75 percent of all CPAs will retire in the next fifteen years: American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA)

The certified public accountant (CPA) is a designation given to individuals who pass the Uniform CPA Examination and meet the education and experience requirements provided by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA). Certain Other countries have certifications equivalent to the CPA designation, notably, Chartered Accountants (CA) designation. The CPA designation helps enforce professional standards in the accounting industry. The transitions which occur in Certified Public Accountants (CPA) firm is a process that has passed the test time and has been managed in its good and bad times.

 In this current situation, the effect of the pandemic impacts more about the awareness and need for being well-positioned for any mandatory is to be conditionally managed. This includes having a place in an orderly and intelligent process for the responsibility and the transferability of the ownership.  Almost every firm has an idea regarding how they manage the expected retirements of a life partner, some of them have a plan for that. Some may have a process for transitioning a managing partner. While considering the small firms, only a few have plans in place for an uncontrollable event. The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) research depicts that, around 75 percent of all CPAs will retire in the next fifteen years. Based upon this a level indicating fewer than half of the firms surveyed opined that they have a well written and approved succession plan in place and also added that the number of dwindles in smaller firms may not have enough talent, resource, or time to truly focus on it.

The possibility of occurrence is finely depend on the situations. Some transitions are very much expected and some of them are forced up by uncontrollable events.  So the optimality approach for each transition is to have a plan and to make sure that plan is updated periodically and accordingly. In the cases of Traditional retirement, the outcome truly based on the lead time in building relationships. Clients trust their accountants and the successor has to be able to earn and enjoy the trust. Every client should have their action plans of meetings and services, feedback processes, etc. The method of pricing may change but the billing structure should continue historically to minimize the impact on clients. In Managing, Partner turnover firms will choose a managing partner by-poll. A job description is to be placed and updated at least every two years.  For maintaining a good leadership proper mentoring and coaching is required. When sudden and unexpected transitions occur many firms prepare contingency plans and perform accordingly. Some of the larger firms follow this but it is difficult for the smaller ones to follow up. A Practice Continuation Agreement is typically structured by the consultant and documented by an attorney. The crucial key is planning, every circumstance should be mapped out and anticipated properly.