Demand for CPAs Remains Strong, But Payments Falter

As the state of the economy continues to worsen, some area firms have found they need to institute a variety of measures in order to ensure prompt payment for services rendered.

These changes come amid growing concerns, expressed by some Society members, that the current financial downturn will eventually affect the ability of some clients to pay them on time and in full.

For some CPAs, including Westchester Chapter member George O. Sanossian, it already has.

 “I noticed it beginning to happen around the Thanksgiving timeframe, end of November, beginning of December, but it wasn’t unbearable. [Just] noticeable,” said Sanossian, a partner and principal at a Scarsdale firm. “In the past five weeks, six weeks, it’s fallen off the cliff.”

While business has not dropped off, said Sanossian, he has begun experiencing issues with collecting payments from his clients, mostly contractors in the public and private sectors. As commercial institutions falter, financing dries up. Consequently, clients who  a few months before were confident that they’d be able to pay for regular accounting work now find themselves faced with an awkward situation.

Much of adapting to the situation, he said, is simply being much more attentive to what’s going on from a billing standpoint and watching who owes you what.

Understanding your clients is essential in combating this development, according to Society members in firms both large and small. Sanossian noted that CPAs should know which of their clients they can keep on a longer leash and which ones need shorter ones; and in those cases, he said, the leash needs to get a little tighter. Want to know more? Read the full story.