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The CPA PE Playbook: Private Equity 2026 Outlook & Strategy Guide

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The Definitive Guide to Private Equity’s Transformation of the CPA Profession

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By CPA Trendlines 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.

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Quality Work Vs. Quality Service

 

young man in suit staring at laptop screen

They’re not the same thing.

By Domenick J. Esposito
8 Steps to Great

Over the years, I have enjoyed reading and internalizing the insights of David Maister, highly regarded author, speaker and practice management consultant.

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Many years ago (circa 1993), Maister wrote a professional service firms article titled “Quality Work Doesn’t Mean Quality Service.”
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PRO Member Exclusive

Make Tax Season More Fun

four young happy office employees

Twelve ways it can be better.

By Ed Mendlowitz
Tax Season Opportunity Guide

Tax season presents exciting opportunities for accounting firms and their staffs. Every moment should be enjoyed and appreciated.

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Following are 12 reasons:

1. Tax season is profitable and accounting is a business where we try to maximize our earnings. Sure, there is a great concentration of work in a short period with occasional pressure, but if handled properly, the work can be managed sensibly with tensions at reasonable levels. I also believe much of the pressure is self-induced by poor scheduling, inadequate quality control and the lack of uniform systems that are followed by everyone in the firm, particularly the partners.

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ADVISORY & CONSULTING

Four Real-World CAS Transformations

floating balloons, one lit up like a light bulb

Why they did it. How they did it. What they gained and learned.

By Hitendra Patil
Client Accounting Services: The Definitive Success Guide

Across the accounting profession, few areas are experiencing the kind of meaningful, sustainable growth seen in client advisory services (CAS). Publicly available information, such as AICPA/CPA.com’s latest CAS Benchmark Survey, begins to paint a clearer picture, but it’s the story behind the statistics that truly highlights the potential of CAS.

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The true power of advisory-CAS comes to life in the stories of real firms and real clients. This article highlights transformational case studies from unlocking seven-figure tax savings to helping clients navigate critical decisions with clarity. You will see how firms built their CAS-first identity, turned insight into outcomes and overcame the hurdles that once held them back. These stories are proof that advisory, done right, delivers lasting business change.
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SPECIAL

K-1 Chaos: IRS Throws Rocks at Hornet’s Nest

Don’t get stung. Here’s how.
“It’s the taxpayer and preparer that get stung.”
By CPA Trendlines
CPA Trendlines Academy
Burnett

 

Bradley Burnett doesn’t start his 2025 Form 1065 program with a code section. He starts with a warning.

“Throwing rocks at a hornet’s nest,” says Burnett, JD, LLM, is what the IRS is doing to tax preparers. And then he delivers the line that drives the room quiet: “IRS has the bug spray, not us.”

2025 Forms 1065 and K-1s: IRS Throws Rocks at Hornet’s Nest with Bradley Burnett, J.D., LL.M
Full webinar on demand (any time, any device): Learn more | Buy now

The metaphor isn’t about audits. It’s about penalties. The practical risk of partnership returns has less to do with aggressive positions and more to do with incomplete disclosures, mismatched coding and mechanical errors. The danger is not interpretation. It’s the process.

“If the preparer does not do everything that IRS asks us to do,” Burnett warns, “it’s the taxpayer and preparer that get stung.”

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Trusts Aren’t Just for the Wealthy

Six ways they can be used.

portrait of Danny Lohrfink
Lohrfink
 Danny Lohrfink is the co-founder and chief product officer of Wealth.com. Previously, he was business lead of SoFi’s wealth management division, SoFi Invest, and held several roles at Goldman Sachs Private Wealth Management, including VP on the PWM Management team.

By Danny Lohrfink 
The Holistic Guide to Wealth Management

Contrary to popular belief, a person’s net worth is not the only – or most important – factor when deciding if a trust is appropriate for them. After all a trust is simply an agreement between someone who owns an asset and a trusted person whom they choose to hold and manage that asset for them.

MORE Rory Henry and The Holistic Guide to Wealth Management
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This common misconception that trusts are only for the wealthy has long prevailed as a leading narrative because of the historically high costs associated with establishing and managing a trust. These costs presented a barrier for many individuals who lacked the financial resources to hire an expensive estate planning attorney. The result was that only the wealthy had these vehicles because they were the only people who could afford them.
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