information — social media, websites, internet advertising — why are referrals an increasing source of clients? read more →
analysis shows smaller firms having the most trouble.
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间’ surveys reveal a panoply of gripes from sea to shining sea about tax season: affordable care act. new regulations. computers. clients. even health problems and weather problems can seem worse.
and who are suffering the most? solo practitioners, the ones with the gumption to go it alone, the ones who can’t stop working on tax returns to fix a computer, go to a doctor, shovel some snow, or explain federal forms to a client.
then again, there’s john briggs, president of incite tax, a small but growing firm in sandy, utah, reporting a 2015 season of glee. “referrals keep pouring in. we took on 92 new clients just during the tax season. add that to 81 new clients we added between last busy season and january 2015, and we have a total of 173 new clients. regulatory issues lead to opportunities.”
despite paying top dollar for top talent, old-line firms are losing gen y staffers with bigger ambitions.
derek davis, the shared economy cpa, talks about launching the first app-first cpa firm
by rick telberg 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research
with cpa firms locked in a battle for top-level talent, wages are advancing at record rates in desperate efforts to both retain and recruit highly-prized professionals, according to 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research.
partners and staffers alike, feeling stifled and underused at their current firms, are finding a broad array of new opportunities at other firms. and where they can’t find the right position at another firm, they are creating their own.
los angeles cpa derek davis, for example, left a career at a big four firm to start his own practice. but his first hire wasn’t an assistant. and his first partner wasn’t another cpa. instead, davis teamed with a software designer. and they didn’t open an office, they launched an iphone app.
multi-partner firms show bullish signs. soloists turn bearish on the u.s. economy.
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research
cpas aren’t economists, but they do know numbers, and they have their fingers on the pulse of the flow of money in their local areas. they know how their own businesses and their clients’ businesses are doing, and they have at least an inkling of the causes. remembering 2014 and living through the 2015 busy season, they are well placed to prognosticate on financial flows over the next 12 months.
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 survey research detects a certain optimism, but it seems to be a bit more cautious among solo practitioners. read more →
by now, many of your small business clients understand they don’t have to provide employees with health insurance. the employer mandate starts when a firm employs 50 or more full-time-equivalent employees.
but here’s an awkward follow-up question: do your small business clients understand that many of the aca’s rules still apply to them and that they may still be vulnerable to the aca’s 4980d excise tax penalty—which runs $100 per day per employee?
people sometimes hear references to the 4980d penalty and scoff, say you can’t believe everything you hear on talk radio or read at some blog. so let’s look at the actual internal revenue code section in question.
here are the first few sentences of irc sec 4980d: read more →
analysis shows smaller firms having the most trouble.
cpas aren’t economists, but they do know numbers, and they have their fingers on the pulse of the flow of money in their local areas. they know how their own businesses and their clients’ businesses are doing, and they have at least an inkling of the causes. remembering 2014 and living through the 2015 busy season, they are well placed to prognosticate on financial flows over the next 12 months.