june2022 - 8

FEATURE
2022 CPA Firm Management
Association Survey Results
By Mary Girsch-Bock
THE CPA FIRM Management Association (CPAFMA)
conducted its fourth information technology survey, with
results made available to the public in early 2022. 162
CPAFMA member firms participated in the survey, which
was used to determine what technology resources firms
are currently using in 2022.
The results showed that 63%
of firms that responded indicated
that they were using an external
cloud prov ider to host their
applications, up from 51% in 2020.
These survey results indicate that
firms have continued to move
away from using internal servers
and choosing to utilize the cloud,
with only 19% of respondents now
using an internal network.
The survey also addressed
downtime, an important issue
when using cloud technology. The
survey asked specifically if a firm
had experienced downtime, and
if so, what were the main causes
of that downtime. Internet outages
topped the list of downtime
reasons, with others reporting
connectivity issues with the cloud
host. Another reason mentioned
in the survey is hardware failure.
Security issues were also a problem,
with two firms experiencing
downtime due to a ransomware
attack, while two other firms
experienced downtime due to
computer viruses or malware.
These results indicate that hackers
continue to set their sites on
accounting firms as worthy targets
and that there is still room for
improvement when it comes to
system security.
According to the CPAFMA survey,
these are the software applications
most frequently used by survey
respondents.
TAX APPLICATIONS
For individual/1040 production, CCH
was the dominant 1040 application,
with 76 firms using the application.
This was followed by Thomson's
UltraTax, with others using Lacerte
or GoSystem Tax RS. CCH led the
way for business returns as well,
with 71 respondents choosing CCH
as their business tax preparation
application.
Tax scanning applications are
also popular with firms, with 69%
using a tax scanning to OCR application
in their firm. The most popular
application was CCH Autoflow,
utilized by 51 firms, followed by
SurePrep with 20 firm users. Both
Thomson ScanFlow and Gruntworx
were mentioned as well.
Tax portals are also commonly
used by accounting firms, with many
firms choosing to use a stand-alone
portal rather than one included in
a practice management application.
CCH led the way with 25 users, with
Thomson's NetClient CS and Citrix
ShareFile each claiming 23 users.
W2/1099 Preparation was split
fairly evenly between 1099Etc with
8 JUNE 2022 ■ www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com
29 users, and Greatland Yearli
coming in with 20 users. Others
mentioned include CFS Tax Tools,
Thomson ACS, W2 Mate, Track 1099,
and 1099 Pro.
PRACTICE MANAGEMENT
48% of survey respondents indicated
that they use CCH Practice Management,
with 24% of respondents using
Thomson Reuters Practice Management.
Nearly 68% of respondents
indicated that they currently use
hosted solutions rather than onpremise
solutions in their practice.
PAYROLL
Payroll applications were more
evenly split between several providers,
with 32% of respondents using
ADP, while 22% used Paychex. Other
payroll providers mentioned in the
survey include Intuit (10%), Thomson
Reuters Accounting CS (10%),
and MyPay (10%). Paylocity, Gusto,
and Paycore also received multiple
responses, with all payroll applications
cloud-based. One interesting
result from the survey is that most
firms continue to use Microsoft Excel
for employee scheduling rather than
using some of the scheduling options
available in payroll applications.
HUMAN RESOURCES
Human resources (HR) solutions
have not had widespread adoption
by accounting firms, with only 38%
of firms indicating that they currently
utilize an HR system in their
firm. For those that do use an HR
application, ADPs HRIS leads the
way with 16 firm users, followed
by Bamboo, with 13 users. This is
an area wide open for adoption by
accounting firms.
CLIENT APPLICATIONS
QuickBooks continues to be the
dominant accounting software used
in most firms, with 76 firms using
QuickBooks Online. and 71 using
QuickBooks Desktop. Thomson
Reuters ACS was used by 19 firms,
with Sage Accounting (formerly
Peachtree) with 18 users. QuickBooks
Payroll was also the most frequently
used client payroll application, with
55 firms using the application, with
30 firms using ADP for client payroll.
One other quick note of interest:
When asked when firm respondents
believed that firms would run
entirely online without on-premise
servers, 33% of respondents estimated
it would happen in the next
three to five years, while 32% thought
it would be fewer than three years.
While the CPAFMA survey only
covers a small portion of the CPA
community, their responses to
this in-depth survey can provide
a look into the choices that firms
are making. ■
Mary Girsch-Bock began her career
as an accountant and later made the
switch to writing full time, concentrating
on software reviews. A former QuickBooks
beta tester, Girsch-Bock currently
specializes in business and technology
with a focus on small businesses. Her
work has appeared in The Motley Fool,
The Blueprint, Property Manager.com
and she currently writes a monthly
business and technology-related blog for
PLANERGY, a Procure-to-Pay platform
designed for mid-market organizations.
http://www.Manager.com http://www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com
june2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of june2022
