2015 in Numbers
December 1, 2014 5:54 PM
Radisa Zivkovic/rasica - Fotolia
Predictions for the New Year
In order to see what CPAs and accountants believe 2015 has in store for them -- and what they have in store for it -- we conducted a survey of approximately 200 firms of all sizes in late October, on everything from their growth expectations to their plans for tech spending, their use of social media, and the new services they're offering.
Growth Expectations, Pt. 1
Breakdown for all firms: Over 10% -- 22.7%; 8-9% -- 7%; 6-7% -- 11.7%; 4-5% -- 20%; 2-3% -- 21%; 1% -- 5%; flat or decline 12.6%.
Breakdown for small firms: Over 10% -- 24.1%; 8-9% -- 6.9%; 6-7% -- 5.2%; 4-5% -- 17.2%; 2-3% -- 17.2%; 1% -- 6.9%; flat or decline 23.4%.
Growth Expectations, Pt. 2
Breakdown for midsized firms: Over 10% -- 25.4%; 8-9% -- 9%; 6-7% -- 11.9%; 4-5% -- 22.4%; 2-3% -- 13.4%; 1% -- 6%; flat or decline 11.9%.
Breakdown for large firms: Over 10% -- 20.3%; 8-9% -- 5.1%; 6-7% -- 12.7%; 4-5% -- 20.3%; 2-3% -- 31.6%; 1% -- 2.5%; flat or decline 7.6%.
Biggest Issues: Small Firms
The next three most commonly cited issues for small firms were data/IT security, recruiting/retaining good employees, and remaining relevant to clients (all tied at 14%).
Biggest Issues: Midsized Firms
The next three most commonly cited issues for midsized firms were remaining relevant to clients (16%), keeping up with technology (15%), and the overall economy and partner/staff accountability (tied at 13%).
Biggest Issues: Large Firms
The next three most commonly cited issues for large firms were the Affordable Care Act (18%), competition from other firms (17%), and remaining relevant to clients and keeping up with technology (tied at 15%).
Tax Season Expectations
Only 10% of small firms think 2015 will be worse than 2014; theyre also less likely to require staff to work every Saturday in tax season 36%, versus 51% of large firms. Theyre also the most likely to not require any Saturdays in tax season, provided staff complete their work 28% reported that as their policy, followed closely by large firms at 25%.
Making Plans
We also asked about health and wellness programs (23% of firms have one, and 9% plan to implement one in 2015), and efforts to diversify their staff (15% already make efforts to promote diversity, and 10% plan to do so in 2015).
New Services
Its worth noting that client accounting services ranked by far the highest among Plans to Add overall, with 15.9 percent of all firms reporting that they plan to start offering CAS in 2015; nothing else is more common than wealth management at 7.3 percent.
Payroll was the service with the most penetration -- 72 percent of firms already offer it, and 4 percent plan to add it in 2015.
Technology Spending
Small firms spend much more of their budget on technology -- among other things, they get fewer economies of scale on large purchases like servers, scanners, etc. -- but they also wont be boosting their spending as much next year, the way large firms are as they ramp up, in part to take advantage of new cloud-based and mobile technologies.
New Technologies, Pt. 1
In most cases, large firms are further ahead with adopting new technologies, particularly organizational tools like workflow and practice management systems. The difference is much less when it comes to tools that can be useful no matter the size of your firm, like tax prep software and document management systems.
New Technologies, Pt. 2
We asked about two other technologies, which arent included in the graphs:
-- Customer relationship management software, which only 32 percent of all firms either had already implemented or planned to implement in 2015
-- New billing software, which only 28 percent of all firms either had already implemented or planned to implement in 2015.
New Technologies, Pt. 3
Laptops may be much more common at large firms, but the size of firm doesnt play much role in the likelihood of its offering free tablets or smartphones to staff.
Large firms are also much more likely to let staff work remotely -- 83.5 percent of them allow it, versus 61 percent of midsized firms and 63 percent of small firms.
Social Media
Interestingly, midsized firms are the laggards in most social media, being less likely to be involved in blogging, Twitter and Facebook than either small or large firms.
