MAP Top 5 Issues: staffing still No. 1.

• Position: PCPS Update

This year's Top 5 MAP Issues Poll revealed that finding and retaining top quality staff is the most pressing obstacle for most firms for the fourth year in a row. While staffing has remained the top concern, new practice management issues have risen. For instance, marketing/practice growth has reemerged as the second most important issue. Why? According to Neal Harte, managing partner at Harte, Carucci & Driscoll PC, and chairman of the AICPA Management of an Accounting Practice (MAP) Committee, deploying new services is becoming a top initiative for firms of all sizes, so marketing and practice growth are of greater importance than ever before.

Last year, keeping up with technology was top of mind for sole practitioners, but as the economy has shifted, firms are placing growing emphasis on new services. Many firms are starting to realize that offering new services will help them address their number one objective, staffing, as many younger, qualified recruits often look to larger consulting firms upon graduation for diverse work activity. By offering a range of services, smaller firms can also compete for top recruits.

Harte says it is also important to note that, while marketing and practice growth were of little concern to most accounting firms last year, many firms are entering nontraditional practice areas and are increasingly eager to learn how to better market their new skill sets.

Succession planning was the number three issue most firms were concerned with this year. Due to the economic uncertainty, firms are more concerned than ever with ensuring internal stability and structure. Fee pricing, on the other hand, has moved down a spot on the poll to number four, because new services make CPAs more comfortable with their billing systems as they move toward consulting services. Determining and meeting client needs was number five on the poll and will surely continue to be a top concern in the year ahead as CPAs respond to varying client needs and the turbulent economy.

The MAP Top 5 Issues Poll is an annual survey of CPA firms across the country, ranging in size from one professional (sole practitioners) to 50 or more professionals. The survey reached the full circulation of the Practicing CPA and the state societies, and for...