What are the Top Issues from the Top 100 Firms? Twice a year the AICPA hosts the Top 100 CPA Firms in the US, aka the Major Firms Group. It is a chance for the AICPA to convene this group and share the latest trends and issues facing the Profession and get feedback. This slide shows the latest survey from the AICPA PCPS presented at the meeting. MACPA’s own, Lexy Kessler, Chair of AICPA PCPS and partner at Aronson helped shape the agenda.
AICPA Major Firms Group Top Issues
The Top 5 Current Issues for firms 21+ are:
- Finding Qualified Staff;
- Retaining Qualified Staff;
- Managing Work/Life Balance initiatives;
- Owner / Partner Accountability;
- A Tie – Seasonality and Workload Compression & Managing Privacy & Cyber-security Risks.
The Top 5 Issues with Biggest Impact in Next 5 Years for firms 21+ are:
- Staffing;
- Emerging Technologies;
- Changing Client Needs;
- Competition;
- Mergers/Consolidations
Interesting to see Work/Life balance and Partner Unity/Accountability rise on current issues. We are seeing the same trends in our research. Emerging Technologies in the next 5 years?
We are seeing three years based on the exponential pace of technology and increased adoption by CPA Firms of all sizes. Our research with a leading global futurist, Daniel Burrus shows the latest technologies impacting firms and companies are:
- Advanced Cloud – this enables most of the other technologies;
- Artificial Intelligence in Auditing, Tax, and Finance – There are at currently three major players, Mindbridge AI, Thomson-Reuters – Inflo, and AICPA Dynamic Audit Solution (DAS) ;
- Virtualization of processes and services (RPA – Robotic Process Automation);
- Big Data and Data Analytics;
- Adaptive & Predictive Cybersecurity Systems
As Dan Burrus likes to say, “If it can be done, it will be done and if you don’t do it, someone, else will!”
We think of it as what is your RONI? Risk of Not Investing.
However a word of caution about just adopting one of these technologies.
“Technology isn’t the biggest challenge, Culture is! …At most businesses that aren’t born digital, traditional mindsets and ways of working run counter to those needed for AI (and these emerging technologies).”