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Accounting Industry Analysis

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Sector and Industry Information and Geographic Scope

The sector is professional, scientific, and technical services and the industry is accounting services. The NAICS codes are 54 and 54121 respectively. Other associated NAICS codes include 541211 Offices of Certified Public Accounts, 541213 Tax Preparation Services, 541214 Payroll Services, and 541219 Other Accounting Services. For the purposes of this paper, all three industries will be discussed as a whole and referred to as accounting services since all of these are possible career choices for those with an accounting degree.

There is a direct correlation between the number of establishments and the population disbursement. Typically the greater the population density, the greater number of firms. One exception is the Mid-Atlantic region which is comprised of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New Jersey. Here 25.5% of revenues are generated with only 15.3% of the establishments earning the revenue. This is due to the large number of major finance companies and the strong presence of the big 4 firms which include Deloitte, Ernst & Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and KPMG (Morea, “Accounting Services..”).

Sector and Industry Background

The professional, scientific, and technical services sector is comprised of intangibles, also known as services. Service industries are proven to have a prominent impact on economies of more developed countries. Approximately two-thirds of the United States economic activities are in service sectors. Typically the jobs in the professional, scientific, and technical services sector require specific training and often a license to practice (Investopedia, "Service Sector"). Companies in this sector tend to focus on skill, innovation, reputation, and ethics.

Accounting can be considered one of the oldest professions due to it’s long history of being a necessary business practice. That being said, the first CPA, certified public accountant, did not surface until 1896 and it was not until the Great Depression and the establishment of the SEC, Securities and Exchange Committee, in 1934 did this profession really begin to become what it is today. In the late 20th century, the accounting industry expanded its services into the consulting market which had a very positive impact on revenue and profit. Unfortunately the industry hit quite the snag in 2001 when the Enron scandal caused an empire to collapse. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act was passed shortly after in 2002 to establish more restrictions on accountants and their consulting practices. This required a much greater amount of work but fortunately more work created more jobs. Demand has so far continued to rise throughout 21st century (Investopedia, "Accounting Basics: History Of Accounting").

Sector and Industry Revenues

Please refer to tables 1.1 and 1.2 on page 5 in the appendix. As you can see both sector and industry revenues increased from 2007-2008. Both took a hit in 2009 because of the recession. The sector reached its pre-recession revenue in 2011 whereas the industry didn’t reach this number until 2012. Also, the industry recognized a substantially profit increase in 2012 where the sector saw a decline.

Industry Life Cycle Stage

The accounting services industry has recently entered the mature stage of the life cycle. While tax preparation services are expected to increase by only 0.9%, which is less than the expected increase of GDP at 2.1%, other accounting services are estimated to increase 2.3% over the next year. Even though tax preparation softwares have caused the industry to take a hit, the industry’s innovation and expansion of services provided has enabled a constant growth despite the challenges it has faced.

Major Companies

When it comes to the industry leaders in the accounting services portion, the top three companies are extremely competitive when it comes to market share. The current industry leader, PricewaterhouseCoopers, has a market share of 9.7%. The second and third leaders include Ernst & Young and Deloitte with 9.2% and 8.9% respectively. To finish the big four, KPMG has a market share of 4.3%. Other competitors include McGladrey with 1.8% market share and Grant Thornton with 1.5% market share. The ranking of these firms is not expected to change in the next five years. PwC will continue to lead the industry with a 6.8% expected growth rate. Ernst & Young and Deloitte with stay steady around 5.2% growth and KPMG will lag behind with a 2.9% expected growth rate (Morea, “Accounting Services..”).

There is clearly one leader of the tax preparation service branch. H&R Block dominates with a 28.3% market share. The closest competitor is Jackson Hewitt with only a 1.9% market share. Unlike companies in the accounting services mentioned above, both companies in tax preparation are expected to see a decline in sales. H&R block with see roughly a 1.0% decrease and Jackson Hewitt with see a 6.4% decrease (Edwards, “Tax Preparation..”). In the payroll and bookkeeping services, Automatic Data Processing Inc leads with a 17.6% market share and no other companies within reach. Like the accounting services, this service is expected to see a 5.2% growth increase in the upcoming years (Edwards, “Payroll & Bookkeeping..”).

Industry Structure

It’s no surprise the accounting industry has an oligopolistic structure with its competing big four firms. That being said, recent insight has questioned the endurance of this structure. Regulations are increasing at an exponential rate which in return increase the likelihood legal challenges facing these companies. Of course the loss of industry giant Arthur Andersen LLP created quite the stir nearly a decade ago when it reduced the big five to the big four (Ascher, “The Audit Industry..”).

Porter’s Five Forces

Bargaining power of suppliers is low. With the increase in growth, the number of workers has increased in response. Firms are finding themselves with a large enough workforce to choose from. The softwares and operating systems that firms use are also abundant and constantly adapting with the technology boom making it relatively easy to obtain effective products at a reasonable price. Bargaining power of the buyers is relatively high. Because clients are focusing on the quality of their service as opposed to the price of their service, this enables smaller firms to withstand a change against larger firms when it comes to attracting clients. Smaller firms are more able to adapt to a clients specific needs. It can be said that since competition is high, it is easier for buyers to switch between companies. Keep in mind that the bargaining power of larger firms is lower because not all accounting firms can handle such a workload.

Although the number of regulations has substantially risen, it has turned out to be somewhat helpful in creating more jobs. Tax preparation software on the other hand has become increasingly popular therefore decreasing the need of accountants. The software really took off when electronic filing became popular in the 2000s. Not only does it reduce the chance of human error, but the paperwork is transferred immediately to the IRS. Most electronic filers receive refunds in a third of the time it normally takes to paper file. The industry has realized this threat and is currently working on ways to allow customers to file their taxes for free using the company’s system on the web.

Barriers to entry are low and increasing. The industry has a very low concentration and is comprised of mostly small firms of 10 or less employees. Although special training and certifications are required, most states offer the additional required education making it easily accessible. Although entry is usually attainable, firms that enter the market with the intention of assisting larger companies will find it difficult to obtain the resources necessary to carry out services for such a large client. In other words, moving up the industry hierarchy is difficult and will require more time than expected.

The threat of competition is extremely high and steady. Due to the large demand of accounting services, this has allowed smaller firms to find work and flourish. Clients prefer quality service over a lower price therefore firms are focusing on their different levels of service. Around the time of the recession in 2009, companies attempted to lower costs in order to compete in a damaged market. This made brand recognition extremely important since most large companies prefer to work with larger accounting firms.

Strategic Groupings

The strategic groupings are primarily identified by the size of the firm. The big four start at the top of the food chain. These four firms have over 150,000 employees and three of the four have their headquarters outside of the US. They are currently focusing on brand recognition and acquisitions. The next group typically comprised of the next eight accounting firms with their number of employees ranging from 2,000 to 35,000. These firms are currently focused on trans-national relationships to move their market concentration to the global market in order to compete with the big four. The last strategic grouping is simply “the rest”. These small firms are focusing on specialization and “super-niche practices” (Beaton, “Top 100..”).

Employment

Please refer to page table 2.1 on page 5 on the appendix. Although employment numbers are still not where they were in 2007, this is primarily due to the steady decline of the tax preparation services. Both accounting services and payroll and bookkeeping services are increasing at much higher rates. As long as someone is pursuing these two types of services, employment should be relatively easy to find.

Five Year Prognosis
Despite the expected decline in tax preparation services, the accounting industry as a whole will more than likely see a sales growth of 3.1%, 3.2%, 1.1%, 3.6%, and 3.7% in years 2013-2017 respectively due to their adaptability and innovative approach to overcome the industry saturation. The number of enterprises with roughly increase on average around 1.5% while the number of employees with increase on average around 2.4% for the next five years. This industry will continue to thrive due to the expected increase in regulations. It is estimated that legal challenges will increase as much as 6% in the next five years. KPMG will fall even further behind the other big four firms. Market shares are estimated to stay with the same ranking, but we will see PwC increase it’s lead.

Appendix

Sector Table 1.1 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | Revenue | 1,128,014 | 1,323,897 | 1,258,045 | 1,304,872 | 1,381,076 | 1,472,241 | Costs | 993,222 | 1,053,655 | 1,009,410 | 1,033,365 | 1,078,864 | 1,329,433 | Profit | 134,792 | 270,242 | 248,635 | 271,507 | 302,212 | 142,808 | *in millions | | | | | | |
All information was taken from Quarterly Service Survey Historical Data 2007-2012
Industry Table 1.2 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | Revenue | 122,009 | 128,565 | 118,376 | 122,684 | 120,997 | 131,954 | Costs | 88,924 | 94,229 | 93,416 | 91,943 | 95,090 | 97,646 | Profit | 33,085 | 34,336 | 24,960 | 30,741 | 25,907 | 34,308 | *in millions | | | | | | |
All information was taken from Quarterly Service Survey Historical Data 2007-2012
Employment Table 2.1 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | Employment (Units) | 1,348,036 | 1,293,596 | 1,252,470 | 1,292,064 | 1,284,015 | 1,306,236 |
All information was taken from IBISWorld

Works Cited

Beaton, George. "Top 100 Accounting Firms: The Competition for Market Share." BRW 31 Oct. 2013: n. pag. Print.

"Service Sector." Investopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Nov. 2013.
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"Accounting Basics: History Of Accounting." Investopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Nov. 2013. <http://www.investopedia.com/university/accounting/accounting1.asp>.

Morea, Stephen. "Accounting Services in the US." N.p.: n.p., n.d. IBISWorld. Web. 23 Nov. 2013. <http://clients1.ibisworld.com/reports/us/industry/default.aspx?entid=1398>.

Edwards, Jeremy. “Payroll & Bookkeeping Services in the US.” N.p.: n., n.d. IBISWorld. Web 21 Nov. 2013.
<http://clients1.ibisworld.com/reports/us/industry/default.aspx?entid=1397

Edwards, Jeremy. “Tax Preparation Services in the US.” N.p.: n., n.d. IBISWorld. Web 21 Nov. 2013.
<http://clients1.ibisworld.com/reports/us/industry/default.aspx?entid=1399

Ascher, Bernard, The Audit Industry: World's Weakest Oligopoly? (September 18, 2008). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1337105 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1337105

Quarterly Service Survey Historical Data 2007. Rep. US Census Bureau, 2008. Web. 24 Nov. 2013. <http://www.census.gov/services/qss/historic_data.html>

Quarterly Service Survey Historical Data 2008. Rep. US Census Bureau, 2009. Web. 24 Nov. 2013. <http://www.census.gov/services/qss/historic_data.html>

Quarterly Service Survey Historical Data 2009. Rep. US Census Bureau, 2010. Web. 24 Nov. 2013. <http://www.census.gov/services/qss/historic_data.html>

Quarterly Service Survey Historical Data 2010. Rep. US Census Bureau, 2011. Web. 24 Nov. 2013. <http://www.census.gov/services/qss/historic_data.html>

Quarterly Service Survey Historical Data 2011. Rep. US Census Bureau, 2012. Web. 24 Nov. 2013. <http://www.census.gov/services/qss/historic_data.html>

Quarterly Service Survey Historical Data 2012. Rep. US Census Bureau, 2013. Web. 24 Nov. 2013. <http://www.census.gov/services/qss/historic_data.html>

Quarterly Service Survey Historical Data 2013 First Quarter. Rep. US Census Bureau, 2013. Web. 24 Nov. 2013. <http://www.census.gov/services/qss/historic_data.html>

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