MAPping it out.

• Author: Ascierto, Jerry
• Position: MapSurvey; accounting services

Living up to its name, the MAP Survey continues to provide direction to scores of CPA firms, helping them find the most efficient routes of managing an accounting practice. The survey is a collection of dozens of indicators for CPA firms looking to benchmark their practices.

"Without the MAP report, it'd be like a boat without a rudder," says Thomas Vermeulen, CPA, chair of the San Joaquin Chapter MAP Committee. "We have to be fair to our clients with what we bill them, and to our staff with what we pay them, and I'd have little basis for determining whether or not I was being fair without this survey."

Before the MAP survey began, CPA firms had few methods of benchmarking their practices, says Frank Crowley, CPA, partner with Ventura-based Wolfe Emch & Crowley and a member of the CalCPA MAP Committee.

"There weren't too many firms that liked to talk about things like billing rates," says Crowley. "There was really no way of knowing how well you were doing; there was never any open discussions."

Antitrust laws prohibit billing rate and comparable data discussions. Only anonymous surveys may be used to collect data.

RECORD PARTICIPATION

A record 3,304 firms took part in the 2003 National MAP Survey. California led the nation with 575 valid responses out of 607 submitted. The sampling was evenly distributed, with responses from 194 small (less than $300,000 in revenue), 206 midsize ($300,000 to $1 million) and 175 large firms (more than $1 million).

Having the highest response rate entitled California to a customized MAP survey, which split the state into six geographic regions: Central Valley/Central Coast; Los Angeles; Orange County/Long Beach; Sacramento/North Coast; San Diego/Inland Empire; and Bay Area/Silicon Valley.

The following are some highlights from the survey. For a free copy of the California report, visit www.calcpa.org/MAP. For a copy of the national survey, visit http://map.pcps.org.

CHARGEABLE HOURS AND BILLING RATES

Although firm income and employee salaries rose last year, the survey found that owners saw a slight decline in both chargeable hours and billing rates.

At the national level, the average chargeable hours for owners reached 1,272 in 2003, down one hour from 2002. California had 1,268 average chargeable hours, down two hours from 2002.

The average hourly billing rate for owners at the national level in 2003 was $149.15, down almost $4 from 2002. That rate also declined in California--albeit only 25 cents--to...