Accounting firms are facing a talent shortage, yet they’re hiring fewer people. Firms say they want to shift to advisory services, yet they’re doing less of it. They’re increasing tech investment, yet may struggle with implementation.
Accounting Today’s “The Year Ahead” Survey revealed some interesting stats from 291 firms who weighed in on their expectations for 2025. While the survey dug into several topics, here are my observations on three of them.
1. Remote work reversal
Remote work policies remain a hot topic in the accounting profession, with many firms moving toward hybrid or fully in-office environments. While there was only a modest shift (4%) away from fully remote arrangements during 2024, it was surprising to see the 10% drop in firms willing to hire fully remote employees moving forward (48% in 2023 vs. 38% in 2024). It seems there’s a growing resistance to remote hiring, even as firms continue to struggle with talent acquisition; more on that below.
What’s missing from the study is whether respondents considered an outsourcing or offshoring element when reporting on their willingness to hire remotely. If they weren’t—and are just as willing to outsource/offshore in 2025 as they were in 2024—it could partially explain why firms are projecting to hire half as many new employees in 2025 as they did in 2024. Many larger firms already rely on offshore and outsourced teams to handle compliance work, so their reluctance to hire remote US employees may not extend to international staffing models.
As someone who leads a fully remote, globally distributed team, I’ve seen firsthand the advantages and challenges of this model. Expanding beyond a geographic hiring pool allows us to find fantastic people who have shined when simultaneously given autonomy and held to clear expectations. But there are also inherent hurdles—culture-building and training new hires require significant intentionality.
The key is setting up your firm’s workforce for success and aligning incentives to desired end goals … much as it always has been. I’m interested to watch as more firms embrace return-to-office scenarios or only hire in-office staff, and if firms that have the infrastructure for remote teams struggle to hire as much as those firms.
2. Firms are doubling down on technology, especially AI
Technology investment remains a top priority for firms, with 60% planning to increase their budgets for this in 2025 (up from 50% in previous years). The largest expected increase is in AI/machine learning, followed by automation and digital workflow. This makes sense, because AI is the “loudest” area of innovation in the accounting world right now. It’s also the area with the most room for firms to implement structures that are not yet in place.
Rather than being overly concerned about the cost of tech investment, I’m encouraged to see firms continuing to lean into process automation and beginning to embrace AI in tangible ways. The key to success, though, isn’t just in adopting new tools; it’s in solid process mapping before implementation.
Any new system rollout comes with inevitable hiccups, and without proper preparation, response planning, and commitment to a clear timeline, firms risk falling short of full adoption and missing out on the value these tools can provide. Organizations that plan well and champion adoption, without getting stonewalled by obstacles, will see the biggest gains from their investments in AI and automation.
Coincidentally (or not), this also aligns with the expected hiring slowdown, particularly among larger firms, which expect to bring on half as many new hires in 2025 compared to 2024. It’s possible that expected AI-driven efficiencies are playing a role in this shift. Firms that define, and then lean into, the distinct roles played by their human team, versus their tech stack, will be the ones that “win the day.”
3. Advisory services: Why firms aren’t moving as fast as expected
A very interesting comment from the study was “Firms aren’t moving to advisory to the degree they had expected to.” In 2024, firms actually spent less time on advisory services than they did in 2023, despite plans to do the opposite.
There are likely many factors at play here, but I’ll highlight two:
- Delivering advisory services requires a different skill set than traditional compliance work, and it can be difficult to scale this offering, apart from adding more team members with the requisite skill set. Advisory is nebulous, and different folks mean different things when offering it. Services range from financial planning and analysis, fractional CFO work, and business consulting, to just being relational with clients. Generally, advisory work demands a mix of high emotional intelligence, critical thinking, and technical expertise, and often overlaps with tax strategy, legal considerations, deal structure, and more. Despite rapid advancement, we’ve still not arrived at the point where AI agents can replace an advisor, although they can elevate and be used to upskill team members more and more. The truth is that these are not easy roles to fill, and turnover in these positions can disrupt service delivery far more than replacing a traditional accounting manager role.
- Many firms are still clarifying what an “advisory services” offering actually looks like. Unlike compliance work, which is typically more consistent and easier to standardize, advisory can be highly customized, and leaders may be exercising new muscles in recent years as they build this out.
Firms will continue prioritizing advisory services, but those that don’t put the right people in the right seats to deliver and systematize it—just like their compliance offerings—will likely keep struggling with its rollout. The firms who have done this well are shining right now. Both a sole proprietor and a $5MM+ firm can build valuable offerings like this.
Where will we be one year from now?
As 2025 unfolds, we’ll see how much reality ultimately matches the expectations given here. It will be especially interesting to see the 2026 survey, and observe if firms really did adopt as much in the way of AI/automation, or if they were able to cleanly implement advisory offerings. Firms that make deliberate, well-planned moves will be the ones who meet or exceed their expectations.
