15 Accounting Trends that Will Shape the Future of Accounting [2026]

Running an accounting firm today looks very different from just a few years ago. AI is no longer some futuristic idea; it’s already changing how firms do their day-to-day work. Regulations keep evolving. Remote and hybrid working is now common, pushing firms to adopt new tools that support distributed work. And clients? They don’t just want clean books anymore. They expect ongoing guidance and practical advice.

Financial Cents’ 2025 The State of Accounting Workflow and Automation Report confirms this shift. More firms are offering Client Advisory Services (CAS) because it’s quickly becoming a major accounting firm growth area. But to offer that level of service, they are also automating their workflows to save time and reduce manual work.

As a firm owner, you need to stay ahead of upcoming trends so you can build a firm that runs more efficiently, delivers more value to clients, and grows sustainably, without burning out your team.

In this guide, we’ll walk through 15 of the top accounting trends that we believe will shape the profession in 2026, and share what you can start doing now to prepare your firm for what’s ahead.

The Future of Accounting: 15 Accounting Trends That Will Shape 2026

1. AI-Driven Automation Will Become Standard

By 2026, we predict that automation won’t be something only the most tech-forward firms do; it’ll be the baseline. That’s because many firms will realize they can’t continue doing certain tasks manually, like following up with clients, collecting documents, tracking work status, etc as it takes too much time and there’s now a more efficient method.

According to our report, many firms recognized the need for automation when they began hiring staff, lost track of key tasks, or struggled to keep up with increasing client demands. In fact, 55.5% of firms said workflow inefficiencies were their biggest challenge in 2024, and some even reported losing clients because of it.

As Shrad Rao, CEO of Wagepoint, says,

2. There’ll be a Rise of Advisory and Strategic Services

Advisory services have been on the rise for a while now. In the 2024 CPA.com/AICPA PCPS CAS Benchmark Survey, participating CAS practices reported a median growth rate of 17%, and they projected 15% growth in the current year plus 99% median growth over the next three years. The same report showed that median CAS net client fees per professional (NCFPP) rose to $156,250, a 29% increase from 2022.

We expect this trend to continue well into 2026 and beyond. Clients face more uncertainty than ever, and they want an accountant who can help them think through it. At the same time, firms are under pressure to improve margins and stabilize revenue.

Advisory services help on both sides. They’re typically more profitable than regular bookkeeping or tax work, easier to package into recurring fees, and help you build longer-lasting relationships with clients.

3. Firms Will Offer Real-Time Insights

Businesses that are growing, hiring, raising money, or trying to manage cash tightly want insights and updates in the moment, not weeks later. This will help them make decisions while there’s still time to adjust.

That’s why more firms are providing more frequent updates, rolling reports, and real-time dashboards, especially for clients who need to make fast, informed decisions.

4. More Firms Will Adopt Cloud-Based Accounting Technology

Cloud accounting isn’t new, but in 2026, it becomes even more non-negotiable because it affects how you collaborate and communicate with clients and your remote team, automate tasks, provide real-time insights, and protect client data.

Every firm will now need to adopt cloud-based technology to deliver faster work, better collaboration, tighter security, and more consistent client experiences.

5. Blockchain Technology Will Be Widely Adopted

Blockchain will likely be more relevant and applied in finance and accounting. For instance, as crypto adoption grows, clients are increasingly bringing more blockchain-based activity into their books. You’ll likely encounter crypto payments and digital assets on the balance sheet, staking rewards, airdrops, and tokens as part of compensation or fundraising.

These create new accounting, tax, and documentation challenges. You’ll need consistent internal policies for classifying, valuing, and reporting them.

Blockchain technology also introduces a distributed, tamper-proof ledger that can enhance transparency, security, and efficiency in key accounting workflows.

6. Cybersecurity & Data Privacy Will Be a Priority

Accounting firms handle some of the most sensitive data a business can share: bank details, payroll, tax IDs, financial statements, and sometimes even personal identity info. Unfortunately, this makes them more susceptible to attacks. The financial services industry had the most data compromises in the first half of 2025, with 387 compromises, according to an ITRC data breach report.

So, as cyberattacks keep getting more aggressive, firms will take security more seriously and highlight their efforts to protect clients’ data.

Financial Cents, for instance, has strong security protocols, such as encrypting all data at rest and in transit, information disposal when records are no longer needed, bi-annual security assessments conducted by third-party cybersecurity experts, and so much more. We also have a SOC II Type 1 certification, which demonstrates our commitment to protecting customers’ data.

Read our Cybersecurity for Accountants guide.

7. There’ll Be Widespread Adoption of All-in-One Practice Management Platforms

According to a survey by CPA Practice Advisor, 40% of firms use between 6–10 different tools to run their practice, 10% use 11–15, and 3% use more than 20. But the same survey revealed a clear desire to simplify. 57% of respondents said they want to reduce that number to just 1–5 tools within the next three years.

That shift points to one thing: firms want to consolidate.

In 2026, we expect to see a significant rise in firms adopting all-in-one accounting practice management platforms, which allow them to manage work, collaborate with their team, communicate with clients, and track deadlines all in one place.

8. Firms Will Automate and Outsource to Tackle Talent Shortage

It’s been harder to hire talent in the past few years. AICPA reported that U.S. accounting graduates fell to 55,152 in the 2023–2024 academic year, down 6.6% compared to the previous year. As a result of this shortage, 90% of CEOs say they are already outsourcing some accounting functions to fill the gap.

This shortage isn’t ending anytime soon. And so firms and companies will adapt even further by automating repetitive work and outsourcing tasks they can’t hire full-time for.

9. Real-Time Client Collaboration Will Become the Norm

Clients will now demand faster, more real-time communication. When they have a question, they’ll expect a quick answer and an easy way to respond, preferably in-app.

As such, we expect to see more firms move client communication into their workflow systems, so conversations stay tied to the actual work, and everyone is on the same page.
A tool like Financial Cents helps with this. It has certain features that make collaboration easier, like:

• Client Chat: Financial Cents’ client portal centralizes requests, files, and communication in one place so clients can send documents, respond to messages, and track work all from one place instead of bouncing between different apps.  The best part? Clients don’t need to create a login or remember a password. They simply click a secure magic link to access the portal, making it easy for them to respond quickly.
• Month-End Close (formerly ReCats): In Month-End Close, you can send a client a question about a specific transaction from inside the review screen. The client responds through the portal, and their response shows up right where your team is working, so you’re not switching tools or hunting for context.
• Client-Facing Work Status: With this feature, clients can see the status of their work with client-facing tags in the Requests tab of their client portal and the client task email notifications. This eliminates the need for them to keep checking in.

10. Firms Will Invest in Accounting Education and Skills Development

In the future, firms will hire and train around a wider skill set, because the work is changing. AI and automation handle more of the routine tasks, clients want more advisory support, and firms need people who can interpret data and communicate clearly.

​​You can see this shift even in how the profession tests new CPAs. The new AICPA’s CPA Evolution model emphasizes data and technology concepts and higher-order skills across the exam sections, not as electives, but as core expectations.

Recommended

The 10 Best Free Accounting Courses with Certificates

11. There’ll be More Remote & Hybrid Accounting Teams

Most clients don’t care if your team works remotely or in person. They just want the work done well, on time, and with minimal friction. That’s why remote and hybrid work will continue to grow in 2026, especially for firms looking to hire from a broader talent pool and retain the team they already have.

A CPA Practice Advisor survey found that 67% of firms now offer remote and/or hybrid work options, and 35% plan to expand these options in the future.

For firm owners, it’s important to have the right systems and processes in place, so your team can collaborate effectively, no matter where they are.

12. AI Use Will Be Regulated

As more firms use AI in day-to-day work, it’ll become more pertinent to use the technology responsibly. So, expect to see more pressure from regulators and clients to put guardrails around AI.

The EU’s AI Act, for example, includes transparency expectations such as telling people when they’re interacting with an AI system (when it’s not obvious) and labeling certain AI-generated or manipulated content.

Even if your firm isn’t based in the EU, clients, vendors, and global standards tend to influence expectations everywhere.

13. Vertical Specialization Will Become More Common

More accounting and bookkeeping firms will stop trying to serve everyone and instead build around a few specific industries. That’s because it makes your firm easier to run, market, and scale.

When you specialize, you build repeatable systems around a specific type of client, which improves speed, quality, and margins. Clients also increasingly prefer working with specialists. They want someone who understands their industry and pain points, and they’re often willing to pay more for that expertise.

14. More Firms Using KPIs & Performance Analytics

As margins tighten and hiring remains a challenge, firms can’t afford to operate on gut feel alone. You need to know what’s profitable, what’s eating up time, and where your team is stretched before it affects your margins or causes you to miss deadlines.

That’s why in the future, more firms will adopt a performance-driven mindset. Instead of tracking time just for billing, they’ll use key performance indicators (KPIs) like effective hourly rate (EHR), realization rates, utilization rates, and client and project profitability to make pricing and staffing decisions.

Financial Cents makes this easy by providing built-in Realization and Profitability Reports that go far beyond basic time tracking.

You can see:

• How efficiently your firm turns work into revenue by comparing total billables to the amount you actually invoice clients
• Gross profit and profit margin by client, project, service, or team member
• Which clients are profitable and which ones are quietly costing you money
• How productive each team member is, and whether your pricing aligns with the actual time and effort required

15. There’ll Be a Shift Toward Subscription & Value-Based Pricing Models

Fewer firms will still be using hourly billing or fixed fees. Instead, more will adopt subscription and value-based pricing models, because they create better margins and more predictable revenue.

Value-based pricing positions your expertise, not your time, as the core of what clients are paying for. This attracts higher-quality clients who care more about outcomes and results and not about price.

Why Staying Ahead of Accounting Trends Matters

Helps Firms Maintain Relevance in a Competitive Market

Clients have more options than ever. Many are switching to firms that use automation, cloud-based tools, and faster communication systems. If your processes feel outdated or your services haven’t evolved, it’s easy to lose clients to more modern competitors. Staying on top of industry changes helps you keep the clients you want and win more of them.

Boosts Efficiency and Profitability

Many accounting firms still use outdated tools or heavily manual processes, which wastes time and affects profit margins. But the firms that embrace automation are seeing clear gains.

According to our Accounting Workflow & Automation Report, 53.8% of firms spent over 5 hours per week assigning and scheduling work before automation. After implementing automation, 75.8% reduced that time to 5 hours or less, meaning more time for client work and better margins across the board.

Builds Stronger Client Relationships

When you adopt tools and strategies that make your work more accurate, efficient, and transparent, clients feel the difference. They’re less likely to deal with delays or errors and more likely to trust you. That trust leads to better relationships, fewer complaints, and more long-term loyalty.

Ensures Compliance With Rapidly Changing Laws

Tax rules, reporting standards, and data privacy laws continue to evolve. If your firm doesn’t stay updated, you run the risk of missing critical deadlines or making costly compliance errors. Following industry trends keeps you ahead of these changes and gives you time to adjust your workflows, educate your clients, and avoid last-minute scrambles.

Helps Attract and Retain Top Talent

Younger accountants don’t want to spend their days copying data between spreadsheets or chasing clients for missing documents. They want to work in modern, organized environments with tools that actually help them do their jobs. When your firm embraces new technology and better systems, it says that you’re forward-thinking and you’re building a place worth working at.

How Accounting Firms Can Future-Proof Their Firms

You don’t need to overhaul your firm overnight to be ready for 2026. But you do need a plan. Here are practical steps you can start applying now.

• Identify Bottlenecks and Manual Processes

Look at your most common workflows and identify where you spend the most time, where work gets stuck the most, and where you repeat tasks. Those are your biggest time drains, so automate or eliminate them.

• Up-Skill Your Team for Advisory Work

If you want to offer more strategic services, your team needs to be comfortable reading financials, spotting patterns, and having client-facing conversations.

Train them on how to analyze cash flow, interpret KPI dashboards, budget, forecast, and frame insights clearly.

• Invest in Secure Tools and Cybersecurity Training

As your tech stack grows, so does your risk exposure. Choose vendors that take security seriously (e.g., SOC 2 certified like Financial Cents), and train your team on how to handle client data, recognize phishing attempts, and share documents securely.

• Implement Workflow Documentation

You can’t scale what isn’t documented. Build standardized templates for your core services and keep them up to date. That way, your team isn’t reinventing processes every time, and new hires can get up to speed faster.

• Monitor Key Metrics and Client Profitability

Track metrics like team capacity, effective hourly rate (EHR), profit per client, turnaround time, etc. This helps you scope smarter, price more accurately, and make better decisions about hiring, client retention, and services to prioritize.

• Start Transitioning Pricing Models Where Needed

If you’re still billing hourly, start exploring fixed-fee or subscription pricing. Pick one service (like bookkeeping or CAS) and test a simple package. You’ll get more predictable revenue with less stress.

How Financial Cents Supports Your Firm’s Future

Financial Cents is a cloud-based accounting practice management platform designed specifically for accounting, bookkeeping, and tax firms, so you can manage client work, collaborate with your team, and stay on top of deadlines.

Here’s how it helps firms stay future-proof.

a. Automate Workflows and Save Time with AI

With Financial Cents, you can automate recurring work, send automated reminders, and keep clients updated on work status, so work keeps moving along.

Our accounting workflow software also has an AI function that helps you create workflow checklist templates in seconds and draft client emails quickly, and more inside the same platform where your team already manages work. This further saves team members time and effort.

b. Built for Remote and Hybrid Collaboration

With remote and hybrid teams on the rise, Financial Cents makes collaboration seamless. It keeps conversations, files, notes, and even emails tied to the client and the task. Your team can comment directly on tasks, @mention teammates, share files, and delegate emails as work items so updates don’t get buried in someone’s inbox.

c. Capacity Management and Deadline Tracking

Growing firms need visibility when assigning work. With Financial Cents’ capacity management, you can:

• See your team’s workload in real time
• Prevent burnout and missed deadlines
• Reassign work as needed
• Plan hiring based on trends and forecasted workload

d. Automated Client Reminders 

Our State of Accounting Workflow and Automation report found that document collection is a major bottleneck for firms, with nearly half of them spending several days waiting for documents from clients.

Financial Cents helps you fix that with automated reminders that follow up at set intervals until the client uploads what you need.

e. Cloud-Based Solution Built for Scalability

As your client count grows, your systems either support you or slow you down.

Financial Cents is designed to scale with your firm. As you grow, bring on more team members, or expand your client base, you won’t need to switch tools.

d. Client Portal for Secure Communication & Document Exchange

The accounting client portal makes it easy for clients to upload files, respond to questions, and check the status of their work. And because it’s passwordless, they only have to click a secure magic link to access the portal. That reduces friction and helps clients respond faster..

f. EHR, Realization, and Profitability Reports

You need reporting that tells you what’s profitable and what’s quietly eating time.

Financial Cents gives you the reporting you need to grow your firm intelligently. It includes:

• Effective Hourly Rate (EHR) reports so you can compare billed revenue vs. tracked time and spot scope creep early
• Realization and profitability insights that help you see how well your firm turns work into revenue. It compares how much time was logged versus how much was actually billed—across clients, team members, services, and projects—so you can spot low-yield work and improve pricing.
• Utilization reports that show how much of your team’s available time is being spent on billable vs. non-billable work. This helps you assess individual performance, improve team productivity, and understand how your firm is allocating its resources overall.

The Future Is Already Here. Is Your Firm Ready?

With all the information provided, one thing is clear: the future of accounting is tech-driven, data-powered, and client-centric.

Firms will rely more on automation and AI to reduce manual work, use real-time reporting and analytics to deliver better insight, strengthen their cybersecurity practices to protect sensitive client data, and create smoother collaboration experiences that keep clients informed without constant back-and-forth.

The firms that start adapting now will have a real advantage in 2026 and beyond. They’ll run leaner operations, deliver work faster, protect their margins, and build stronger client relationships, without burning out their teams.

If you’re ready to start modernizing, try Financial Cents. It helps you standardize and automate workflows, collaborate with clients and remote teams, track capacity and deadlines, and measure profitability so you can grow your firm.