What are the top 5 operational challenges for US public accounting firms?
Focusing purely on operations, and leaving to one side strategy, the five major issues I see facing the large US accounting firms are: (1) keeping abreast of the tidal wave of financial and tax regulation that is certain to emanate from Washington in the near future; (2) shifting human resources away from financial services – both due diligence and M&A tax – to more promising areas such as insolvency; (3) managing cash flows now that billing for advisory services are falling; (4) preventing the usual bloodbath amongst the partners, cannibalisation of clients, etc., that seems to occur with every downturn; and (5) encouraging staff to go through their files to ensure all transactions have been properly documented and implemented with a view to preventing another Arthur Andersen-style collapse.
