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ADVISORY & CONSULTING

Most Tax and Accounting Firms Are Relying on Pay Raises in a Losing Battle for Talent

Hiring in the management consulting sector slows, but remains positive. Tax & accounting sector shrinks workforce.

By CPA Trendlines Research

The professional services industry is accelerating a quiet but consequential reshaping toward higher-end advisory services and away from low-end compliance work.

ASK CPA Trendlines A.I.: Where do accountants go when they quit?

Consulting firms have added more than 27,000 jobs over the past 12 months, pushing total headcount to 1.56 million. In contrast, the accounting, bookkeeping, and payroll sector remains stuck near 1.155 million employees, a plateau that has persisted for much of the past three years, according to a new analysis by CPA Trendlines Research.

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PRO Member Exclusive

Alexion.ai Emerges from Stealth with Big-Name Leadership

And a Big Vision for Accounting AI.

Lisa Griffith, Alexion.ai CEO and co-founder
AI Advisors: Clockwise from top right, Boomer, Smith, Casas

By CPA Trendlines Research

Alexion.ai is making its market debut with an ambitious goal: to decentralize, fortify and humanize artificial intelligence in tax and accounting firms by preserving the institutional knowledge firms lose when key people leave.

GET MORE: Ask CPA Trendlines AI

MORE: AI Is Not Your Enemy; Here’s Why | Padar, Tolin, PICPA Launch XcelLabs to Drive AI Skills | Gen AI in Accounting: Epic Transformation, or Overheated Hype? | Eight Steps to Getting Started with AI: A Guide for Tax Professionals | How TaxDome and Juno Just Changed the Tax Tech Game | Big Four Vets Launch $300M PE-Backed, AI-Powered CFO Advisory Firm | Intuit Fires Back with Agentic AI after Xero Nabs Melio | Steve Yoss: AI’s Power in Assurance Services | Quick Tech Talks | Jacob Schroeder: AI Won’t Replace Accountants—But It Will Reveal Who’s Replaceable |

The company is positioning itself as connective tissue for accounting practices, normalizing unstructured data, reconciling fragmented context and building AI-powered memory infrastructure. The platform, the company says, enables firm-specific agents to operate with trust, traceability and nuance.

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GROWTH STRATEGIES

Succession Takes the Driver’s Seat in Private Equity Boom

PE Specialists: Top row: Fligel, Pellen, Onefater. Bottom: Whitman, Wurtzbacher, O’Donnell

As Wall Street turns its eyes on mid-sized firms.

By CPA Trendlines

Succession is fast emerging as the defining force behind the private-equity-fueled M&A surge, transforming the accounting profession.

Partners in their late 50s, 60s, and 70s — many of whom never documented a transition plan — stare at retirement without successors. That urgency is pushing small and mid-sized CPA firms into the arms of private equity buyers and national consolidators at unprecedented rates.

GET MORE: Ask CPA Trendlines about the private equity boom

ALSO: Private Equity in Accounting | Private Equity Update: 53 Deals, $29 Billion | Deal or No Deal? The P.E. Dilemma for CPAs | Johnston: Private Equity, Shady Vendors, and Broken Software | Brannon Poe: PE Drives Prices–And Change | Behind Sorren’s Roll-Up: $170 Million, 1,000 Employees, 85 Partners | Kopelman: Culture & Capital Fuel Aprio’s Rise | Gear Up For Growth | Ira Rosenbloom: M&A Money’s Easy – Culture Fit’s Hard | Gary Shamis: The Private Equity Hazards for Young Partners | Alex Drost: Firms Get Scrappy Against PE-Backed Competitors | Tim Brackney: Don’t Blame Private Equity. Blame the Accountants |

“It’s no longer a question of whether you need a plan — it’s whether you have the right one,” says James S. Pellen, managing partner at Hertz Herson CPA LLP, speaking at a New York CPA society event. “Succession isn’t just about retiring; it’s about ensuring the firm survives and thrives after you’re gone.”

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