The BCAJ carried out a dipstick survey of professional
services firms to identify challenges faced by them. Respondents were asked to
rank the challenges faced by them.
Attributes of the respondents:
A> Location and
Presence
76%
respondents had presence in Metros and about 22% in both Metros and Non Metros.
B> Size of
Firms
18%
respondents were proprietors, 34% came from firms having 2-4 partners, 16% from
5-9 partner firms and 32% belonged to firms having more than 10 partners.
C> Years in
Practice
Only 5% respondents were in practice for
less than 10 years and another 4% were in practice for more than 10 years but
less than 20 years. Nearly 11% respondents were in practice between 20 to 30
years. Maximum respondents – 80% belonged to practices older than 30 years.
Challenges
Out of twelve challenges posed
before the respondents, the biggest challenges were as under:
|
Ranking
|
Nature of Challenge
|
Percentage of Respondents giving this ranking
|
|
1
|
Finding and
Retaining Staff
|
65%
|
|
2
|
Identifying
and Developing New Service Lines
|
60%
|
|
3
|
Motivating
Staff
|
54%
|
|
4
|
Business
Development and Getting New Work
|
54%
|
|
5
|
New
Regulations and Standards
|
53%
|
|
6
|
Training and
Enhancing Productivity
|
46%
|
|
7
|
Fees Pressure
and Pricing of Services
|
43%
|
|
8
|
Strategic
Focus
|
43%
|
|
9
|
Coping with
Automation
|
39%
|
|
10
|
Delivering
High Quality Services
|
36%
|
|
11
|
Losing clients
to competition
|
33%
|
|
12
|
Networking
with likeminded professionals
|
24%
|
Additional comments and challenges stated by respondents:
i. Increasing level of compliance;
ii. Frequent changes in regulations;
iii. Skills of new Chartered Accountants are low;
iv. Cost and Quality mismatch of staff;
v. Unreasonable expectations of regulators;
vi. Mid-sized firms becoming training schools for
larger firms;
vii. Perception, that practice is difficult;
viii. Clients not able to keep up with applicable
changes
