today's features

busy season 2026: chaos looms as doge cuts and obbba changes collide

downsizing and backlogs become national policy.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

the internal revenue service is heading into the 2026 filing season with fewer employees, more complex tax law changes, and less capacity to resolve problems when returns go wrong — a combination federal watchdogs say will leave tax professionals managing the fallout even as headline service metrics appear stable.

join the busy season barometer daily pulse check for top trends, best practices, and emerging opportunities
more taxbusy season, outlook 2026

national taxpayer advocate erin m. collins says most taxpayers with straightforward, electronically filed returns should see few disruptions. but she warned that the true test of the filing season will be how the irs handles the millions of returns that require human intervention — at a time when the agency’s workforce has been cut by more than a quarter.

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with congress stalled, tax professionals take control of preparer standards

why tax pros are imposing standards on themselves.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

scott artman, natp: new credentialing program

as the 2026 filing season begins, the national association of tax professionals is launching a formal credentialing program for taxpayer representation.

join the busy season barometer daily pulse check for top trends, best practices, and emerging opportunities

more tax, busy season, the next circular 230

the natp is stepping into a regulatory void left by years of congressional inaction, leaving more than 500,000 paid preparers operating without national standards, even as irs and gao data show higher error rates on paid-prepared returns than on do-it-yourself filings, and congress is delaying action.

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the irs in 2026: quiet backlogs, harder fixes, and late guidance

less capacity, more obligation.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

identity theft is becoming one of the biggest time drains for tax professionals this filing season, and the irs may be less equipped than ever to handle it.

join the busy season survey. get the results

more busy season barometermore outlook 2026

according to the irs advisory council—the body representing tax professionals—identity-theft refund cases now take nearly two years to resolve, as staffing cuts and system limits slow irs response.

but identity theft is only one of a long list of problems that can only get worse this year. tax professionals are bracing for prolonged client disputes and frustrating follow-ups with an understaffed, ill-equipped irs.

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busy season 2026: the year cas firms seize the lead

why is the busy season better for cas accountants?

cas comparison: at firms where cas is the leading fee-generator, cas accountants are handling half the book (left) and collecting 10 times the fees (right).

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

with busy season 2026, accountants specializing in client accounting services are reaping the benefits of a year’s worth of hard work, in a smoother path to april 15, more compliant clients, and higher fees, according to the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season barometer.

join the survey, get the results

join the busy season survey. get the results

more busy season barometer | more cas | more outlook 2026

the busy season barometer marks the 2026 tax season as the breakthrough moment when cas crosses from merely an aspirational experiment to a routine part of the service mix for small and midsize firms.

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top tech trends for tax season 2026

holding steady, tuning workflow, and testing ai.

tech plans: 43% of accountants say they’ll be working with new or upgraded versions of practice management & workflow apps, followed by 25% with tax prep packages.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

with the 2026 filing season approaching, most accounting firms are not racing to rip and replace their technology stacks. instead, they are making selective adjustments, tightening workflows, and cautiously experimenting with artificial intelligence — all while keeping a close eye on staffing limits, client behavior, and return on investment.

join the busy season barometer survey here.

more tax, pricing,  payhiring, and the 2026 outlook

that restrained approach comes through clearly in 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间’ busy season barometer, which shows a profession that is less focused on transformation than on execution. the dominant theme across survey waves is not disruption, but discipline.

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profit squeeze: billing rates rebound, but staff costs are rising faster

accountants show renewed pricing power as rates gain 5.7%.

mind the gap: cpa firms are raising billing rates at about a 6% rate, not quite enough to match the rising costs of staff.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

cpa firms are raising prices again as they enter 2026, even as hiring remains weak and wage pressures show little sign of easing. the combination is tightening margins across the profession.

more outlook 2026payhiring, pricing

a 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 analysis of new pricing data shows that billing rates for core cpa firm services are rebounding sharply, reversing an earlier soft patch and vaulting fees to near record highs. at the same time, employment growth across accounting firms has stalled, while wage growth remains elevated, underscoring the growing imbalance between pricing power and labor costs.

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busy season 2026: firms look to pricing for growth

revenues and client rosters outpace profit gains as firms battle cost pressures.

on the front lines (clockwise from left): clockwise from left: hall, langworthy, lenz, kwiecinski, dickerson

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

join the survey. get the results.

cpa firms heading into the 2026 tax season expect revenue gains driven primarily by higher prices, not by adding clients, even as a majority anticipate another heavy extension season.

join the busy season barometer survey here.
more tax, pricing, and the 2026 outlook

according to the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season barometer, about 6 in 10 firms expect total revenue to increase this year, while roughly one-third expect revenue to hold steady. profit expectations trail revenue slightly, a pattern that points to continued cost pressure even as clients and would-be clients clamor for more, and more high-end, services

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busy season 2026: irs problems, staffing issues and client wrangling emerge as top pressures

irs dysfunction replaces obbba as top concern.

on the front lines (clockwise from top left): woodard, dienhart, volk, stitely, tejero, brady, svihla.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

join the survey. get the results.

with only a week to go before the opening of filing season 2026, tax practitioners are focusing on irs dysfunction as their biggest potential problem this year

and no wonder. the agency was already chronically underfunded, buried under a mountain of overdue paperwork, and crippled by ancient computer systems when it lost 25% of its workforce in early 2025.

join the busy season barometer survey here.

more tax, pricing, and the 2026 outlook

today 63% of tax professionals say a beleaguered irs poses the single biggest risk to this year’s tax season, up from 54% just a couple of months ago, according to the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season barometer.

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busy season 2026: how ready are you? it depends

the answers track firm size and practice focus.

on the front lines (clockwise from top left): winke, sosinski, d’angelo, parent, kaplow, gehring

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

across the profession, accountants heading into the 2026 busy season are not sounding alarms, nor are they celebrating breakthroughs. instead, they are settling into a steady, almost restrained confidence.

join the busy season barometer survey here.

more tax, pricing, and the 2026 outlook

the latest busy season barometer reveals that firms’ sense of readiness bears a striking resemblance to where they stood a year ago. for some, this signals resilience. for others, it signals stagnation. the portrait that emerges is a profession caught between incremental improvements and persistent operational friction.

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pe deal tracker: 147 deals build $200 billion in new value

100 deals a year: the new normal?

the surge: 105 deals in 2025 alone.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research
cornerstone report

private equity-backed and pe-adjacent deals start the new year on a roll, with dozens of new combinations racing to year-end closes, driven by some of the biggest rollup platforms.

卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research is adding 29 newly captured deals to the tracker, lifting the total to 147 deals since 2020 with more than $10 billion in new funding. the continuation of transactions into early 2026 suggests that 2025 was not a peak but a new normal, with deal flow stabilizing at a higher level than in the pre-2020 period.

more cornerstone reportsmore private equity

to submit updates, additions, or additional information, contact 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 here

卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 estimates that today’s private-equity-driven revenue multiples imply an aggregate enterprise value of more than $400 billion for the top 500 cpa firm sector as a whole — a valuation reset of more than $200 billion. read more →

outlook 2026: accountants brace for a rough economy

expect strong demand for tax planning, business advisory and bookkeeping cleanup work. 

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season barometer indicates that tax and accounting leaders anticipate growth in their own firms, even as they prepare for anxious business clients, persistent inflation, and a policy environment that keeps planning on edge.

more busy season and 2026 outlook

busy season barometer: join the survey. get the results

about half of all accountants in the survey are bracing for a deteriorating economy, with a third expecting rosier scenarios, for a net negative 17.2 percentage points. for small and mid-sized businesses, accountants are at a negative 9.3 points.

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outlook 2026: the painful paradigm shift in staff pay and hiring

pivoting with the paradigm: staff salaries are rising sharply even as job growth plateaus.

new jobs data signal fundamental pivot for accounting firms.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

the year 2026 may be long remembered as the paradigm-shifting moment when accounting firms were forced to pivot everything from their business models to their budgets.

more outlook 2026, pay, hiring

the reason: salary and pay increases are accelerating even as hiring momentum stalls.

going into 2026, labor costs have been cleaved from labor supply. the new, structurally higher staffing line is forcing firms to rewrite their budgets as well as business models.

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outlook 2026: agentic ai reaches the tipping point in tax and accounting firms

ai-powered firms are closing books faster, reallocating staff time to higher-value work, and widening the competitive gap with slower adopters.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research
cornerstone report

as artificial intelligence transitions from a buzzword to a business imperative, cpa firms across the u.s. are quietly beginning to deploy generative ai assistants, machine learning tools, and “agentic” ai platforms to automate audits, prepare taxes, and provide financial insights.

with the astonishing surge in ai adoption, firm leaders say we’ve reached a tipping point where those not investing in ai risk being left behind.

more 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 cornerstone reports

in this cornerstone report, accounting firms show how they are leveraging ai to transform their operations, the benefits and challenges they are encountering, and what it all means for the future of the profession, including:

  • why ai adoption in cpa firms has hit a tipping point
  • how agentic ai is transforming tax, audit, and advisory work
  • the real productivity, roi, and revenue gains firms are reporting
  • what ai means for staffing, skills, and firm economics
  • the risks, governance challenges, and regulatory implications ahead
  • how firm leaders can deploy ai without falling behind

read more →

the cpa pe playbook: private equity 2026 outlook & strategy guide

pro member download here
[pro members-only bonus]

the definitive guide to private equity’s transformation of the cpa profession

exclusively for pro members only, here

not yet a pro member? go pro here

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

the accounting profession is changing faster than at any time in its modern history—and private equity is driving the shift. more than $30 billion in new capital has entered cpa firms since 2020, igniting a powerful wave of consolidation, modernization, and strategic reinvention. firms that once relied on incremental growth and traditional partnership structures are now operating as high-performance platforms built for scale, technology adoption, and national reach.

the cpa pe playbook is the most comprehensive analysis available today on this historic transformation.

if you want to know where the profession is heading, how pe-backed firms are competing, and what it will take to thrive in the next decade, this is the report you need.


exclusively for pro members only

(pro member log in required)
go to download

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what a wealth advisor is worth

two happy businessmen looking at digital tablet at desk in office

plus: behavioral finance vs. behavioral coaching.

by rory henry
the holistic guide to wealth management

malcolm forbes liked to say, “advice is more fun to give than to receive.” but the right advice in the right framework can be invaluable. and sometimes, the best advice you’ll ever receive is what prevents you from engaging in harmful behaviors.

more rory henry and the holistic guide to wealth management
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

michael dijoseph, cfa, a senior strategist at vanguard investment advisory research center, has spent a large portion of his career studying how financial advisors advise clients, how they can get better at providing advice and how we can measure the value of advice because these days, everyone from salesclerks at the mall to nasa rocket consultants seem to have the word “advisor” attached to their job title. more on that in a minute.
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three ways to measure your team’s effectiveness

illustration with three thermometers

they have to work in harmony.

by jody grunden
building the virtual cfo firm in the cloud

once you’ve systemized the processes for your accounting team, it’s important to evaluate the effectiveness of your process on a regular basis. you want to be aware of what’s working well and what’s not. you also want to continually be improving upon your services over time

more by jody grunden
goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

 

there are three things you can specifically monitor when it comes to the effectiveness of your team, as shown in the illustration above.
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ten tips for a better busy season

woman holding eyeglasses and looking at laptop screen

some of these you may want to keep year round.

by sandi leyva
the complete guide to marketing for tax & accounting firms

another busy season is upon us. are you feeling excited, anxious or dread?

more by sandi leyva

goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

it’s probably a mix, but hopefully there’s more excitement than any other emotion because you will be helping so many more people during busy season than any other time of the year. here are 10 easy-to-implement ideas to help your busy time go smoother than ever.

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bissett bullet: what are the outcomes?

today’s bissett bullet: “listing the services of your firm – bad. demonstrating the outcomes in clients’ lives as a result of the implementation of your expertise – good.”

by martin bissett

hopefully, this needs little more of an explanation than you see above. if we decide to talk about services, expect the prospective client to glaze over. if we talk about their lives and how we can get them closer toward their dreams, expect to win high-quality new grade a fees. it is no more complicated than that.

today’s to-do:

today’s action point is to review your last meeting with a potential client. did you talk about the features and services that you provide or did you talk about the client and their ambitions? which was the greater of the two? if it is the first, change it. if it is the second, you are on the right track.

see more bissett bullets here

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the fastest way to lose talent is “dick leadership” | arc

label intent, clarify tone and choose the right channel so feedback lands as coaching, not conflict.

sponsored by the balanced millionaire: the advisor edition by dr. jackie meyer | see today’s special offer
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accounting arc
with liz mason, byron patrick, and donny shimamoto

center for accounting transformation

build a 7-figure firm in just 4 hours a week!

leaders in accounting do not need to choose between being “nice” and being effective.

in this arc episode, donny shimamoto, cpa.citp, cgma; byron patrick, cpa.citp; and liz mason, cpa, make the case that the best bosses aim for something tougher — kindness with clarity.

the conversation starts with a story familiar to anyone who has ever hovered over the “send” button on a difficult message.

more accounting arc: post-holiday fatigue isn’t a failure; it’s a signal | ocr, research bots & meeting assistants: what actually helps nowreturn season is the new stress test | small firms may have the biggest advantage in 2026 | downgraded: what the doe said about accounting | savage: using your license as a megaphonebaker: interpreting pricing psychologydon’t get fired by your own automation | what amazon doesn’t tell you | royalties, residuals, and reality checks | arc-slc 

mason, founder and ceo of high rock accounting, recalls proposing a conference talk with a deliberately provocative title — a reminder that most professionals feel the tension between holding the line and keeping the peace. the point, she says, is not to sanitize reality. it is to learn how to hold people accountable without turning it into a personal attack.

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