Inovautus, AAM Release Results of Growth Survey of Accounting Firms

Inovautus Consulting, LLC and the Association for Accounting Marketing have released the results of the 2021 Growth Survey for Accounting Firms. The survey takes an annual pulse check on the state of marketing and growth across the accounting firm profession. Participant firms, representing a diverse cross-section of revenue and geographic identity, help to uncover trends, shifts, and intentions.

For this edition, Inovautus Consulting and AAM sought to paint a picture of how CPA firms are weathering the current storms and preparing for 2021. Key findings include:

• 95% of accounting shareholders and marketers are optimistic about job security, compared to 84% in the first survey conduct in beginning of May 2020
• 24% of firms anticipated a positive impact on 2021 net revenue and 42% anticipated no impact to 2021 net revenue.
• 66% of firms anticipating meeting or exceeding growth goals in 2021, an improvement upon the 73% who did not expect to meet goals in 2020
• A positive outlook for 2021 correlated with an increase in business development activities. 44% of firms reporting an increase in their time spent on business development activities also had a positive outlook
• Firms not offering advisory services were not likely to believe they would meet budgeted growth
• 78% of firms plan to increase or hold their marketing budget steady
• Firms are making greater investments in software and technology, websites, content marketing, and email marketing
• Firms are cutting budgets in events and in-person networking
• Nearly a third of respondents believe there is more opportunity yet to be had