The recent CCH 2008 Annual Directory of CPA Firm Associations made interesting reading on a number of fronts. Of course, those of us running international associations are always anxious to know how our competitors are doing, how much they are charging etc etc, but some more significant snippets of information emerged too.
And by that I don't just mean the fact that many of those who described themselves as 'associations', often part of international organisations, would be perceived by many as being 'networks' under the new definitions ... but let's see how they are described 12 months down the track ...
More important, though, was the fact that the net increase in the number of firms being part of an association was an impressive 75 firms, despite the fact that it is becoming increasingly difficult for associations to find good quality firms in the cluttered US market that are not already members of some form of national or international association or network, and every association, almost without fail, emphasises the need for quality and claims never to recruit a firm simply to fill a geographic gap if that firm does not provide the level of quality that other members and their clients require.
From this, hopefully two conclusions can be drawn. First, standards in the US accounting profession are going up. But secondly, it suggests that an increasing number of smaller but nevertheless high quality firms (often run and staffed by ex Big 4 people) are able to win, service and retain interesting and diverse clients who have needs outside the capability of the local firm, but who can be serviced by other firms within the association who may be able to provide broader technical or geographic services.
For many - both firms and their clients - this provides the best of both worlds. And we expect the trend to continue.
James Mendelssohn (jmendelssohn@msiglobal.org)
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