Tax Advisory Industry Report 2022: A Blue J and Tax Analysts Collaboration

Blue J partnered with Tax Analysts to assess the growth outlook for the tax advisory industry. The qualitative and quantitative approach provided significant insights into tax advisers’ most important challenges, how leading firms meet those challenges, and the untapped opportunities for growth. Over 130 tax advisors working in professional service firms were involved in the study.

The report reveals the opportunities tax practices have to differentiate themselves from their competitors, how to provide improved client experiences, and how to achieve improved levels of efficiency in their workflows.

Access your free copy today, or continue reading to learn more about the report.

 

Tax Advisory Industry Report 2022 Cover

The tax advisory landscape

The work of tax practitioners has always been complex. But in recent years, with increased turnover, the shift to remote work, and rapid tax reform, tax practitioners are struggling to keep up. There is an increased demand for their services, firms are busier than ever, and so revenue growth is largely positive. However, due to the increased workload and a lack of efficiency, overall profitability is stalling.

Efficiencies in workflow, juniors who lack a high tax proficiency, and rapidly changing tax laws all lead to significant write offs. Hours of work go unpaid in order to meet client expectations. The practices that wish to optimize profitability will find the right tools and processes to achieve new levels of efficiency and shore up these lost, non-billable hours.

 

A quick look inside

TAIR 2022 Look Inside

To give you an idea of the insights you can expect to find in the report, here are a few key findings.  

 

Recruitment and retention remains one of the biggest challenges

86% of tax practices are challenged by recruitment and retention of talent, with 65% finding it a major challenge.

The biggest challenge for tax practices has been recruiting and retaining top talent. However, improving recruitment efforts or developing a strategy for recruitment and training has not been prioritized as a major goal.

 

Work-life balance remains elusive for the majority of advisories

82% of respondents struggled with achieving a better work-life balance and it was a major challenge for 44% of respondents.

Difficulty in finding work-life balance is no surprise. Remote work brings with it the “always-on” problem - a difficulty in disconnecting from the work day - leading to most people working longer hours. Ongoing tax reform, inexperienced junior associates, and the departure of talent across practices makes it significantly more difficult to get work done in a timely manner.

 

Improving client satisfaction is a primary focus for the year

93% of tax practitioners surveyed want to improve client satisfaction in 2022. For 58%, it was a major goal, and for 35% it was a minor goal.

This also reflects the challenge in recent years of keeping up with heightened client expectations. Over the course of 2020 and 2021, clients would have been dealing with more uncertainty in their lives and greater levels of anxiety. How tax practices communicated with clients transformed, deliverables had longer turnaround times and answers to questions lacked certainty.

 

Get the complete report

The Tax Advisory Industry Report 2022 brings together rich insights on the challenges and goals of tax practitioners, and actions for them to take to get ahead of their competition. Get the complete report today to leverage these insights, and to share with your colleagues.

Tax Advisory Industry Report 2022 Cover

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