It’s nice to see that CPAs and their firms are doing very well. According to the just-released 2007 Rosenberg MAP Survey, firms with net fees over $2 million enjoyed annual net fee growth of 11.4 percent in 2006, compared to 9.7 percent in 2005. The average income for partners in these firms, according to the survey, is $350,000.
Growth at CPA firms is attributed to the continuing impact of Sarbanes-Oxley, both directly in the form of Sarbanes-Oxley related engagements, and indirectly as work trickles down from larger firms.
According to the survey, firms with over $10 million in net fees had an annual growth rate of 16.3 percent, and the average income per partner was $473,897. Contrast that to the survey results of multi-partner firms with under $2 million in net fees, as their growth rate was 5.2 percent and the average income per partner $190,802.
Other interesting information from the survey are that annual billable hours for staff at the over $2 million firms is 1,527 and 54 percent of partners art multi-partner firms are over age 50. Seven to nine percent of all partners, depending upon the size of the firms, will be retiring within the next three years. As to outsourcing, less then five percent of the firms surveyed are doing any meaningful amount of outsourcing.
There are many other MAP statistics in the full Rosenberg survey. And that is what I love about surveys like this. They allow firms to really see how well they are doing against other firms, especially comparably sized ones. They also show in general how well the profession is doing.
