The annual INSIDE Public Accounting (IPA) Human Resources Report offers in-depth analysis to improve firm operations, recruit staff and stay ahead of the competition.
Participating Firm Demographics
The 238 firms that participated in the 2022 IPA Human Resources Survey include: 68 firms above $30 million; 38 firms between $20 million and $30 million; 64 firms between $10 million and $20 million; 68 firms under $10 million. 28% of staff are under age 30; 53% of staff are under age 40; 72% of staff are under age 50; 12% of staff are over age 60; 56% of staff are female and 44% of staff are male.
Staffing Overview
Of the firms that provided data on retiring partners, 4.4% of all equity partners retired in 2021, and another 4.4% are expected to retire in 2022. In these firms, those percentages represent 675 equity partners, while the same firms admitted 622 new equity partners last year.
The majority of firms are increasing their staffing next year, with 41% expecting that increase to be more than 5%. In firms above $30 million in revenue, this increases to 50% of firms.
Thirty-three percent of all participating firms and 45% of firms above $30 million now outsource an average of 4% of their professional staff positions.
Twenty-nine percent of firms have professional staff whose compensation is not tied to charge hours.
Baby Boomers (age 60 and older) account for 1 in 8 staff across all revenue bands. Fifty-three percent of staff are made up of Millennials and Gen-Z (age 40 and under).
On average, women, at 56% of all professional staff, continue to outnumber their male counterparts. The percentage of women as equity owners, however, lags far behind men, although the numbers are increasing slowly.
The 2022 IPA National Practice Management Benchmarking Report identifies an average of 23.3% of all equity owners as female, up from 22.5% in 2021.
Blacks, Asians, Hispanics and other minorities continue to be under-represented within the public accounting profession. In firms of all sizes, about 3% of staff are Black, 8% are Asian and 6% are Hispanic, numbers that haven’t changed since IPA began tracking the data three years ago. The highest representation of minorities is Hispanics in the West, and Asian in firms in the West and in firms of more than $75 million.
Benefits Overview
Staff sabbaticals are offered to everyone at 9% of all participating firms.
Unlimited PTO for exempt staff with nine or more years of experience is offered at 18% of firms, increasing from 15% last year.
Other benefits offered to employees include Employee Wellness Programs, increasing from 58% last year to 61% this year; Medicare Supplements increasing from 3% to 6%; and Computer Purchase Programs, up from 21% last year to 26%.
Just 12% of firms offer child care/day care benefits, with 18% of firms in the Southeast region offering the benefit to staff. Only 5% of firms in the Great Plains region offer similar perks.
More than half (58%) of firms provide paid maternity leave, with just 28% of those firms paying for eight weeks of leave or more.
