TLDR: Boomer numbers at accounting firms appear to be dwindling, more than half of staff at firms are under 40, Gen X gets ignored as usual as if they don’t exist.
INSIDE Public Accounting released a batch of facts and figures they’ve collected from their industry-leading survey of the country’s accounting firms — about 600 participated in 2024 — and this bit stood out to us as of particular interest to our audience given that a majority of our readers are under age 50.
See if you agree:
Employees aged 60 and older account for 11% of staff across all revenue bands, down from 12% last year. Fifty-five percent of staff are under 40 with 30% of staff under 30. Recruiting costs as a percentage of net revenue are less than 1% for firms at all revenue sizes.
With the oldest millennials having crossed the threshold of 40 a couple years ago, this means more than half of staff at accounting firms are millennial or younger. Some of the under 30s are millennials as well, we’ll have to wait until Gen Z starts turning 30 in the year 2027 for that figure to exclude millennials.
Generation X will not be surprised to see they’ve been ignored in the figures IPA chose to share. Sorry, mid-40s to late-50s. You’re used to it.
- 60 or older: 11% (down from 12% in 2023)
- Under 40: 55%
- Under 30: 30%
There’s a bunch more at the link below, things like how many firms have a formal process to cull clients, how many firms offer business development incentives to staff and/or partners (a lot actually), and what percentage of firms are exploring AI versus what percentage are taking the watch and wait approach.
IPA Data Dive: Snippets From the INSIDE Public Accounting Internal Operational Reports [INSIDE Public Accounting]
GenX declined to participate in the survey. When asked for thought…they responded ‘Whatever’.