DEMOGRAPHICS OF SURVEY PARTICIPANTS
293 firms participated in this year’s survey.
The breakdown of those firms is as follows:
• 62 firms with annual net fees in excess of $20 million
• 82 firms with annual net fees of $10–20 million
• 94 firms with annual net fees of $5–10 million
• 43 firms with annual net fees of $2–5 million
• 12 firms with annual net fees under $2 million
82% of the firms in our 2024 survey also participated in the 2023 survey.
In terms of market size (metropolitan population of the county in which the firm resides, plus all collar counties), the firms represent the following:
• 152 firms were from very large cities with population in excess of 2 million such as Chicago, New York, Atlanta, etc.
• 39 firms were from other large cities with populations between 1 and 2 million.
• 68 firms were from markets ranging in population between 250,000 and 1 million.
• 34 firms were from markets of under 250,000.
In regard to geographic dispersion, surveyed firms came from the following areas:
• 88 firms were from Midwestern states (Great Lakes, Dakotas down to Kansas)
• 55 firms were from Northeastern states (New England down to Pennsylvania)
• 99 firms were from Southern states (Kentucky, Delaware, and Maryland down to Florida, and as far west as Oklahoma and Texas)
• 51 firms were from Western states (Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, Montana, and all states west)
MARKETING PLAN
Do you have a formal written marketing plan?
Observation
This question has only been on the survey for the past four years. For the third year in a row, the difference in IPP between those firms that have a marketing plan and those that don’t is significant:
• 2022: 16% more IPP for firms that have a marketing plan
• 2023: 16% more IPP for firms that have a marketing plan
• 2024: 13% more IPP for firms that have a marketing plan
PERCENTAGE OF FEMALE PARTNERS
Having a marketing plan pays dividends! With that said, the percentage of firms that have a formal marketing plan has not changed much over the past four years. Many firms don’t believe they need to market/sell because they are having staffing issues and work is coming in despite their lack of effort. However, as everyone knows, the “well” can dry up quickly so it is important to have a plan and continue promoting the firm.
Observation
Since 2011, we have analyzed the percentage of female equity partners across firms of all sizes. While the percentage of female partners stayed relatively steady over the last few years, we have noted an increase between 2011 and 2024 as women continue to take more leadership positions.
OUR METHODOLOGY
The Rosenberg Survey team uses several quality control techniques that make our survey high quality and one that accounting and consulting firms around the country have relied on for 26 years.
1. We compute all ratios. For example, we do not ask firms to list fees per partner. Instead, we ask them to give us their firm’s annual fees and the total number of partners. We compute the ratio, thereby ensuring that the computation is made accurately.
2. The Rosenberg Survey team consists of Charles Hylan, Carol Stano and Kennedy Backer — Hylan and Stano are former practicing CPAs. Equally important, Hylan is a nationally known consultant to the CPA industry. His familiarity with CPA firm operations is put to good use in reviewing input data. Each team member contributes to the review and counter-review effort required to publish an accurate survey. When we see an error or something that looks strange, we contact the firm, notify them of the issue, and get the situation clarified, corrected, and resolved. No data is entered into our survey if it does not look right.
3. Our survey gives breakdowns of various metrics by the size of firm and size of the market. This enables firms to identify a segment in our survey that most closely parallels them. Hence, the comparisons are more relevant.
4. We make a major effort to get as many repeat participants in our survey as possible. We contact firms that were in our survey the previous year and do everything in our power to get them to participate again. We are proud of the high repeat rate we achieve year after year.