Chad Davis, CPA (Canada), had been successfully working remotely for years when the coronavirus pandemic forced many accounting firms to go fully remote. He and Josh Zweig, CPA (Canada), founded LiveCA, a fully virtual accounting firm in Canada in 2013. Zweig was focused on tax and Davis on technology, so the two meshed well, especially since neither of them wanted to work from a brick-and-mortar office.
“We spent two days in the woods, camped, and emerged with a handshake and a new company,” Davis said.
Eight years later, LiveCA is thriving, employing about 80 people, and handling both Canadian and American clients. Adventurous Zweig, originally from Toronto, travels the world and works from various posts. Davis, from Nova Scotia, works full time from his large RV, which he shares with his wife, two children, and two dogs.
In January 2021, Davis was sitting in his RV office in a beautiful part of Canada. “I’m in a campground on Vancouver Island in British Columbia and came here to isolate for the winter,” he said. Meanwhile, Zweig was caught in a lockdown in Argentina.
Davis and Zweig have been at the forefront of a trend the pandemic accelerated.
Only 4% of 223 CPA firms polled in the summer of 2020 said they were fully virtual heading into the pandemic, according to research by ConvergenceCoaching, a U.S. company offering training services to the public accounting profession. About three-fifths (61%) of the firms said they had some remote talent, and 27% said they had been strictly in-office pre-coronavirus.
Once the pandemic ends, 81% of firms expected an increase or a significant increase in remote working among their employees, the survey said. Nearly one-third (30%) projected reducing their office footprint post-pandemic.
The coronavirus has changed the business landscape significantly. Many accounting firm leaders, who were once reluctant to allow employees to work from home or other locations, now realize the value of a remote workforce, especially when it comes to recruiting and retaining talent. But working remotely can also create challenges, such as communicating with and managing employees, setting up necessary technology, and establishing and enforcing processes and policies for a virtual working environment.