a shift in the wrong direction.
busy season barometer:
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by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research
every business in the country, if not the world, is feeling the impact of the covid-19 pandemic. outside of the tech sector, the impact has been largely negative. every business is suffering. so, relatively speaking, the tax and accounting sector may be getting off easy.
more trends in surveys & research: seven ways covid has changed busy season | getting a handle on covid | covid crushes cpa business outlook | is the worst over? 63% of small business say so | beat the covid crisis with these 20 steps for your firm and your clients | clients, revenues, profits – trending down, down, down | covid crushes rosey forecasts | the seven factors keeping accounting firms afloat amid covid-19 | feeling the pain? the biggest job losses by client sector | tax season pivots to covid rescue season | planning for the coronavirus recession | how accountants are coping with covid-19 |
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according to the latest data from the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 2020 busy season barometer, about 39 percent of firms are still expecting to see an increase in business, but overall optimism seems to be dipping even as the economy begins to reboot.
more reports of declining revenue
back in april, when fears of covid were turning into actual cases, 44 percent of respondents were expecting an increase in revenues of five percent or more. in may the number remained essentially the same at 43 percent. neither number is bad, considering the circumstances.
but the number who foresee a revenue decrease of five percent or more jumped from 38 percent in april to 41 percent in may—a slight but perceptible shift in the wrong direction.
losing clients
we see a similar differential in changes to the numbers of clients. the upside has been consistent, hovering at about 40 percent during both months. but those expecting to lose five percent or more of their clients jumped from 29 percent in april to 34 percent in may.
texas-based cpa jonathan w. kaplow expresses a common experience and a probable cause. “we are doing a lot of unplanned and mostly unpaid consulting work,” kaplow says. “i assume some clients affected by the disaster will defer work. the overall result is we will be very lucky to come close to 2019 income. also, i anticipate that some clients will not be able to pay.”
amanda jaramillo has seen a drop in clientele. her reason: “several clients have closed their businesses and others pay late because of the covid-19.”
another texas cpa, john lister, head of a firm of ten, expresses a similar sentiment: “business clients are out of money and cannot open their businesses to make money.”
bearish on profit-per-client
profit per client follows the pattern of clientele and revenue. there is little change in those who expect to see an increase, but a bit of a bump in those forecasting a decline. in april, just over 25 percent were bearish on profit-per, but by late may, the percentage had risen to 31.
the reasons vary. in some cases, of course, lost clients is resulting in lower revenue and profit. in others, furloughed staff and closed offices increased efficiency by lowering overhead costs. on the other hand, some report staff being less efficient when working from home.
cathleen volk, head of her won firm in upstate new york, is among those for whom remote work isn’t working very well. she sees little change in clientele, a little increase in revenues, but a little drop in profit. “i have performed extra consulting services, “volk says, “but had to take on increased technology costs, and i don’t believe staff was as efficient working remotely.”
les wilson, expecting modest increases in clientele and revenue, sees an upside to the economic downturn, telling us, “i expect an increase next year because i plan to go after the new businesses that’ll pop up from all the bankrupt small companies.”
sometimes it’s the client’s fault.
one anonymous respondent says, “it’s taking longer to complete work since clients are not able to get us information electronically or they are focusing on keeping their business running and putting us on the back burner.”
another gives a similar complaint but for a different reason, telling us, “clients know the deadline’s extended so they’re taking their time getting us information.”
an unnamed respondent expects to see “some increase” across the board and proffers an interesting idea, commenting, “the extension of tax season to july 15th really helped us out. i wish they would make july 15th the deadline from now on.”
not a bad idea. maybe two deadlines would be even better—one in april, another in july. nice way to flatten the curve of busy season.