The December 2015 Accountant Market Pulse survey, conducted by Beaton Research + Consulting in partnership with CommBank, captures a cross-section of 100 accounting and restructuring firms.
Discussions with key industry players reveal the ongoing concerns with respect to traditional accounting and tax-based work becoming ever more commoditised and price driven. This comes as no surprise as negotiating price with clients still remains in the top three challenges facing accounting firms. However this aspect (negotiating prices with clients) has continued to ease when compared to the previous financial year1. Firms are addressing the issue in various ways. There is a constant challenge to cross-sell higher margin services as a way to maintain revenue and remain profitable. Firms are also exploring new revenue streams, with the larger firms leading the way in expanding into non-traditional areas.
The clear trend is for firms to pursue diversification in the form of non-accounting services. The shift was further evidenced by the fact that 76 per cent of firms surveyed expected revenue from non-accounting services to increase over the next 12 months2. This figure grew to 89 per cent of firms over the next two years. The industry is expecting to see this grow with more than half of firms expecting to enter and grow business advisory and management consultancy service lines in the next 12 to 18 months2.
CommBank’s Accounting Market Pulse captures the industry’s latest trends and nuances so it serves as a tool for business planning and benchmarking. Access the full report here.
If you would like a copy of the full infographic, email us at [email protected].
1 CommBank Accounting Market Pulse, July 2015.
2 CommBank Accounting Market Pulse, December 2015.
Things you should know: Count used reasonable efforts to ensure the commentary in this blog was accurate and true at the time that it was posted, but Count is not liable for any errors or omissions in the commentary. Since the time of posting it is possible that regulatory requirements and laws upon which the commentary were based have changed and the content is outdated. The commentary provided in this blog is informational only and while care was taken in the preparation of this blog, no liability is accepted by Count, its related entities, agents and employees for any loss arising from reliance on this blog. Any commentary regarding past economic performance is no indication of future performance and should be used as a general guide only.