Accounting shops are under quite a bit of stress. New regulations. Lack of personnel. Regional firms snatching up clients. New software to learn. Contemporary accountancy sometimes seems just too big and too complex for sole practitioners to handle alone.

Small shops, or professionals in big shops who would like to start their own shops, might be able to relieve some of this stress.

How? By wiggling into a niche.

Yeah, I know, you’ve heard it all before. But tight, little niches can be wide-open markets. And many CPAs are already leveraging these opportunities.

If you’re as tired as I am of the word “niche” then how about “specialty” or “focus” or just “interest?” To be sure, the word “specialize” has a special meaning in the CPA canon. But today I mean specialty services that few others offer. It might be a specialized area of accountancy, such as not-for-profit healthcare organizations or small governmental entities. It might be something somewhat removed from accountancy, such as information technology or a nonfinancial assurance service. It might be something that no one else wants to do.

It might be something that no one has ever thought of.

Technology is playing a big role in helping small niches survive. Not only is technology a niche in itself (or, rather, a thousand niches), but it’s giving individual CPAs the power once reserved for only the largest organizations.

Developing strength in a niche, however, will be tricky. Niches are niches because the itches they scratch aren’t all that common. At the same time, niche skills tend to be specialized, and the requisite specialists aren’t going to be living next door. Consequently, tomorrow’s nichemeister may have individual clients in Ho-Ho-Kus and Hong Kong, outsourced business coming in from St. Paul and São Paulo, and associates in Bangor and Bangladesh.

(Hey, quick — there’s a niche for you: Finding all those people in similar but distant niches and bringing them together.)

You may be sitting on a niche and not even know it. If you have an expertise outside of accounting — anything from engineering to law, from your ability to speak Swahili to your experience with a traveling circus — you may already have your niche cut out for you.

Niches have a way of outgrowing their britches, so the ultimate goal of the office in the attic may be to sell itself to the ravenous regional firm. That’s something for Ms. Niche to think about before she sets up shop, not after her grown kids reveal their lack of interest in any profession that involves numbers.

Establishing a niche for purposes of a merger is a very nice idea. It provides income over the years, then a big bonus and a veritable retirement package at the end. But as you grow that niche, bear in mind that the firm that someday sniffs around your little LLC may not value it by its revenues. Likewise, it probably won’t be coveting your nook in the attic or the number of potential clients on your side of the railroad tracks.

What will they be looking for? Maybe your client profile. Maybe your unique expertise. Maybe your far-flung team. Maybe your name. Maybe your system. Maybe a guaranteed provider of a rare service. Maybe your skill with guerrilla tactics. Maybe something you’re thinking now, others won’t think of for years to come.

I must admit I’ve always admired the computer company that started in a garage, the airplane that was invented in a bicycle shop, the organization born around beers in a bar. Accountancy has the same potential — and the same need. For a profession under stress in an economy that can barely keep up with itself, the solutions, I suspect, are in niches. May they be fruitful and multiply, and may you find yours when the itch hits.

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COMMENTS: Rants, raves, idle thoughts or questions? Contact Rick Telberg.

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