Is the grass really greener on the other side of the fence?

Everywhere I go people are asking which service line they should be in, if they should consider a switch, or if others feel the way they feel about the service line they’re in. I’m not in the business of life coaching, but I do love diving into the data to see if there might be some interesting trends, and spoiler alert but I think our sponsor could be playing a role in some of these trends.

Before we jump into the content, I want to give a big shoutout to our sponsor, Canopy. In this newsletter, we talk a little bit about the role technology plays in improving employee satisfaction, and I genuinely believe that Canopy is a huge contributor. Spend less time on busy work, file management and client proposals and more time creating value for your customers. Check out all Canopy has to offer.

Okay so let’s get to it and look to answer the age-old question of “Which Service Line is the Best?” by looking into job satisfaction.

First off, the good news is that overall, job satisfaction in the data we collect has been trending upwards. It’s been a little volatile across Advisory, Consulting and Risk

I think one of the factors at play here could be the uncertainty in Advisory markets in 2024 which can significantly impact overall job satisfaction. Unfortunately we saw layoffs hit advisory the hardest at many firms in 2024 which may explain the dip in satisfaction.

Tax, Audit and CAS (not shown due to small sample size) have all been steadily tending upward in job satisfaction since I began collecting that data point. So I reached out to a lot of folks in the industry and did some thinking on the reason why, and here are some of the reasons I’ve landed on:

• Improvements to technology - providers like Canopy for example - are helping professionals spend less time spinning their wheels on administrative task, and more time focused on what we do best.

• Salary growth outpacing other service lines: we’ll get into exact numbers in a future newsletter, but wage growth in these service lines have outpaced advisory and consulting in recent years, although they had a lower starting point.

• Increased perceived value of the job stability: so although these service lines have not been untouched by reductions in staff numbers, they’re generally the least impacted. So when job stability starts to feel higher stakes we value it more highly.

• For tax specifically, the topic has also been more top of mind. In Canada, there had been talk of increasing the capital gains inclusion rate which brings tax planning more to the front of a lot of peoples’ minds, while in the US there has been a huge amount of discussion on overhauling the overall tax rules and a lot of change which also shines a greater spotlight on tax strategy.

Ultimately, the biggest winner here has been tax, giving it the title of “most improved” service line to be in since 2023, while data collected in 2025 so far also points to it being the stream with the highest overall satisfaction (although I’m sure at this point in April it sure doesn’t feel like it).

I’m going to be speaking at the Bridging the Gap conference in Denver from July 22 - July 24th! I went to this conference and met so many great people last year, and am so excited to be speaking about some of the findings from analyzing the data we collect. I’ll also be on a panel to discuss the importance of investing in your firm’s talent. If you happen to be going let me know, and if you’re curious to learn more, check them out - early bird pricing in on until May 31st!