Today's Features
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

21 Hard-Earned Lessons from Tax Season 2026

And What 20 Years of Data Say Comes Next

By CPA Trendlines Research

There is a ritual to tax season. It begins with anticipation dressed as control.

Practitioners tally the risks — the IRS, the law, the clients who will not deliver on time — and tell themselves this year will be different. Then the season starts. And it isn’t.

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The CPA Trendlines Busy Season Barometer tracks that ritual across waves of surveys from September 2025 through April 2026 with more than 300 respondents.

The data show not a profession in crisis, but a profession under stress. Where pressures no longer arrive one at a time but stack up on each other. Where external shocks have been absorbed, and internal limits have come into view.

Tax season is full of noise, chaos and confusion. But a close look at the Busy Season Barometer from this year – and going back more than 20 years – can cut through the fog for the patterns, trends, insights and, most of all, the tough lessons learned.

Tax season 2026 gives us at least 21 essential takeaways.

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GROWTH STRATEGIES

Eight Strategies for Avoiding Burnout

smiling woman writing notes with pen and paper while other hand is on laptop keyboard

Including action steps and key metrics.

By Jackie Meyer
The Balanced Millionaire: Advisor Edition

Running your own CPA firm can be deeply rewarding. It offers the freedom to choose your clients, financial growth and the ability to create a business aligned with your values. However, the risks of burnout and workaholism are real for CPA firm owners who don’t manage their workload and boundaries intentionally.

MORE by Jackie Meyer
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This guide provides actionable strategies to help you run a successful and balanced CPA practice that works for you – not the other way around.
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CLIENT SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES

When a Graph Made All the Difference

Businessman holding word "success" and upward arrow in hands

A family member gets the credit he’s due.

By Ed Mendlowitz
Call Me Before You Do Anything: The Art of Accounting

I have a client who owns considerable real estate that her son manages. The son actually does a very good job maintaining the property, growing rents and keeping vacancies to a minimum.

MORE by Ed Mendlowitz
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My client’s husband was the builder and driving force behind this mini empire, but he passed on a few years ago. He was a dynamic self-made person who amassed quite a fortune and turned over daily operations to his son about 10 years before he died to spend considerable time golfing and traveling.
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MARKETING & SALES

What Will You Get from Your Marketing? Make Sure You Know

woman holding tablet and smiling, talking to man at trade show

How to maximize three activities.

By August Aquila
MAX: Maximize Productivity, Profitability and Client Retention

I once knew a firm that was spending a significant amount of money on marketing and was experiencing little or no growth. They could not understand what was going wrong. They tried all sorts of marketing activities. They presented webinars, sent out a client newsletter, did some advertising and public relations, and so on.

MORE by August J. Aquila
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The problem was that this firm did not know what to expect from their marketing activities. Sometimes they wanted clients immediately, and when that did not happen, they then tried another marketing activity, never staying with an activity long enough to see results. The moral of the story is that marketing takes time to produce results, and if you are not patient, it can eat up your hard-earned dollars and time.
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LEADERSHIP

Lisa Fitzgerald: Belonging’s No Longer an Option in Accounting | MOVE Like This

Effective leaders create connection, recognizing that human-centered leadership is critical.

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MOVE Like This
With Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk
For CPA Trendlines Research

In this episode of MOVE Like This, Bonnie Ruszczyk is joined by Lisa Fitzgerald, Chief Human Resources Officer at Eide Bailly, for a conversation about talent, leadership, and what it takes to build workplaces where people actually want to stay. With nearly two decades at the firm and a career spanning manufacturing, technology, and professional services, Fitzgerald brings a practical, people-centered lens to some of the profession’s biggest challenges.

MORE MOVE Like This | MORE CPA Trendlines Streaming Network

One issue keeping Fitzgerald up at night is the accelerating impact of AI on the accounting workforce. While Eide Bailly is approaching AI adoption thoughtfully and seeing real productivity gains, Fitzgerald is just as focused on the downstream effects, particularly how the conversation around AI may influence students deciding whether accounting feels like a “safe” career choice. With firms still recovering from talent shortages, she sees a real risk that fear and uncertainty could deter future professionals before they even enter the pipeline. READ MORE →