Having all the answers

This year’s member survey was the first in two years. Here we outline some of the results including why you join us, where you work, compliance versus advisory, and the demand for accountancy services. Where possible we compare results with those from the 2020 survey.

Who you are

We received 780 responses to the survey from a broad range of age groups, with a fairly even distribution of you aged between 25 and 74 years. Almost a third of you indicated that you had been IFA members for less than three years - a notable increase from the 2020 survey where this was closer to one quarter. Interestingly, though, when it comes to the length of time you’ve been accountants approximately 78% of you have been accountants for more than 11 years, with nearly half of you citing you’d been in the profession for over 26 years.

Why you join us

Recognition and the relevancy of the IFA remain the main reasons that you joined us. The results showed that the following reasons for joining were recognised by signifi cantly more members than in 2020: Access to CPD events – 35.9% of respondents in 2022 versus 17.6% of in 2020 Range of membership benefi ts – 27.6% of respondents in 2022 versus 15.6% in 2020 Access to the IFA regional network - 22.4% of respondents in 2022 versus 9.9% in 2020.

Type of business

 The results show that the clients of members working in accountancy practices work in a wide variety of industries with the following being the most common: wholesale & retail; construction; hospitality; IT. Those working in non-accountancy businesses indicated that those businesses covered a wide variety of industries.

Compliance versus Advisory

In 2020 the survey results showed that those working in an accountancy practice indicated that the average split in revenue was 81% compliance versus 19% advisory services. In 2022 the average split in revenue was 71% from compliance services and 29% from advisory services.

Home versus the office

Nearly half of you indicated that your main place of work is an offi ce, compared with 22.2% of you who work mainly from home and 29% who have a hybrid working mix. By comparison, the results of the 2020 survey showed that 60% of respondents worked mainly from an offi ce, with 32% working mainly from home. Though most of you are mainly working from an office, these results suggest a move to more hybrid working arrangements. More than 82% of you indicated that a hybrid approach to working was sustainable and likely to remain in place, and 56% of you said that you had a preference for a hybrid working arrangement.

Demand for accountancy skills

 Encouragingly, more than 70% of you indicated that you felt that there would be an increase in the need and demand for accountancy services, with this fi gure rising to 77%+ for those of you currently working in a non-accountancy business. This suggests an increase in confi dence as in the 2020 survey only 50% of you thought the demand for professional accountancy services would increase while 22% of you thought it would decline.