2 min read October 2023 — Invest: spoke with Jeff Brovet, managing partner of TJT, about how the evolution of Raleigh-Durham as a top market in the nation has elicited major growth for the firm and the greater accounting industry. “Demand has increased across all of our sectors,” he said.
What are some of the most significant opportunities for TJT right now?
We are a regionally based accounting firm that provides assurance, tax and consulting services to lower middle-market companies. If we weren’t here, the market would be missing a proactive accounting firm that thinks creatively about addressing their clients’ needs at a very reasonable cost. With the growth in the Raleigh-Durham market, we’re very excited about the future as this growth creates new opportunities for our people. We are very bullish on Raleigh Durham as it continues to be ranked as a Top 10 market in the country, we are projecting growth over the next three years in the 10-15% range for all our North Carolina markets. The challenge continues to be finding the best people and is likely the biggest headwind we continue to face. To that end, in the last 12 months, we’ve hired a full-time recruiter who has allowed us to continue fueling our growth by hiring and retaining top professionals. Since Raleigh-Durham is one of the hottest markets in the country right now, more companies are moving to the area, which means more demand and that is where strategic hiring will be so crucial.
Along with hiring an in-house recruiter, what strategies have been implemented to retain top talent?
We’ll continue to expand into new markets to have access to people. We also embrace a hybrid work schedule because it is such an important option for our people. At the same time, we are a highly relational firm and see the value of being better together. So, while we have that hybrid model, we express the significance of the culture physically being together. We’ve expanded the network of universities we are recruiting from to build our talent pipeline. Additionally, our relationships and involvement in the community will be a key component to how we can encourage young people to understand the great opportunities in the accounting profession, especially as they get to the college level. Finally, we are excited about rolling out a four-day work week for our people in the summer of 2024, which will provide greater flexibility for our people.
How is consolidation impacting the accounting industry?
We have definitely seen consolidation in the industry over the past several years, including firms that have sold and merged their practices. We continue to operate independently as a regional based firm that allows us to be nimble and respond accordingly to our clients’ needs. We continue to target lower middle-market companies that don’t have plans to become public companies. We often find companies that are interested in transitioning to TJT after their accounting firm merges with a larger firm as they prefer to be with a regional or local accounting firm.
How has client demand shifted over the past year or two?
Demand has increased across all of our sectors. We see that as a tremendous opportunity and have made moves over the past 24 months to capitalize on this. Specifically, we’ve been focused on growing our advisory and consulting practices because we are finding our clients have had a greater need for services outside the traditional CPA offerings. A major change we have made is adding to our traditional outsourced accounting, which includes monthly financials, cash management and payroll, and rebranding that into our client advisory services, which includes our consulting services and outsourced human resources. This allows us to expand our consulting opportunities with our clients.
What industry trends are you paying most attention to right now?
There has certainly been an increase in office vacancies including available space and sublet space. This has impacted our clients in the real estate industry. As we continue to grow, we are increasing our office footprint. But since we have a hybrid workforce, our demand for square footage has decreased because we can get higher utilization out of less space.
We have also been closely monitoring the research and development tax legislation. We are waiting for Congress to potentially adjust those regulations that are having negative consequences for our clients.
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