STAFFING & RECRUITING

Profit Squeeze: Billing Rates Rebound, but Staff Costs Are Rising Faster

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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 CPA Trendlines

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 2026, Pay, Hiring, Pricing

A CPA Trendlines 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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Use Workflow Apps to Pump Up Profits

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You’ve been reinventing the wheel. Why?

By Jody Grunden
Building the Virtual CFO Firm in the Cloud

As a business grows, it becomes necessary to systemize the processes in order to increase the team’s efficiency and deliver a consistent experience for clients.

MORE by Jody Grunden
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One of the challenges that comes with creating systems can be getting every team member on board with the process you want to put in place. For example, Joe may have one way of doing things, while Karen does them another way and Susie yet another.

Creating a system will likely require all of them to make some changes in their own day-to-day workflows.
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Lewis: Workforce Development Is the Next Imperative | Gear Up For Growth

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Training and growth—not just recruitment—will determine the profession’s future.

This is a preview. The complete episode is first available exclusively to PRO Members | Go PRO here
Sponsored by The Balanced Millionaire: The Advisor Edition by Dr. Jackie Meyer | See Today’s Special Offer

Subscribe to CPA Trendlines podcasts anywhere: Apple, Google/YouTube, Spotify, iHeart, Deezer, Amazon Music, Audible, Player FM, Audacy, RSS.
Build a 7-figure firm in just 4 hours a week!
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Gear Up for Growth
With Jean Caragher
For CPA Trendlines

When Jan Lewis, vice chair of the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA), says, “The world is a complicated place, and who better than a CPA to help cut through the noise?” she’s not offering a slogan. She’s issuing a call to action.

More Jean Caragher here | Get her best-selling handbook, The 90-Day Marketing Plan for CPA Firms, here | More Gear Up for Growth

More CPA Trendlines videos and podcasts here

In a wide-ranging and refreshingly candid conversation with host Jean Caragher on Gear Up for Growth, Lewis makes the case that this moment—right now—is one of the most consequential and opportunity-rich periods the CPA profession has ever faced.

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Epp and Schrock: Firms that Listen Keep Their People | MOVE Like This

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Paychecks and perks are no longer enough to retain talent.

This is a preview. The complete 1-hour video episode, with commentary and transcript, is first available exclusively to PRO Members | Go PRO here
Sponsored by The Balanced Millionaire: The Advisor Edition by Dr. Jackie Meyer | See Today’s Special Offer

Subscribe to CPA Trendlines Research podcasts anywhere: Apple, Google/YouTube, Spotify, iHeart, Deezer, Amazon Music, Audible, Player FM, Audacy, RSS.
Build a 7-figure firm in just 4 hours a week!

MOVE Like This
With Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk
For CPA Trendlines Research

In this episode of MOVE Like This, Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk sits down with Kristi Epp, a tax partner, and Amber Schrock, an advisory partner and Las Vegas market leader at Frazier & Deeter, explore how the accounting profession is evolving and how firm leaders can better support their people. Both guests share their career journeys and how they found long-term professional homes at the firm, emphasizing mentorship, growth opportunities, and a culture that values people as much as performance. 

MORE MOVE

Epp and Schrock note that the past five years, particularly the post-COVID period, have fundamentally reshaped accounting. Remote work, automation, and regulatory complexity are now the norm, while consolidation and private equity activity are accelerating change across the profession. Frazier & Deeter’s recent growth initiatives, including acquisitions, reflect this shifting landscape and the need for firms to think differently about scale, talent, and integration.  READ MORE →

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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