PAY & COMPENSATION

Jeremy Dubow: Raising the Bar for Talent | Big 4 Transparency

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Why equity is the new standard for talent retention.

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Big 4 Transparency
By Dominic Piscopo, CPA
For CPA Trendlines

Jeremy Dubow, CEO and co-founder of Chicago-based, private-equity-backed Prosperity Partners, explains how entrepreneurship in accounting has shifted from demand-driven to capacity-constrained, and why transparent equity programs are becoming the new standard for talent retention.

MORE Dominic Piscopo | MORE Private Equity | MORE Pay & Compensation

Dubow joins Dominic Piscopo on Big 4 Transparency to discuss how accounting-firm entrepreneurship and the operating model required to scale have changed since he co-founded NDH in 2003. NDH later sold to private equity and rebranded as Prosperity Partners, which Dubow described as a case study in how firms are adapting to labor constraints, expanding client complexity, and rising expectations around technology and talent strategy.

Quotables
“The demand for accounting services is greater than it ever has been. The challenge is providing the service at a high level in a labor-constrained environment.”
“AI in and of itself is not right now the solution to solve all our problems. Using automation and offshoring gives us the operational leverage to create that capacity.”
“I recognize that my people are being attempted to be poached every single day of the year.”
“Why have a stock price if you don’t disclose what it is?”
“‘’If I worked that 80-hour week, you should too.’ Well, guess what? That doesn’t work anymore.”

Dubow argues the profession has shifted from a demand constraint to a capacity constraint. Client needs continue to expand, but firms increasingly struggle to staff and deliver services proactively at scale.

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Busy Season 2026: IRS Problems, Staffing Issues and Client Wrangling Emerge as Top Pressures

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IRS dysfunction replaces OBBBA as top concern.

On the front lines (clockwise from top left): Woodard, Dienhart, Volk, Stitely, Tejero, Brady, Svihla.

By CPA Trendlines

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 CPA Trendlines Busy Season Barometer.

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Outlook 2026: The Painful Paradigm Shift in Staff Pay and Hiring

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Pivoting with the Paradigm: Staff salaries are rising sharply even as job growth plateaus.

New jobs data signal fundamental pivot for accounting firms.

By CPA Trendlines 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: Can Tax & Accounting Payrolls Keep Surging to New Highs?

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Record High: Tax and accounting industry hits 1,163,600 jobs, an annualized growth rate of 2%, and a new all-time high.

By CPA Trendlines Research

The full tax and accounting industry—which includes accounting, tax preparation, bookkeeping and payroll services—has hit a new record high with 1,163,600 jobs, representing an annualized growth rate of 2%, which is measurably stronger than the year-over-year 1.23% gain, according to new data examined by CPA Trendlines. But a choppy economy and political volatility have accountants and observers alike wondering if the trends can continue in 2026

MORE Staffing and Pay Trends

CPA offices managed to add 1,700 jobs over the past year, keeping the segment on a slow but positive trajectory. Employment at offices of certified public accountants is holding steady at 544,300 positions, matching the month-before figure. The revision from the previous estimate of 544,600 marks a modest 0.06% downgrade. The year-over-year trend improved slightly to 0.3%, up from 0.2% in the prior report. READ MORE →

Cornerstone Report: Tax, Accounting and CPA Billing Rates and Pricing Trends for 2026

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CPA Billing Rates, Tax Return Fees, and Client Accounting Pricing at CPA Firms | 2026
CPA Trendlines Research Cornerstone Reports deliver instant situational awareness on the day’s hottest topics.

By CPA Trendlines Research

Tax return pricing in 2026 is best understood as a structural repricing rather than a routine inflation adjustment. Firms are charging more, charging differently, and narrowing capacity.

MORE on Pricing.

In this Cornerstone Report, CPA Trendlines finds a 45.7% rise in the national average base fee for a 1040 with Schedules 1–3 (2023 to 2025); benchmark add-on prices for common schedules; national averages for entity and fiduciary returns; fee-increase cadence and the dominant 6%–10% increase band; a median typical-client fee level of $1,263; a common unbilled-work leakage estimate of 6%; and large-firm benchmarking metrics that show how higher rates interact with realization and income per partner.

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Starting Salaries in Accounting Must Rise

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Every year, the 2025 Rosenberg MAP Survey asks the industry’s top consultants to share their observations from CPA firms across the country: How do you think the next 12 months will unfold? Trends? Predictions? Other thoughts? Also, how would you assess the last 12 months? Trends? Observations? Struggles?

Plans for succession and capital are critical.

By Kristen Rampe
 The Rosenberg Survey

Over the next year, more firms will feel comfortable with their position in the marketplace. Either because they have completed or are in the process of a transaction, or because they determined their best option was to continue as they have been (with ongoing improvements, of course). This is unlikely to reduce the hourly calls from private equity investors just yet but will make the decision on what to do with all those calls easier.

MORE: The 2025 Rosenberg MAP Survey is available from CPA Trendlines here.

I am hopeful that, as an industry, we will continue to increase staff starting salaries. Looking at today’s economics of adult life, which many young accounting professionals are interested in, such as buying a home or starting a family, the current pay rates are insufficient. We can make the changes necessary here to continue to support communities, employees and the profession of accounting.
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New 20-Year Low in College Accounting Graduates

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But are trends already on the upswing again?

By CPA Trendlines

The pipeline of U.S. accounting graduates has fallen to its lowest level in roughly 20 years, capping a decade-long slide of about 17% in completions even as demand from public accounting firms remains strong, according to the latest release of a much-watched study.

In this report:
  • The tension between shrinking supply and resilient demand
  • Bachelor’s degrees: From mid-2010s peak to current lows
  • Master’s degrees: A steep 15% drop in the last academic year
  • CPA Exam Trends: The new baseline
  • Potential Turning Point? New growth in enrollments

In addition, the CPA exam pipeline has thinned over the past 10 years, with new candidates and successful passers both down from earlier peaks, though 2023 saw a temporary surge tied to the rollout of the CPA Evolution exam.

New research is also revealing that while auditors remain in steady supply, the tax profession is facing a severe and deepening talent drought.

And yet, new enrollment data point to a possible turning point, with accounting program enrollments up double digits in 2024–25 and firms signaling plans to keep hiring as many or more graduates in the year ahead.

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Stay or Go? Rethink Job Hopping | Accounting Influencers

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Is the next big opportunity across the street…or right where you already are?

This is a preview. The complete video episode, with commentary and transcript, is first available exclusively to PRO Members | Go PRO here
Sponsored by Poe Group Advisors: Helping accountants buy, build, and sell exceptional firms. See Today’s Special Offer

Subscribe to CPA Trendlines podcasts anywhere: Apple, Google/YouTube, Spotify, iHeart, Deezer, Amazon Music, Audible, Player FM, Audacy, RSS.

Sponsored by Poe Group Advisors: Helping accountants buy, build, and sell exceptional firms. See Today’s Special Offer

Accounting Influencers
With Rob Brown

Post-pandemic, accounting professionals saw record pay increases just for changing employers.

However, as economic conditions tighten and median pay raises for job switchers fall from roughly 7% to just over 4%, the calculus is changing. The latest episode of the Accounting Influencers explores this new reality, urging professionals to look beyond paychecks and consider the broader picture of career satisfaction.

During the Great Resignation, switching jobs was practically risk-free. Firms desperate for talent offered 15–20% salary hikes to fill open seats. Today, however, that market has cooled. With inflation steadying and corporate budgets tightening, job hopping no longer guarantees the big payouts it once did.

As host Rob Brown explains, “The financial upside of switching jobs has narrowed, but the emotional and professional costs of moving may be higher than ever.”

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Use Smart Compensation to Drive Partner Performance

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$100 bill being built of blocks

Five management objectives to address.

By Domenick J. Esposito
8 Steps to Great

“Show me your compensation plan and I’ll show you your strategy.” – Dom Esposito

As you strive to become a mid-market sustainable brand, your firm needs to become a performance-driven organization if you want to take advantage of future opportunities and drive growth and profitability. An effective performance management and compensation plan (PMCP) is critical to making your firm’s strategic plan a reality.

MORE by Domenick J. Esposito
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The basic premise is that compensation rewards first look to:

  1. how successful the entire firm is,

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The $100,000 H-1B Shock: What It Means for Accounting Talent

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What changes, what doesn’t, for thousands of jobs in accounting.

In tax and audit in 2024, increases in salary bands were far from evenly distributed.

By Dominic Piscopo

I just consumed hours of H-1B visa content, so you don’t have to. Here are my findings.

Accounting isn’t the heaviest H-1B user (That’s IT & Tech.), but the profession still relies on international grads in audit, tax, advisory, and increasingly data and automation roles. In 2024, USCIS approved around 400k H-1Bs overall, with 2% to 3% of those in categories that could include accounting. So, while other industries are far more reliant on this program, there may still be thousands of roles in accounting. READ MORE →