In the past I have done entries, like this one, on how accountants seem to be recession-proof. Still, it seems like the global financial meltdown is finally catching up with bean counters, although you would hardly call it a sector in trouble.

As reported here, CPA firms are recording slower growth in fees. For firms collecting more than $2 million of fees every year, annual net fee growth was 8.2%, down from 10.8% in 2007. At firms with fees exceeding $10 million, earnings were down 8%. With so many companies going belly up or winding back, there was less Sarbanes-Oxley work to do and less internal audit. Still, that's not shabby. They were still pulling in more than $9 million.

Significantly, fees per partner continued to soar and firms were still growing. While the rest of the world suffers with the global crisis, accountants continue to rake it in.