even covid couldn’t quiet the cash.
by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research
the rosenberg map survey: national study of cpa firm statistics
how to explain that giddy feeling in the bellies of accounting firm partners? it’s a plentitude of moolah.
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revenue growth has been pretty decent for the last ten years. even when it was down, it was up, that is, well above inflation. but the most recent results fro the new rosenberg national map survey show thrilling leaps for firms of all sizes.
some of the apparent growth, however, is relative to a dip in the previous year.
big firms, big gains
it’s the big firms, with net fees over $20 million, that are seeing the biggest gains. they were doing fine from 2017 through 2019, with growth pretty near 10%. growth softened a bit in 2020—“only” 7.4%—but now the average is an astonishing 12%.
mid-size firms, those with net fees of $5-20 million, also are doing much better. in 2020, their growth was a modest but respectable 6%. in 2021: boom! they hit 9.5%.
smaller firms, in the $2-5 million range, are doing all right, too. their growth has been slightly slower over the past half-decade, averaging around 5% but dipping to 2.7% in 2020. now they’re enjoying revenues 7% higher.
the exhilaration can be tempered a bit when considering that the steep increase is from the generally slow, covid-infected days of 2020.
m&a still hot
some of the growth comes from mergers, with the largest firms seeing the most, where 9.9% points of the 12% growth are organic, and the other 2.1% from mergers. that represents a big leap in merger growth as a percent of total growth—18%, which is double the rate of 2020 and substantially more than the 14% of 2019.
other firms also see relatively high merger growth as a percent of total growth. though the $2-5 million firms are growing at a rate of 7%, 23% of that growth is from mergers. that’s way down from 67% in 2020 but way up from 14% in 2019.
the growth partnership, which has been conducting the rosenberg survey since 2009, notes that merger and acquisition activity is still high and not expected to subside soon. firms, including the top 100, are merging up to address succession issues and a lack of leadership. many are also merging to gain access to the capital needed to help them transition from traditional compliance work to more profitable advisory services.
what the experts say
comments by industry practitioners and consultants identify several factors contributing to the increasing revenue growth rate.
- allan koltin, koltin consulting: “…many firms finally got ‘religion’ and have doubled (or significantly raised) their rates and shed many of their ‘c’ or low margin clients.”
- marc rosenberg, the rosenberg associates: “the m&a market continues to be robust.”
- sarah dobek, inovautus: “we are seeing [firms] more fully embrace various levels of operational support, such as client excellence administrators, project coordinators and schedulers, and true executive administrative support.”
- terry putney, transition advisors: “we have seen firms consider the need to diversify their service offerings with an emphasis on non-compliance-based services. cas (client accounting services) has exploded and plays a significant role in many firms’ offerings…”
- art kuesel, kuesel consulting: “once an annual exercise undertaken with planning, precision and restraint, wage increases and compensation adjustments became an ongoing activity. with that came rate increases, fee increases and formerly unthinkable prices on new work, which were accepted by clients more often than not.”