The State of the Profession

Analyzing the Results of the 2018 Practice Management Survey

In BriefThe fourth annual NYSSCPA–Rosenberg Survey identifies trends from the national 20th Annual Practice Management Survey and provides a comparative qualitative analysis to participating New York CPA firms. The survey contains a wealth of quantitative and qualitative assessments of the current state of New York CPA firms, as compared to CPA firms across the United States.The quantitative portion of the Rosenberg survey provides valuable analysis, actionable guidance, expert insight, and practical recommendations for CPAs. It also presents insights and assessments by some of the leading consultants to accounting firms in the United States.The national survey provided six takeaways for CPAs in public practice: 1) revenue growth remained solid, although it was slightly less than the year before, continuing a downward three-year trend; 2) merger activity, at 39%, was significantly up from the previous year; 3) income per equity partner was up by a modest amount overall (3%), but was zero to negative in medium-sized firms (net fees between $2 and $20 million); 4) the average age of partners continued a slow decline, as did the percentage of partners over 50, with the exception of the largest firms; 5) core audit, review, compilation, and write-up services faced continued pricing pressures; and 6) the percentage of female equity partners grew at firms of all sizes, though it still lags behind the percentage of female staff. This year, as in the past, the survey continued to discover quantifiable differences between some national trends and trends in New York. This article will discuss those differences, present selected quantitative results, and excerpt insights from the experts.