So How Did Your 2024 Predictions For the Accounting Profession Work Out?

At the start of last year we ran a little survey asking readers what they thought would be the biggest issues impacting the profession in 2024. And at that time, the talent shortage won out as the biggest of the big issues. By a large margin at that.

What will be the biggest issue affecting the profession in 2024?

With 2024 now behind us it’s safe to say that the talent shortage, which we’ve come to regard as a bullshit talking point at this point since firms don’t seem interested in fixing it (see: Weekend Discussion: Firms Really Aren’t Helping This Pipeline Problem, You Guys), did not reign supreme as the biggest issue. No, that honor belongs to two items: Offshoring and private equity.

To be clear, there is a talent shortage. However we are of the opinion that firms have no interest in fixing it and will instead ramp up offshoring while boomers continue to ride off into the sunset with their comically oversized bags of private equity cash. Fun. Good times. Everything is fine. What could possibly go wrong.

The 2024 predictions survey also asked if there are any issues that aren’t being talked about and should be. It’s funny how many people mentioned salaries as if low pay isn’t talked about more than any other issue (as it should be). To be fair, it wasn’t until the National Pipeline Advisory Group released their mildly anticipated pipeline report over the summer that The Powers That Be officially acknowledged this as one of the leading factors in declining accounting enrollments. Up until that report, the Big 4-captured AICPA did everything they could to point to any other factor but that as doing so would mean the firms they shill for would have to increase starting salaries to begin to address it. See: AICPA Council Approves 12-Point Plan to Do F*ck All to Solve the Accountant Shortage and the follow up Here’s the AICPA’s Revised 12-Point Plan to Herd Students Into Accounting.

Anyway, responses to the question “What issue ISN’T being talked about and should be?” We had almost 200 write-ins here so I won’t include them all. If you want to read them all send me an email and I’ll share the full list. I think some people didn’t understand the assignment — the question wasn’t “what’s your biggest beef with the accounting profession” — as we’ve talked about almost all of these extensively not just in the past year but in general. I’ll include them anyway because they’re all valid concerns.

What issue ISN’T being talked about and should be?

• Pay
• Low pay
• Lack of leadership and ethics
• Offshoring – even offshore locations are talent strapped. Who is going to be doing the work? At some point prices have to rise, no? [Ed. note: I addressed this here There’s About to Be a Ton of Warm Bodies to Throw at Offshore Accounting Outlets in the Philippines. The TLDR is AI is making call center staff obsolete, offshore staffing agencies have their own programs training people from the ground up to perform basic accounting tasks. You see where this is going.]
• That maybe Gen Z is a little correct about not just taking the same ways of working as the right way (long hours, no flexibility, etc)
• Starting Salaries and how the billable hour killed the profession.
• Better hands on training/mentoring
• The tsunami of fraud that occurred with the ERTC and the willfully pitiful attempts to enforce the rules. The AICPA’s admonishment of honest CPAs to adhere to Circular 130 when it was being flouted for 2 years by fraudsters with no repercussions. People need to go to prison.
• Non-compete salaries causing the shortage
• Future US leaders working with clients with 1/3 of the work being offshore
• Unacceptably excessive hours.
• Greedy Partners
• Billable Hours Pricing
• How the poor culture is driving good people from the profession in droves.
• AICPA creating more barriers to entry; not for the people, poor CPA exam procedures
• Pay gaps at intermediate experience levels. Skills gaps caused by pandemic, technology (AI included) and hybrid work environment.
• The lack of small firms. Regional firms are buying out all of them which is limiting attention and service to local clients. As well as hurting CPA culture in process.
• The impact of private equity trend on long-term recruiting and retention – if the carrot of control and ownership is gone, why grind it out under the existing model.
• Beneficial owner reporting
• The fact that public accounting partners steer the CPA credential and do so in a way adverse to CPAs – i.e. big 4 and others would rather have a flood of CPAs with little to no barrier than increase the incentives/pay to get more CPAs
• The regulatory environment is driving people away from the profession.
• Ongoing sexism in promotions
• Mental health
• Remote work is affecting training and supervision of associates
• Mental health impact of public
• No one wants to be “us”
• Incompetence of regulators
• Impact of years of remote working on junior staff training, ensuing pressure on upper level auditors, causing significant lapses in audit quality.
• The likelihood of another Arthur Anderson/Enron blowup.
• FASB changes
• Elitism. We all have Master’s degrees. It’s not enough. Add on a CPA cert that takes a year to study for and obtain.
• Many mergers, PE investments, restructurings, cash outs etc
• Proper training
• PCAOB expectations
• Alternative licensing pathways (reinstatement of the old licensed and registered public accountant designations phased out by states in the 70s and 80s)
• salaries
• Workload/hours
• Widespread burnout
• Private equity and private debt taking over firms
• What happens when all of the Boomers retire in the next 5ish years??
• Mental health
• Increased state government over-reach
• WE NEED TO GET PAID MORE
• Too much offshoring
• Audit role in relation to fraud
• Big 4/Large National firms not doing much to reduce the excessive hours in our field. This hurts the smaller firms as experienced talent think the situation is the same everywhere so they leave and go into industry.
• The lack of pipeline from offshoring so much lower level staff work [Ed. note: This is an emerging issue that has finally been acknowledged. Firms won’t do anything about it but at least it’s being talked about.]
• Staff that don’t want to be partners
• Outsourcing overseas
• Accountants from prior generations hang on to every negative feeling they ever had and try to pass it down to the next generation. It is in fact possible to be a successful accountant without severe trauma. This is why smart people avoid the profession. Also, firms claim to need so much talent but won’t pay for it, causing intelligent accountants to leave the profession.
• Training for new staff.
• DEI IS BULLSHIT
• Tax deadlines (3/15 & 4/15) are no longer reasonable
• Work life balance/Compensation
• Offshoring of staff level work
• Cost of service. Inefficiency of IRS.
• Hiring incompetent people at an exp senior or higher position

We also asked which firm would have the first scandal of the new year:

“Scandal” may have been an unnecessarily overdramatic word. Marcum got the first SEC fine of the year though.

SEC Sues Marcum Partner Who Thinks Reviewing the Engagement Team’s Work Is For Chumps

Will you prioritize work-life balance this year?

Our 2024 survey’s final question was a basic one: Will you prioritize work-life balance this year? I really want to know how those “No” people are doing a year later.

If you made it this far, you rule. Now you’re invited to weigh in on 2025 Predictions for the Accounting Profession (Google Form, we don’t collect emails). This year’s survey is almost the same as 2024’s except we’ve added private equity and offshoring to the top issues and edited the scandal question to be less dramatic.

Happy New Year, everyone. Something tells me 2025 is going to be dark.