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

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.

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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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Wasserman: Have Better Money Conversations | Holistic Guide to Wealth Management

These delicate dialogues need structure, not spontaneity.

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By Rory Henry CFP®, BFA™
For CPA Trendlines

Money is one of the things that people think about most. Yet, most people aren’t comfortable discussing it openly.

In a new episode of Holistic Guide to Wealth Management, we sit down with Erika Wasserman, CFT, a certified financial therapist, keynote speaker, and author of “Conversations with Your Financial Therapist: Stories and Scripts to Grow Your Money Mindset,” to talk about why money conversations about are so often avoided and how advisors, families, and individuals can begin to change that dynamic. 

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Wasserman’s journey into financial therapy was shaped by personal experience. She grew up in a rare household where talking about money was normal. She earned a degree in finance from the University of Florida and began her career consulting with IBM. Over time, major life transitions, including international moves, marriage, divorce, and raising three children, have deepened her understanding of how financial decisions intersect with emotions, identity, and relationships. 

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Student Loans After OBBBA: What Advisors Need to Know Now | Holistic Guide to Wealth Management

New repayment rules and borrowing caps are forcing a rethink of long-term planning.

Originally published Oct. 2025
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By Rory Henry CFP®, BFA™
For CPA Trendlines

Student loan debt has quietly outgrown its stereotype.

What was once viewed as a challenge for early-career professionals is now showing up in family balance sheets, tax returns, and retirement plans. Parents nearing retirement—and retirees themselves—are increasingly carrying education debt, often on behalf of their children. For CPAs and financial advisors, student loans are no longer a niche planning issue. They’re a multigenerational one.

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With more than $1.8 trillion in federal student loan debt spread across 42.5 million borrowers, the scale alone demands attention. But it’s the shifting who—not just the how much—that makes this moment critical for advisors.

That shift is the focus of this episode of Holistic Guide to Wealth Management, featuring Alex Bottom, CEO of Finology, and Ryan Galiotto, CFP®, CSLP®, founder of the Student Loan Help Network. Their conversation unpacks how legislation, demographics, and delayed life milestones are reshaping student loan planning—and why advisors can’t afford to sit this one out.

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Leesley: Your Clients Will Pay More | Gear Up For Growth

Here’s how to label, package, and price the value you already provide.

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Gear Up for Growth
With Jean Caragher
For CPA Trendlines

“With AI, we finally have the tools to free up time for advisory, and clients are asking for it,” says Megan Leesley, director of tax at Dark Horse CPAs, during her appearance on Gear Up for Growth, hosted by Jean Caragher of Capstone Marketing.

“They want more than a tax return. They want strategic guidance, and they’re willing to pay for it.” 

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Leesley, a member of the Intuit Tax Council, recently presented at DCPA25 on transitioning from compliance to advisory, sharing practical steps to transform a traditional tax practice while increasing revenue, improving client relationships, and enhancing work-life balance. 

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Woodard: Move Past Reports; Deliver Results | The Disruptors

Dashboards and statements aren’t enough—accountants must help clients turn data into action.

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Not Your Headcount

The Disruptors
With Liz Farr

Joe Woodard sees a disconnect between what accountants think they’re selling and what clients want to buy. Many accountants still believe they are selling time, but as Woodard points out with a vivid analogy, that’s not what clients care about.

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MORE STREAMING: Baker: Find True Purpose to End BurnoutBrolin: The W.I.N. Leadership FormulaGertrudes: How EOS & “Unreasonable Hospitality” Reshaped GrowthLab | Vilms: The Power of People in a Tech-Driven World | Dickerson: From Diagnosis to Disruption | Kapilovich: Treat People Like People | Martha Yasso: From Wall Street to Main Street | Jackie Meyer: Tax Plans in 90 Seconds? Believe It Erica Goode: Build a $200K Firm in 15hrs/WeekRandy Crabtree: Live at the Intersection of Passion & Skill |McClelland and Telka: Women Ready to Rewrite the Rules of Accounting | Jacob Schroeder: AI Won’t Replace Accountants—But It Will Reveal Who’s ReplaceableDitching Corporate America: The Bold Story Behind PBS Accounting’s Rapid Rise | Jean Zick: Happy Team = Happy Clients | Breslin & Greathead: Be a Client AdvocateDominic Piscopo: Clear Pay=Bargaining PowerDebbie Kilsheimer: Stop Thinking Small |

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“If I’m going into CVS and I need Tums,” he explains, imagine if CVS charged you more because “I hung around in their store for twice as long to buy the Tums as I needed to, I took a circuitous path. Maybe I looked at some of the kids’ toys for an upcoming birthday party where they’re going to charge me twice as much for the Tums.”

This absurd scenario mirrors what accounting firms do to clients when the cost of delivering the service depends on the time it takes to do the work, so “the value of the product changes based on some arbitrary time metric,” Woodard says. “As long as that’s the case, there’s always going to be a resistance to the billing for selling the wrong product.”

However, even among firms that have adopted value pricing, a disconnect remains because the focus is on deliverables rather than outcomes.

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