“Once you understand that customers do not buy hours, you understand that pricing by the hour doesn’t make sense” – heavily paraphrased from “Burying the Billable Hour” by Ronald J. Baker, July 2001 It’s no secret: we aren’t fond of the Billable Hours Model at PA Almanac. Up until now, we’ve mostly been throwing stones […]
The Client Service Model – Dethroning Billable Hours and Timesheets Read More »
Ask a group of accountants why they got into the field, and you’ll probably hear answers like these: What you definitely won’t hear listed as reasons for becoming an accountant are things like: Accountants, and especially those working below the partner level in public accounting, generally don’t make oodles of money. The leverage model basically
Personal Finance in Public Accounting – Tax Advantaged Accounts Read More »
On January 7, 2025, New Mountain Capital (New Mountain, NMC), a private equity (PE) firm with stakes in several accounting firms, announced the sale of a significant minority stake of Citrin Cooperman (Citrin, CC) to Blackstone, the world’s largest “alternative asset manager.” For simplicity, we will be referring to Blackstone as a PE firm, although
The First PE-to-PE Sale of an Accounting Firm Read More »
The majority of associates and senior associates in public accounting firms are in their 20s. Many are earning a living wage for the first time in their lives, and for the seniors especially, many will finally be able to save and invest significant sums of money. There are a number of high-quality personal finance blogs
Personal Finance in Public Accounting – 401k Read More »
There are two things we believe regarding personal finance: We at the PA Almanac love personal finance. We’ve read dozens of those aforementioned blogs, and we attribute sizable chunks of our success to the lessons we’ve learned from smart people sharing their wisdom. Our editor Tyler has been reading personal finance blogs since before he
The PA Almanac Personal Finance Manifesto Read More »
One of the most important lessons we were taught in business school was how to talk about salaries with colleagues. Some people could immediately disconnect their paycheck from their self-worth; sharing their salary was no different than sharing their phone number. Others became visually uncomfortable when the topic was broached; this was an extremely personal
When and How to Share Your Salary with Public Accounting Colleagues Read More »
I’m going to say this as gently as I can: Read the damn handbook. Within the first week of starting a job, you should read the employee handbook. If your company doesn’t call it an employee handbook, read your company’s equivalent document that describes its policies and expectations for employees. Yes, it’s mostly boring. It
How to Corporate – On Reading the Employee Handbook Read More »
Younger practitioners of the accounting arts may hear their managers talk about “engagement economics” without fully understanding what all that entails. We’re going to explain what the higher-ups mean when they discuss engagement economics; provide an example to demonstrate how everything works together; and explain why the whole process appears oddly complex. As with most
How to Corporate – The Economics of an Engagement Read More »
We’re entering the stage of the public accounting business cycle when layoffs are more prevalent. Before we get into the strategies for protecting yourself from the specter of job loss, we should examine the recent history of the public accounting industry. The last five years have looked something like this: 2020: COVID-19 hits, shutting down
How to Avoid the Axe When Firms are Doing Layoffs Read More »
This year’s crop of public accounting interns is finding out that offers for full-time employment in 2024 aren’t as common as they used to be. GoingConcern highlighted this trend, which is impacting the business market broadly. We’ve spoken with partners at several major public accounting firms, and they have confirmed similar trends specifically within public
Public Accounting Interns are Getting Fewer (and Delayed) Offers in 2024 Read More »