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Accountants see sunny skies ahead

It hasn’t happened since 2007, but U.S.

accountants are living with more optimism. The third quarter Business & Industry Economic Outlook Survey by the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) discovered accountants’ optimism about the economy and their companies’ futures is at pre-recession levels.

Survey results showed that economic optimism rose from 22 percent to 52 percent since the third quarter of 2012. Among barometers for individual companies, respondents project growth in revenue, profit and head count. Optimism doesn’t outweigh the fact that challenges do exist. Notably, professionals are most concerned about regulatory requirements and changes, domestic economic conditions, availability of skilled personnel and employee/benefit costs. Increased health care costs are a large part of that, too.

More information on the Economic Outlook Survey is at www.aicpa.org. n

CPA firm revenue up for third year

Just how much as the CPA profession recovered since the recession? By looking at firm revenue, pretty well. The Rosenberg Survey found that firms saw a 6.7 PERCENT revenue increase in 2013 — a 1.3 percent jump over 2012. It was also the third consecutive year firms saw increases since the recession began. Other notable results:

>> Women on the rise? In 2013, 16.4 PERCENT of partners were female, as opposed to 15.6 percent in 2012.

>> The partner compensation gap between large and smaller firms continues to widen. Those partners at firms with revenue more than $10 million see compensation 41 PERCENT higher than counterparts at firms with revenues less than $10 million.

Visit www.rosenbergsurvey.com for info on how your firm can participate in the survey. n

THE BEST CITIES AND COUNTIES? VIRGINIA HAS ‘EM

Oatlands Plantation is in Loudoun County, outside of Leesburg.

What do VIRGINIA BEACH, ALEXANDRIA and CHESAPEAKE all have in common? They were all named to the “America’s 50 Best Cities to Live” list from 24/7 Wall St.

The list ranked the best of 550 cities with populations of more than 65,000 in 2012, looking at crime, economy, education, housing, environment, leisure and infrastructure.

Not to be outdone, two Virginia counties achieved accolades of their own. LOUDOUN and FAIRFAX were ranked No. 1 and No. 3, respectively, on a list of America’s 10 best counties complied by real estate brokerage Movoto Real Estate. Median household income was a factor, as well as unemployment rate and high school graduate rate, among others. n

>> BY THE NUMBERS

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Virginia’s national ranking among states for women’s employment and earnings, compiled by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. However, the Commonwealth was ranked 32nd when it came to income disparity: women earn 76.9 percent of men’s pay, which is under the national average. Washington, D.C. was ranked No. 1 overall, placing highest in every category. n