PwC Is Again the ‘Most Prestigious Accounting Firm’

Clients love their tax accountant, though half wonder if they’re doing enough to cut their tax bill.

Those seemingly contradictory opinions come from a survey by practice management software provider Canopy.

85% of the taxpayer respondents say they would recommend their accountant, despite 53% not being confident they’re getting enough help minimizing their taxes.

What the survey takers most appreciate is the in-person communication with their accountant. In fact, they appreciate these meetings so much they also list them as the No.1 thing they would change in their relationship. Both business owners and individual taxpayers want more in-person meetings.

Since the survey was conducted before the COVID-19 restrictions were imposed, we don’t know if taxpayers still consider in-person meetings so important or if Zoom meetings and phone calls have become an adequate substitute. However, all types of technology were clearly important before the pandemic.

After meetings, taxpayers said what they most liked next about working with their tax accountant was being able to send and receive documents online. That could be as simple as using email or a file hosting service like Google docs or Dropbox. In reporting on the survey. AccountingToday notes that “the most common ways clients exchange documents with their accountant are during in-person meetings, through hard printouts and via email.”

Before the shutdown, taxpayers were already noticing technology shortcomings. After in-person meetings, improved technology was second among the three top things they would change in working with their accountant.

Besides a secure way of exchanging documents, the technology features clients most want from their accountant are text chat and appointment scheduling. Women, according to the survey, want a chat feature even more than do men.

Chat would help get timelier responses, which is the third more important improvement they would make in their accounting relationship. A chatbot could help with routine questions, but the survey respondents felt getting a faster response directly from their accountant was most important to them.

One especially troubling finding is how little clients know about post-filing services like audit protection and legal tax services. A third of all clients don’t know if their accountant provides audit protection. Business owners are even less likely to know.

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

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There’s nothing easy about the CPA exam. It requires hours of study – 400 minimum is recommended – and even then, the passing rate for all four parts hovers right around the 50% mark.

Having the Certified Public Accounting credential does open the door to a wider range of accounting jobs, but even so, it’s not a prerequisite. So the temptation can be great to bypass the investment of both time and money.

Now, a study by the Institute of Management Accountants, shows that the effort put into earning a CPA or the Certified Management Accountant (CMA) designation – or both – pays off handsomely.

“Consistently, holding some type of certification has a positive impact on compensation,” the IMA found.

How big an impact? Big, according to a survey the IMA conducted. For young accountants under 30 the median pay is $65,500. Add a CMA certification and median pay jumps to $80,000. The CPA bump is nearly identical at $79,925. For those holding both a CPA and a CMA, median pay came in at $97,250.

With more experience, the dollar differential is even more substantial. Median pay for a mid-career accountant without either a CMA or CPA is $101,500. With both, median pay jumps to $156,250.

“Overall, respondents holding only the CMA or the CPA earned 127% and 182% higher median additional compensation, respectively, above base salary compared to those holding neither certification,” the report notes.

“For all age groups, holding the CMA, the CPA or both certifications has an incremental, positive effect on median total compensation. This indicates that employers value employees for having the CMA, CPA, or both and are willing to compensate employees for holding these certifications.”

The report provides a rich array of other data about pay, including a section on gender pay differences. Comparing median base pay and total comp by gender and age, the report found women accountants of all ages earn 84% of what their male counterparts earn.

The differences are wider among older accountants, but the gender gap exists among even the youngest are groups. Women 20-29 years old earn a median total compensation that is 91% of the men in that age group.

Looking at it region by region, the IMA found women in the Northeast do better financially than the men. They earn 118% of what men earn in base pay and 105% in total comp.

Women though might want to avoid the Plains states. There the gender gap is the widest with women earning a mere 70% of what men are paid.

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

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