cost reduction? that’s on the list, too.
by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research
as in years past, cpa firms of all sizes are putting revenue growth at the top of their priority lists.
the rest of their priority lists tells how they plan to get there.
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according to the wolters kluwer 2024 accounting industry report, 61 percent of responding firms – 90 percent of which are small firms – are primarily aiming at higher revenues and profits. that’s 11 percentage points above secondary goals.
but that’s an average between firms that self-identify as innovators or early adopters of new technology and those that admit to being mainstream and late adopters.
tech driving strategy
while 66 percent of the innovators name revenue and profit as their most important goal, only 60 percent of the more conservative firms put those financial concerns at the top. this differential correlates to a finding that a firm’s technological strength influences its strategic objectives.
but how do firms plan to accomplish that higher income? with goal #2: improve client service and engagement.
that second-place priority has held steady at about 50 percent average for all firms across the last three years. (again, the relatively large number of small firms in the survey weighs heavily in that average.)
midsize firms are seeing a significant 20 percent point bump that puts service into a third-place ranking, while small firms raised it by 15 points to second place.
new services, top staff
back in the covid-19 days, improving client service meant adapting to remote work and communication. now it more often means offering new services that turn compliance clients into more robust advisory relationships.
looking at only the relatively few midsize and large firms that participated in the survey, the secondary goal is to attract and retain top staff. one interpretation of that goal is that these large and large-ish firms have their technologies under control and new services already in the works. now they need the people who can put it all to good use.
the third goal of smaller firms is to reduce costs. cost reduction didn’t reach the top five goals at the larger firms, where improving employee effectiveness was a more significant goal, an echo of the priority of attracting retaining staff.
financial squeeze
the small-firm goal of reducing costs reveals the widespread financial squeeze they’re going through. while revenue growth is their most important goal, pricing and competition is their most difficult challenge, reported by 40 percent. meanwhile, inflation, though easing, is still having a residual impact, especially in the cost of labor. at the same time, technology isn’t getting any cheaper, and attracting and retaining staff certainly won’t reduce costs.
the report aims specific advice at small firms, saying, “looking at the top three goals in the coming year for small firms – growing revenue and profit, improving client service/engagement, and reducing costs – it may be time for them to assess their client base and right-size service offerings.”
as for the tech factor, small firms may not need to buy more of it because they aren’t maximizing the use of what they have. a quarter of them say they’re utilizing less than 25 percent of their tech capacity, and half are utilizing less than 50 percent. why buy more if you’ve still got potential to unleash?