Meeting Public Accounting ’ s Problems

business development , firm workflows or technology adoption will encourage innovation and build skills . profitability with an aggressive and transparent incentive compensation program . Set clear goals and objectives , and tie compensation is labor , firms don ’ t have much choice other than burdening their fixed-cost salaried people with excessive workloads .

Compensation Correction After a decade of sluggish salary growth , competition for skilled accountants has finally forced the largest CPA firms to boost pay , says Bloomberg Tax ( news . bloombergtax . com / financial-accounting / accounting-facesreckoning-after-years-of-sluggish-pay-growth ). The Big Four U . S . accounting firms have offered repeated rounds of wage increases during the past two years , as well as other perks to retain staff and be competitive when looking to fill open roles .

Firms need to also address the compensation gap and improve firm increases or bonuses to achievements related to both quality and profitability by using client satisfaction ratings , retention , revenue per client or new client acquisition .

Fight Commodity Pricing with a Value Proposition Cost of labor is just one side of the profitability equation . For too many years , firms have failed to differentiate services , undercutting fees with the hopes of making it up on the back end . Failing to charge what we ’ re worth has created a need to squeeze costs to maintain a level of profitability . When the greatest single expense

The days of the generalist accounting firm are over . Carve out your firm ’ s area of expertise . Choose a particular business segment — health care , SaaS software , cannabis , real estate or nonprofits , just to name a few . Get to know the financial and regulatory landscape in that industry . The insights and advice you can then provide are of much higher value to clients , and they ’ ll appreciate your services more .

Mind the Metrics If the only conversations you ’ re having with your teams are about chargeable hours and

November 14

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