Research Reports

For the first time, IOMA Research has turned its expert attention to helping CPA firms strategize and plan for the current year as well as the future.

This two-volume set provides exclusive data and analysis from IOMA’s annual CPA firm survey, ensuring the best possible day-to-day performance at your firm in 2007 and for the future, with detailed guidelines for developing effective succession and transition plans for your firm.

Using IOMA's exclusive survey-based data and accompanying analysis from this set, you can compare your year-to-year performance to your peers in firms across the country, with key benchmarks and operational data—on gross revenue, operating profit, compensation, billing rates and fees, marketing budgets, and more—all broken down by region, firm size, and other key demographics.

Right at your fingertips, you’ll have key statistics, such as:

• Billing rates for CPA firm owners averaged a steady $214 per hour, just as in 2006, with non-equity owners slightly edging ahead this year by $215 per hour.

• Across the board, compensation was higher compared to last year’s results. Partner compensation (excluding bonuses or perks) averaged $277,193 for the highest range of owners in 2006. The average group earned $192,926 and the lowest group, $162,759. The average salary for a non-equity owner was $116,364, with an average bonus of $9,917.

• Among staff CPAs, manager/supervisors billed on average $152 per hour in 2006; seniors, $114; juniors, $94; juniors who had not yet passed the CPA exam, $86; paraprofessionals, $79; firm administrators, $109; and marketing directors, $140.

Looking beyond 2007, you’ll learn the 7 key steps for developing a successful plan for succession:

• Start early to improve your chances for success
• Review current documentation including partnership agreements, etc.
• Prepare a plan and put it in writing
• Consider the financial impact on the firm of outgoing leadership
• Understand and review ownership transfer options and select the best method for your firm
• Communicate, communicate and then communicate some more
• Formalize a program to identify future leadership

You also get IOMA’s thorough analysis of the collected data to begin your succession planning, including data for firms similar in size and scope to yours, presented in over 50 charts and tables. The report also features numerous case studies to provide you with real-life examples of what works—and what doesn’t—in setting out to plan for succession.