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ADVISORY & CONSULTING

Inside Tax Season’s Hidden Shift: Same Work, Fewer People, Higher Cost

And that’s the good news.

Your mileage may vary: The tax and accounting workforce is churning out almost as many returns. But with rising labor costs. Is that a margin squeeze or the firm of the future? (Index = pro-filed tax returns, annualized payrolls, and headcounts)

By CPA Trendlines

As the tax and accounting profession enters the final stretch of Busy Season 2026, new CPA Trendlines Research suggests that the much vaunted promises of AI-enabled efficiencies are still just that – promises.

MORE Tax Season

So far this year, firms are producing even fewer tax returns than at the same time last year, while salaries are increasing. The problem gets worrisome when you notice that headcounts are flat to down.

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ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

The PE Platform Wars: Five Accounting Firms Battle for Market Share

After hundreds of deals, the data show a gravitational pull toward a handful of buyers now driving the profession’s future.

CPA Trendlines PE Deal Tracker: Mega-aggregators are dominating the money flow as the race tightens between Sorren, Citrin Cooperman, Crete Professionals, Platform Accounting, and Ascend. Coming up fast: Doeren Mayhew.

By CPA Trendlines Research

The frantic pace of deal-making in March has officially transitioned the accounting industry from a “consolidation phase” into a “platform war.”

MORE in Private Equity | Alan Whitman Plants a Flag in the Private Equity Landscape | The PE Takeover: Audit Problem? What Audit Problem? | The 7.6x Machine: How Grassroots Firms Are Taking Private Equity for a Ride | Why the Next Big CPA Firms Won’t Look Like CPA Firms

As the first quarter concludes, the narrative is no longer just about who is buying whom, but about which investment philosophy—and which technology stack—will dominate the next decade.

The conventional narrative about private equity in accounting says capital is flooding in, the profession is democratizing, and every CPA firm in America can access institutional money for the first time. But the cold, hard data tells a different story.

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CLIENT ACCOUNTING SERVICES

CAS Tech Gap Widens as Firms Race Toward Real-Time Advisory

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New report finds outdated systems are limiting insight, slowing workflows, and putting firms at a competitive disadvantage.

By CPA Trendlines

Accounting firms that fail to modernize their technology stacks risk losing ground as client accounting services shift rapidly toward real-time advisory, according to a new report from Ace Cloud Hosting and CPA Trendlines.

Download the full report here

The report finds that outdated, spreadsheet-heavy workflows and disconnected systems are no longer just inefficient—they are actively limiting firms’ ability to deliver insight, manage risk, and compete in advisory services.

“Technology is no longer an IT decision. It is a strategic one,” the report states.

Advisory Demands Real-Time Data

The sharpest divide is emerging around data speed. While compliance work can still run on monthly or quarterly cycles, advisory services depend on continuous data. Firms relying on delayed reporting are producing outdated insights, weakening decision-making and client value.

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AUDIT & ASSURANCE

From Deloitte Spinout to Market Disruptor: Streamworks Targets the Mid-Tier Audit and Assurance Software Gap

Sharma

Rebranded from Auvenir, the independent platform doubles down on AI, quality management, and underserved firms.

By CPA Trendlines

Auvenir, the audit and compliance technology platform originally developed within Deloitte, has officially spun out as an independent company under a new name: Streamworks Tech.

The move marks a strategic shift—not just in ownership, but in market focus, product direction, and long-term vision.

“Ultimately, both sides agreed that… the customers are in the best hands, and the technology is in the best hands, with us continuing forward [as an independent company],” said Neeraj Sharma, chief operating officer of Streamworks Tech. READ MORE →

PRO Member Exclusive

K-1 Bottlenecks Stretch Busy Season, Forcing Firms to Rethink Tax Workflows

More than 50% of K-1 work now hits in a three-month crunch.

By CPA Trendlines

A growing backlog of Schedule K-1 data is reshaping the tax calendar and forcing accounting firms to rethink how they manage people, processes and technology, according to a new industry guide.

DOWNLOAD FULL REPORT: Tax Transformation Best Practices in Alternative Investments – A Step-by-Step Guidebook for Modernizing K-1 Processes – Available here

More than half of all K-1 aggregation work — 52.8% — is now completed within a compressed three-month window, with 81% finished over six months, reflecting persistent delays in the K-1 ecosystem.

The result: the traditional January-through-April busy season has effectively stretched into a second peak running July through October, driven by late-arriving partnership data and expanded reporting requirements. READ MORE →