plus six ways the pandemic impacted the profession.
by jennifer wilson
every year, the rosenberg map survey asks the industry’s top consultants to share their observations of what they are seeing at cpa firms across the country.
more: how to reinvent the firm for the covid age | why it’s time for an acquisition | three ways the accounting profession has changed | ramping up for the year ahead
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now that we are more than a year from the start of the pandemic, what do you feel are the long-term ramifications to the accounting industry?
there are many, but the most important impacts of the pandemic to the profession are:
- cpa and consulting firms found high demand for their advice and support throughout the pandemic. from the early days of crisis management, through the opportunities for funding, tax credits and more, public accounting firms saw a significant rise in demand for access to their brightest minds.
- this led to overwhelm, because the brightest minds were already pretty busy with their “normal” work and also short-staffed coming into the pandemic. so, today’s profession is filled with people who are struggling with burnout, feeling overwhelmed, and even the potential for hopelessness as demand for help remains high, and the labor resources to fulfill those services remains low.
- the pandemic has caused almost everyone, regardless of profession, to contemplate the meaning of our work against the backdrop of so much illness and death and continued uncertainty. this has led to a phenomenon called the great resignation across all industries, and labor is shifting in record numbers. this is a nightmare for the already resource-strapped accounting profession and firms are now scrambling to retain their team members with stay bonuses, record raises, promotions and other perks.
- some might think that work-from-home is one of those perks, but the truth is that it is a new work reality for many, many industries. the rapid shift to remote work proved that remote work works – and it wasn’t even “true” remote work. most remote work arrangements allow you to go out in the evenings, go to the gym, take your children to daycare or school and live a less homebound lifestyle than we all just endured. still, many u.s. workers saw what’s possible with increased flexibility, less commuting, more casual work and more heads-down quiet, and they are committed to working remotely or in a blended home and office manner. firms that adapt to this immediately will have a mammoth competitive edge. those that don’t will find themselves losing their best people to firms that get it.
- of course, in most firms, partners made more money. it’s impossible to have this much opportunity, contingency fees on tax credits, high rates on advisory, high demand, and have our #1 cost – labor – be down and not make handsome profits. the bad news: firm leaders will expect to make this kind of money going forward but won’t be willing to change their pricing models and purge clients they can’t afford to serve to get there. talent will demand a bigger piece of the action going forward, and firm leaders must be careful not to lead selfishly and instead to invest.
- last idea – firms are getting creative to manage their reduced headcount. offshoring, outsourcing, fractional staffing, increased digital service, robotic process automation, firmwide resource scheduling and hiring non-cpas are just some of the ways they’re addressing the resource crunch. necessity is the mother of invention, and it is good to see smart firms making these moves.
if you were running an accounting firm today and dealing with the issues your clients are facing, what would you do to best position your firm for future success?
if i were leading an accounting firm today, here are the shifts i’d make to ensure my firm’s success:
- make generosity a core leadership value, leading with gratitude, a spirit of giving, and growth.
- empower the next generation to make the changes they feel need to be made (including items 3-12 below).
- invest in the efficiency and resource expansion ideas noted above – technology and innovation in staffing.
- cull clients who do not fit our ideal target clients any longer.
- put our best career advisors/people shepherds on managing our best people.
- hold stay interviews with everyone to see how they’re doing really, what they like, don’t like and how we can help them going forward.
- conduct a salary study and make market adjustments. if the jumps are too high to stomach at once, implement part of the jump as a performance bonus earned based on achievement of specific measurable goals.
- implement a completely flexible work program with work-from-home, work from the office, blended work, work from anywhere, work anytime, unlimited pto and more (we have this at convergencecoaching and we have helped many clients achieve it even before the pandemic – it works).
- go after talent in any geography – borderless reach and doing the same with clients in our chosen service and industry niches.
- renegotiate partner buyouts to make them affordable.
- rework partner compensation to make it transparent, fair and a “what have you done for us lately” program to make the big money.
- lovingly retire the partners who can’t get behind these ideas.