Almost half (45.3%) of firms say the COVID-19 pandemic has had an general optimistic impact on them by accelerating key tech and course of innovation inside their workplaces, based on a brand new report.The 2021-2022 AAM Marketing Budget Benchmark Study, co-authored by the Association for Accounting Marketing and the Hinge Research Institute, discovered that almost all of the surveyed CPA firms thought-about the pandemic to have an general “optimistic impact” on them (22.1% stated the pandemic had “no influence” on them, whereas 32.6% citied an general “unfavorable influence”). The examine utilized suggestions from 140 CPA firms with over 23,000 employees members and whole revenues exceeding $6.7 billion. Of the firms who stated the pandemic had a optimistic impact on them, new service choices — notably the Paycheck Protection Program — along with the adoption of extra distant work, advertising and enterprise developments have been all cited as positives.“The 2021-2022 examine, given the previous 12 months’s occasions, uncovers how CPA firms reworked their enterprise throughout a tumultuous 12 months,” stated AAM president Becca Johns in an announcement. “The findings reveal the central position advertising groups performed in serving to their firms regulate to new consumer wants and priorities, launch new service traces, and preserve their firms on patrons’ minds within the digital market. Although the trade is understood for slow-going change, this 12 months’s outcomes show that firms can reinvent themselves and be higher ready for no matter comes subsequent with the correct advertising investments.”With the speedy fee of change for firms throughout final 12 months’s stay-at-home orders, the examine discovered that firms’ common advertising budgets grew 100% from 2019. Eighty-five % of firms additionally stated they utilized new advertising and enterprise methods throughout the pandemic, with 69% citing a hit with these. The shift to a digital market additionally helped some firms attain a mean median progress fee of roughly 32%.“The disaster has accelerated innovation within the accounting trade,” stated HRI managing associate Lee Frederiksen in an announcement. “This innovation wouldn’t have been potential had firms taken the regularly used route of tightening their advertising belts, a transfer that usually makes as a lot sense as deciding to chop your water invoice when your own home is on hearth.” Other notable findings from the examine embrace:The high three areas of enterprise positively impacted by the pandemic have been will increase in service choices (42.4%), value financial savings from distant work (18.2%), and developments in know-how (15.2%).The high three areas of enterprise negatively impacted by the pandemic included in-person conferences/occasions (28.1%), gross sales (21.9%), and managing employees members (18.8%).The most profitable advertising methods cited throughout the pandemic included webinars (44.4%), COVID-19 useful resource pages (22.2%), and marketed PPP mortgage help (22.2%).Marketing budgets grew, on common, from 1.5% in 2019 to three% in 2021.High-growth firms have been discovered to supply extra non-traditional providers than low-growth firms, together with consumer accounting providers (25%), data safety (20%), and software-technology (20%).For the complete report, head to the AAM’s web site right here.
Nearly half of firms say COVID-19 spurred innovation, growth: Study
