Thought Leadership

Access to talent isn’t the problem it might first appear to be. Take these two realities existing inside the same firm. One office is turning away work because their teams are at capacity. In another, qualified people are waiting for the next task. If that sounds familiar, you do not have a talent problem. You have a visibility and coordination problem.

One solution is to run the firm as one business. While this may throw up governance issues, in practice, it means consistent processes, documentation, and a firm-wide view of key data. Engagements are staffed by service line and skills, not by geography. Partners and exec teams can see capacity, deadlines and financials in one view every morning.

Why 'one-firm' matters now

Rapid industry consolidation. This rate has continued through 2025, for example, the merger of Baker Tilly and Moss Adams created the sixth-largest U.S. CPA advisory firm. Large mergers only create value greater than the sum of their parts when firms coordinate delivery across geographies and systems.

Global firms are centralizing. KPMG is reducing more than 120 independent country units and their leadership into 30–40 clusters to simplify governance and enable smaller firms to benefit from pooled resources and investment, strengthening client delivery and people retention. Although a large-scale example, the rationale and benefits of this one-firm thinking apply across the industry.

Murky governance limits growth. The Journal of Accountancy highlights that mid-market firms are restructuring HR and other decision rights to execute strategy, budgets, and policies firm-wide rather than by office.

The talent pipeline demands it. The profession is experimenting with licensure reforms but demand for new accountants remains high. Optimizing the people you already have and making correct use of offshore teams is only possible if you’re planning and scheduling as one firm.

Diverse engagements require broader skills. Controls such as audit and accounting separation aside, the traditional silos between service lines are breaking down as firms realize that complex projects benefit from cross-team expertise.

Professional services firms have proven the concept. McKinsey frames “one firm” as a shared identity and a “firm way” of doing things that replaces internal competition with collaboration. This is a cultural shift for many in the accounting industry, but the payoff shows up in client delivery and margin.

What 'one-firm' looks like operationally

1. A common data model. Client, project, task, skills, and capacity roll up consistently across services so you can compare like-for-like, firm-wide.
2. Service-aligned staffing across locations. Staff the best-fit people regardless of office (some firms are even sharing resources between service lines) and treat offshore teams as trusted, integral capacity - not a workaround.
3. Resource planning that unifies disparate tools. Tax doesn’t run the same workflows as audit. That’s fine. The key is centralized scheduling and analytics that can pull and use different data sources (e.g. practice management, CRM, time, and task software).
4. One-firm oriented incentives. Shift KPIs and rewards from local to firm-wide utilization, delivery, and realization.

Moving as one moves these metrics

• Utilization rises and balances because you deploy the right people regardless of their location or practice area.
• Turnaround time improves thanks to capacity from other offices.
• Realization and margin climb when course-corrections happen mid-engagement to protect profit.
• Client satisfaction benefits from quality of service, timeliness, better communication, and access to the specialized skills they expect.
• Employee retention improves when firms balance utilization, stop overworking people, and allocate jobs fairly based on skills and training needs.

Where Beeye fits

Beeye makes one-firm possible, even when you have an overwhelming patchwork of different processes and technologies.

For schedulers and managers, Beeye eliminates siloed spreadsheets so they can staff based on skills, availability and other objectives - regardless of resource location.

But the unique power is the capability to do this across the entire firm. Beeye syncs data from multiple sources to support task, time, project, and client-level planning. That means tax, audit, accounting, and advisory can all use the same resource planning software, giving leadership a consistent view of availability through to realization at the engagement, client, service line, or full-firm level.

Take the one-firm leap

In a year with increased market consolidation and centralization, the gap between firms that act as one and those that do not is widening. More work will go to the firms that can see demand and capacity firm-wide; and so deploy people at the right time for the right reason. Don't get stuck on the wrong side of the chasm.