CPAs in 2025: Frustrated, overworked, and underappreciated

Dean Blachford is a senior tax lawyer at Blachford Tax Law, which specializes in helping individuals and businesses resolve significant tax disputes. He is on the Programs Committee for the Ottawa Chapter of CPA Ontario and previously participated in the Tax Court of Canada’s Law Clerk Program.

MY OBJECTIVE for my articles for the Community News section of my Blachford Brief e-newsletter is to help members of the tax community feel connected, based on shared values, experiences, and challenges. I want Chartered Professional Accountants to read these articles and feel seen and validated.

With that in mind, I planned to write about how tariffs could add more work to CPAs. But in discussing this with CPAs, I learned that potential tariffs are just one of a myriad of uncertainties that are bringing CPAs to the brink of their emotional capacity.

The CPAs I spoke with still recognize they are fortunate. Many are mostly frustrated on behalf of their clients. One remarked, “At least I live in Canada, where my fundamental rights as a woman are not under threat.”

But despite these upsides, many CPAs are disillusioned with what their careers have become, and don’t expect their circumstances to improve soon.

Exponential Uncertainty

Everyone has endured immense uncertainty over the past five years: from COVID-19, to interest rates, to geopolitics. But accounting is one of the occupations that had to shoulder that uncertainty on behalf of others. The uncertainty CPAs have faced has been exponential.

One CPA reflected that, while most people were “hoarding toilet paper and baking sour dough bread,” she was helping her clients apply for subsidies. It pained her that many of her clients who needed them most didn’t qualify. Their stress became her stress.

Several CPAs lamented recent tax legislation that lacks forethought and does not consider compliance costs. The sledgehammer UHT, the bare trust debacle, and the fluctuating Capital Gains Inclusion Rate have all caused uncertainty that has rolled down on CPAs. This prevents CPAs from offering definitive guidance, forcing them to revise plans or create multiple contingencies.

Unsurprisingly, research has confirmed that job-related uncertainty[1] and high levels of work stress[2] are strongly associated with low levels of job satisfaction. Several CPAs said their job satisfaction was lower than it had ever been.

From Value Add To Compliance

Unfortunately, the escalating stress of the job is not offset by a rise in client appreciation. One CPA described how she used to love helping her clients reduce tax so they could allocate those funds to growing their business. But her time is now consumed by compliance work that does nothing to make her clients more successful.

Clients view this work as low-value compared to the time that it takes CPAs to complete it — and the resulting fees. One CPA described clients as “shooting the messenger." But he understands that business owners “need to take it out on someone.”  

A variety of studies have shown a correlation between feeling appreciated for one’s work and job satisfaction.[3] For CPAs, it’s hard to feel positive about their work when their clients don’t consider their work valuable.

The Cavalry Is Not Coming

Maybe CPAs could tolerate all this uncertainty and negativity if they weren’t spread so thin. But because the baby boomers are retiring and not enough CPAs are joining the private practice ranks, partners and senior managers are shouldering more than they should at their stage.

Dominic Piscopo used the data from Big4Transparency.com to confirm that CPAs at higher levels are working more hours than junior staff, and their job satisfaction is low as a result.

This tracks with what I heard from the CPAs I spoke with. The head of tax for a mid-market firm described his elation when, on a Friday afternoon, when a senior tax-manager accepted his job offer: “That was a great weekend!”

Hiring a new team member is always exciting. But should a tax expert, at the pinnacle of his career, need to be so excited about hiring a single manager?

A CPA at another firm recounted a full day meeting last summer in which all the senior managers tried to figure out why they had spent the previous tax season preparing tax returns instead of reviewing them. Another CPA described interviewing potential coop students and feeling like it was the students who were interviewing him.

It must be demoralizing for CPAs who have had to grind their way to the top to see young people look at the lifestyles of successful CPAs and say, “I’ll pass.”

Solutions?

Thankfully, there are people trying to figure this out. Many leaders in the profession are advocating for a comprehensive review of the Canadian tax system.

Meanwhile, Piscopo is grappling with the tough questions facing the industry so it works better for CPAs at all levels. In episode 40 of the Big 4 Transparency Podcast, he argued (only half-jokingly) that young CPAs need to see partners “riding jet skis and enjoying themselves.”

As for me, I don’t know how to solve the chicken-and-egg problem of making public accounting look more appealing to young CPAs while also completing all the work caused by the CPA shortage. Nor do I know when to expect meaningful simplification of our tax legislation.

All I can say is, as someone who likes routine, predictability, and feeling proud of the work I do for my clients, and as a tax dispute lawyer who is constantly reminded of the important role of CPAs, I sympathize when I hear these stories from hard working CPAs.

So, for what it’s worth, please know that your frustrations are valid, you are not alone, and I really appreciate you.

FOOTNOTES
[1]  https://www.cjournal.cz/files/522.pdf
[2] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5355527/
[3] https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisonescalante/2020/11/17/your-job-satisfaction-may-have-more-to-do-with-who-you-work-with-than-what-you-do/

Dean Blachford is a senior tax lawyer at Blachford Tax Law, which specializes in helping individuals and businesses resolve significant tax disputes with the CRA. He previously worked for the Tax Court of Canada. Blachford Tax Law publishes a free, quarterly e-newsletter for CPAs called the “Blachford Brief."

Click here to read the original article. Top image: iStock photo ID 2162997902. Author photo courtesy Blachford Tax Law.