State of the Profession 2018

Views on Practice Management

Jason L. Ackerman, CPA/CGMA, CFP, and Bernard N. Ackerman, CPA/CGMA, CFP, PFS

In BriefIn order to better decipher the results of the annual Rosenberg Practice Management Survey, The CPA Journal editors sought the opinions of several regular contributors and keen observers of accounting practice management. The editors asked these professionals what they have seen in their own practice, how their experience aligned with the results of the survey, and what they thought of the most significant trends highlighted in the survey report. The topics ranged from recruitment and retention, the aging of the profession, the gender disparity, revenue per partner, growth prospects, and the value of the CPA credential. Their answers provide color and context to the survey results, providing readers with some real world feedback about how the data can inform their own management of an accounting practice.The following professionals were members of this “virtual roundtable”: Edward Mendlowitz, CPA/PFS, ABV, a partner at WithumSmith+Brown, PC; Joel Sinkin, the president of Transition Advisors LLC; Orumé Hays, CPA, CGMA, the managing director of Hays CPA LLC, J. Michael Kirkland, CPA/CGMA, former NYSSCPA president; Jason L. Ackerman, CPA/CGMA, CFP, an accountant with Bernard N. Ackerman (BNA) CPAs and Bernard N. Ackerman, CPA/CGMA, CFP, PFS, founder of Bernard N. Ackerman (BNA) CPAs; S. Scott Voynich, CPA, CGMA, a managing partner at Robinson, Grimes & Company, P.C., and past chair of the AICPA and past president of the Georgia Society of CPAs; and Salvatore A. Collemi, CPA, a managing member of Collemi Consulting & Advisory Services, LLC. Their comments, edited for space and clarity, are presented in the following pages.