Enjoy complimentary access to top ideas and insights — selected by our editors.
2024 was a significant year across the accounting profession, with a host of pressing issues such as the worsening talent shortage, moves by top firms like PwC and RSM US restructuring their operations, the effect of President-elect Donald Trump’s return on the tax landscape, and more.
With that in mind, here are our most-read stories from the past 12 months, highlighting some of the developments that caught our readers’ attention.
Seventyfour – stock.adobe.com
Why accounting firms are bleeding talent
Article by
The talent shortage facing the accounting profession is well known at this point, as graduates with accounting majors are deterred by uncompetitive wages and a lack of education on career paths — while existing accountants leave the field entirely. Amid this identity crisis, firms are starting to look inwards for solutions.
Data from the most recent
But many in the field say the hurdles to becoming a licensed CPA, including the test itself, are simply not worth the payoff.
Appeals court reinstates BOI injunction
Article by
A federal appeals court has reversed itself, reinstating an injunction on beneficial ownership information reporting by businesses only days after lifting it.
On Dec. 23, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
The plaintiffs petitioned the full appeals court for an en banc rehearing to consider additional issues in the case. They
Omar Baghdady – stock.adobe.com
Reshaping the pyramid
Article by
Consider the pyramid.
For much of its modern history, the public accounting profession has relied on the pyramid — at least metaphorically — in building both the ownership and management structures of CPA firms, and it has proven a remarkably enduring model, to the point where it was effectively the only model from the 1930s up until the late 1990s, and remained overwhelmingly the most common model for the first two decades of the 21st century.
But while the pyramids of Giza look likely to last far into the future, the pyramid model of accounting firms is facing serious challenges, specifically over the last four years, as more and more firms experiment with a host of new or newly popular models for how firms can be owned and managed.
VectorMine – stock.adobe.com
Accounting talent shortage worsens
Article by
The shortage of accounting talent continues to plague the profession and appears to be getting worse. As the pipeline dries up, 83% of senior leaders report a talent shortage this year, up from 70% in 2022, with 10% this year saying it’s worsening, according to a
More than 300,000 accountants and auditors left the accounting profession between 2020 and 2022, a 17% decline, according to
As outsourcing gains wider use, the report found 90% of surveyed CFOs outsource some of their accounting functions, and 90% of those respondents said they can easily find qualified accountants when they need them. That enables them to leverage specialized talent to maintain efficiency and focus on strategic goals.
Al Drago/Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg
Trump’s victory: What it means for taxes
Article by
After a presidential campaign that saw a steady stream of tax proposals aimed at a wide range of constituents, Donald Trump will return to the White House next January, when he can begin trying to deliver on those promises.
One of the most significant areas of focus will be on the expiring provisions of the former and future president’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which was a signature achievement of his first term. Republicans have taken control of the Senate, but control of the House remains in question as votes continue to be counted.
Extending all the provisions could cost as much as $4.6 trillion, according to Rochelle Hodes, Washington National Tax Office principal at Top 25 Firm Crowe.
Laurent Delhourme/ldprod – Fotolia
The riskiest jobs in accounting
Article by
We’ve been hearing it for years, but especially in 2023 as generative AI rocked the world: Automation and artificial intelligence are here and they’re coming for all the routine, mundane, repeatable tasks that have traditionally been accountants’ bread and butter.
However, allowing machines to do this frees up human accountants for higher-value, strategically oriented tasks that will help firms do more with less in the face of a diminishing talent pipeline and outside disruption. Professionals will be able to work on the things that are really interesting to them and discard all the drudge work that no one ever wanted to do anyway.
Of course, regardless of whether or not anyone necessarily wants to do these things, there are still people whose job it is to do them — at least for now. Because as technology improves, the range of tasks that can be automated will only grow wider, increasing the risk for disruption. This, over time, will greatly alter the shape of the profession and the behavior of firms, which itself will alter career paths and force many out of their comfort zone with little choice but to adapt to these changing circumstances.
Miguel Pereira/Getty Images
Baby season vs. busy season
Article by
Having a second child wasn’t even in the cards for Erica Goode until she knew she was going to quit her accounting job.
Goode started her career at the Big Four before moving to corporate accounting. Instead of a busy tax season, she had a busy audit season, so when she got pregnant with her first kid she requested a part-time schedule for when she returned from maternity leave.
“I can do the math,” she said. “I realized that my kid was going to spend more of their waking hours with their daycare provider than they would with me, and I just wasn’t OK with that.”
kenchiro168 – stock.adobe.com
Accounting standards blamed for lack of accountants
Article by
The 150-hour rule for obtaining a CPA license is getting blamed in many quarters lately for the shortage of accountants, but another culprit may be the proliferation of complicated accounting standards, according to a recent academic study.
The
“The study looks at how growing regulation within accounting and the increase in accounting rules issued by the FASB have changed the accounting profession and the role of the accountant,” said Anthony Le, a Ph.D candidate in accounting at Columbia University, who carried out the study.
Leon Neal/Photographer: Leon Neal/Getty Im
PwC shakes up U.S. firm
Article by
PricewaterhouseCoopers US is realigning its organizational structure across three lines of service — Assurance, Tax and Advisory — starting in July, only about three years after it
A spokesperson said the new structure would better serve client needs, their buying patterns and the market. It takes effect July 1. The new operating committee includes assurance leader Deanna Byrne and tax leader Krishnan Chandrasekhar.
PwC US’s incoming senior partner, Paul Griggs, announced the changes in April via a
Photo courtesy of RSM US LLP
RSM lays off 3% of staff
Article by
Top 10 Firm RSM US laid off 5% of its consulting workforce, as well as an unspecified number of employees in assurance, on Sept. 20.
Employees in the consulting practice were notified in a virtual meeting with the practice leader and a human resources representative on Sept. 20, a source inside the firm who was impacted by the layoffs told Accounting Today.
Approximately 240 employees across the consulting practice were affected, and those employees will finish their projects by early next week, according to an email sent after the meeting. The firm said that it planned no further reductions.
Credit: Source link
