The OSCPA Board of Directors makes predictions for 2023

Craig Marshall, CPA, Chair of the Board  
EY  

• "I predict growth in Ohio will be modest with the biggest impact being the struggle by employers (especially entrepreneurs, the fuel of our economy in the past) to find workers."

• "There will be a demand for accountants in Ohio that will continue to increase, presenting an opportunity for college graduates to enter one of the few professions with such trajectory." 

• "At least one team in Ohio will win a championship (NFL, MLB, NBA or NHL) – crossing my fingers it is in the Cavaliers and/or Guardians."

Lori Kaiser, CPA, Past Chair of the Board 
Kaiser Consulting  

• "A continued shortage of accountants / pipeline issues making it harder for firms to grow!"

• "There will be a recession and layoffs for companies but not accounting talent."

• "We will see a continued move back to office work in a hybrid format. Companies realize we ‘survived WFH, but maybe not thrived.’ Hybrid offers the flexibility people want with the face-time necessary to build relationships and learn new skills!" 

Scott Wiley, CAE, President & CEO 
The Ohio Society of CPAs 

• "The Ohio General Assembly will continue its efforts to reduce the personal income tax rate while not yet finding a path that can earn support for elimination."

• "Program enrollments in accounting programs nationwide will continue to decline, causing more firms to press for a pathway that includes 120 hours of education and multiple years of experience. The AICPA and NASBA will resist. At least one state will press forward despite the loss of substantial equivalency." 

• "This will be the worst tax season on record for practitioners (note: until next year)."   

• "The HB6 trial will drag on…" 

• "TTUN will be found guilty of Level 1 NCAA recruiting violations because Jim Harbaugh lied about buying recruits hamburgers during the pandemic. Ohio-based Wendy’s will re-launch their historic “Where’s the Beef” ads, which first aired 40 years ago, to taunt him." 

   

Keenan Cooper, CPA, Director 
Grant Thornton LLP 

• "A recession could significantly cool the job market, with a faint silver lining for the accounting profession. The resulting economic uncertainty could inspire more students in the pipeline to opt for the stability often attributed to accounting. If this happens, the profession should be cautious about failing to learn from the challenges it has encountered over the preceding years."

Rick Fedorovich, CPA, Director 
Bober Markey Fedorovich 

• “Though there are many strong components of the U.S. economy, I believe that it will be difficult to get inflation in check (much like we have already seen) and, therefore, expect the Fed to continue to be hawkish on interest rate increases and, as a result, likely drive the U.S. economy into a recession as technically defined (functionally, I believe we are already there.) What I cannot clearly ’read’ is what additional impact that may have to the economy in ’23. That said, between the dampening impacts of inflation, with the increased cost of labor, an outcome may be an adverse impact to jobs.”  

• “With the development of the new Intel plant in Ohio and with the positive, ancillary impact of businesses to support that operation, the state stands to be in a really good place in its economy as long as we figure out how to address the talent issue — attraction, retention and development.” 

• “I expect the DeWine administration to take a hard look at infrastructure in Ohio as they begin their second term. The good news is that our state has been long established and developed — the bad news is that much is worn out and in need of attention.” 

• “The Cleveland Guardians win the World Series. Unfortunately, Notre Dame defeats the Buckeyes in college football.” 

Chris Igodan Jr., CPA, Director 
Nationwide Financial 

• “I predict corporations will continue to offer more flexibility and benefits to recruit, retain and engage talent.” 

Amy Vetter, CPA, Director 
The B3 Method Institute & Drishtiq Yoga 

• “My predictions for 2023 are that firms will seriously consider changing how they operate to improve work-life balance in the profession. Additionally, they will step back and look at where the revenue opportunities are to start building in their practices such as Advisory services rather than focusing solely on compliance-only services. There will be much more scrutiny on the acceptance of new clients into the firm, as well as which ones to keep. Additionally, to help the pipeline problem in the profession and to improve work-life balance, we are going to see more and more offshoring and automation of many of the repetitive tasks in the firm so that time can be freed up to spend with clients and create more work-life harmony.”