For Survey Participants Only: Topline Results Executive Summary

Survey Results Executive Summary [ref: x_bz27_w1_95x 2026-11-04]

FLASH REPORT

(Early, Preliminary)

Topline Executive Summary

Specially Prepared for Survey Participants

Dear Survey Participant,
Thank you for joining the survey. As promised, here’s your early report on the survey results. We appreciate your views and experiences and hope you find the results interesting and useful. Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at: attn.editor@cpatrendlines.com
Meanwhile, if you know anyone else in the profession who might be interested in the research, you can share this link to the survey: https://www.research.net/r/bz27w1_v1026
Thanks again for your kind consideration,
Rick Telberg
CPA Trendlines / Founder, CEO

Key Findings

Accountants head into busy season 2027 confident about their own firms and uneasy about everything else.

They expect higher prices, revenue and tech spending, but not more staff.

AI is the top technology priority even as many firms report little time saved so far. Private equity draws broad opposition and deep skepticism about its effect on the profession, and in client accounting services the hardest sell is the fee.

 

Top 10 Findings, So Far

  1. Four in 10 respondents expect busy season 2027 to beat 2026.
  2. Practitioners expect growth to come from pricing rather than people.
  3. Outlook on business conditions in the next 12–18 months: Optimism fades.
  4. AI is the most-considered technology change for the year ahead
  5. Most firms use AI in some form
  6. The time payoff remains modest
  7. Better client service is the most-cited effect of AI
  8. Private Equity: Practitioners split between outright opposition
  9. Accountants expect PE to take more from the profession than it gives
  10. Client Accounting Services: Selling the value is the biggest CAS hurdle

 

Survey Results, Detail

Respondent Profile

Size of Firm

Profile: Three-quarters of respondents (74%) work in firms of one to nine people, and 20% in firms of 10 to 50.

 

Position

Profile: Nearly all respondents (95%) work in public accounting or tax practice.

 

Primary Service Line

Tax dominates, at 74% of firms

 

 

 

 

Busy Season Barometer

2027 Outlook

Busy Season 2027: Four in 10 respondents expect busy season 2027 to beat 2026. Nearly half expect a repeat, and only 12% see it getting worse.

 

Busy Season Outlook for Key Metrics

Practitioners expect growth to come from pricing rather than people: 74% expect billing rates to rise and 67% expect higher revenue, while 76% expect headcount to hold steady.

 

New Spending Plans for Busy Season 2027

Tech Tools: AI is the most-common technology change for the year ahead, ahead of the core tax tools — tax prep and tax research at 40% each and tax planning.

 

Business Conditions and the Economic Forecast

Accountants Confidence Index

From the Firm to the Nation

Outlook on business conditions in the next 12–18 months: Optimism fades with distance from the firm: 45% expect conditions to improve for their own practice, but for the nation’s economy more expect things to worsen (43%) than to improve (31%).

 

Private Equity

Attitudes toward Private Equity

Private Equity: Practitioners split between outright opposition to private equity and wait-and-see, with few pursuing or completing a deal.

 

Artificial Intelligence

AI Use and Adoption

AI: Most firms use AI in some form (63%), but the largest group uses it for only a few tasks (37%), and just 3% say it is built into most of their daily work.

 

AI Efficiencies and Time Savings

AI: The time payoff remains modest: 43% report little or no net time saved — or a net loss — while 13% save five hours or more a week.

 

Client Accounting Services

CAS Challenges and Opportunities

Client Accounting Services: Selling the value is the biggest CAS hurdle: 62% cite getting clients to understand the value and accept the fees, well ahead of finding staff with the right skills (42%).

 

Ref.: Z_BZ27_w1_95x