The 2026 AI in Professional Services Report from ¶¶Òõ³ÉÄê tells a striking story. Sixty-two percent of professionals are using generative AI daily. Thirty-four percent of tax firms are deploying it at an organizational level — up from 21% just a year ago. And yet only 19% of those firms are actually measuring the ROI of their AI tools. More than half aren’t measuring at all, and the remainder have no idea how their firms are measuring AI’s output. The pace of change is accelerating faster than most firms anticipated, and the window for early-mover advantage is closing.

But adoption alone isn’t the headline. The real story is what’s happening inside the firms that have moved from experimentation to transformation.

Leading firms are putting AI to work

Our research shows that just 14% of tax firms say agentic AI is currently part of their workflow, but 80% expect it to be central to how their organization operates within five years. The question for every firm leader is whether they’re building for that future today or planning to catch up later.

At ¶¶Òõ³ÉÄê, we launched in March 2025 — not as a pilot, but as a fully deployed, purpose-built agentic AI platform. In the months since, thousands of firms have embedded it into their daily workflows, and the results are measurable. The CoCounsel solutions include , and — tools that are helping firms transform the way they do tax research, tax preparation and strategic advisory. And users are reaping the benefits — with average time savings of 32% per task. Research that once consumed three to five hours now takes fifteen to thirty minutes. As , Tax Partner at Copeland Buhl, one of the top 20 accounting and advisory firms in the Midwest, puts it: “It’s a super easy way to ask very complicated tax questions from a reliable source… Everybody has said they can’t live without this anymore.â€�

What sets CoCounsel apart is the fiduciary-grade AI it’s built on: drawing from trusted sources including more than 12 million ¶¶Òõ³ÉÄê Checkpoint expert-authored pieces, plus primary sources including IRS, FASB, GASB, AICPA, and IFRS. Every answer is cited, and every output is defensible. That matters in a profession where accuracy is non-negotiable.

, Principal at Virginia-based firm Harris, Hardy & Johnstone, captures what time savings means in practice: “Time is worth more than anything else. Our industry is so choked for time that any minute I get back could mean an extra evening with my wife or a vacation without stress.�

Built for the work — not retrofitted to it

What I hear most often from firm leaders evaluating AI tools is a version of the same concern: how do I know I can trust it? It’s the right question. General-purpose AI can generate plausible-sounding answers. But the high-stakes work tax and audit professionals do day-to-day means they need answers they can stand behind.

, Senior Tax Managing Director at Arizona-based firm Jansen & Company CPAs, tried several AI tools before landing on CoCounsel. His verdict: “It saves us time, but not just time — there’s an accuracy and a confidence element there… CoCounsel shines for deep research. Nobody can touch it.�

AI is no longer a future consideration for tax and audit firms. It’s reshaping the profession now, across firms of every size. At ¶¶Òõ³ÉÄê, we have moved beyond promise to delivery — in CoCounsel Tax & Audit, providing AI technology that is already transforming how high-stakes work gets done.

Elizabeth Beastrom is President, Tax, Audit & Accounting Professionals at ¶¶Òõ³ÉÄê

By explicitly calling out Audit, we’re recognizing and serving customers whose needs go well beyond tax compliance. We’re reinforcing our commitment to building audit-specific products, workflows, and expertise that help firms modernize.

Audit isn’t “extra”—it’s essential

Most firms don’t experience tax, audit, and accounting as separate lanes. They’re connected, year-round workflows that require speed, clarity, and confidence. And in audit, “moving faster” can’t come at the expense of quality. It has to come from better systems: more structured workflows, less manual effort and greater automation.

That’s why audit deserves to be named. Not as a trend—but as a clear, long-term commitment to the customers doing this work every day.

How we’re helping audit teams work smarter and faster

¶¶Òõ³ÉÄê is investing in audit workflow tools and expanding our partner ecosystem so firms can modernize their audit practice with industry-leading AI-powered cloud-based solutions backed by trusted methodology, including:

• : Supports day-to-day audit work by helping teams analyze and review documents, draft workpapers, and keep materials organized in a shared workspace—aimed at making workflows more consistent and reducing time spent on repetitive tasks.

• : Uses automation and AI to speed up transaction analysis, identify items for review, assist with sample selection, and direct attention toward higher-risk areas—so auditors can spend more time on judgment-heavy work.

• : Helps teams complete testing with less manual work by automating the matching of selected samples to supporting evidence and validating whether the expected amounts were collected, while keeping documentation in the workflow.

• Open ecosystem: Integrations that enhance Guided Assurance (Cloud Audit Suite) with —plus a partnership with .

What’s changing—and what isn’t

This is a naming update, not an organizational change. There are no changes to roles or structure tied to this announcement. What is changing is the clarity: audit is an intentional focus. You’ll continue to see that reflected in the products, partnerships, and workflows we bring to market.

The bottom line

Audit deserves to be named—because firms deserve tools that help them modernize with confidence. By adding Audit to our name, we’re making a clear commitment to supporting the profession through rapid change. We’re delivering AI-enabled efficiency, grounded in trusted methodology, backed by an ecosystem built for real audit work.

Elizabeth Beastrom is President of Tax, Audit & Accounting Professionals at ¶¶Òõ³ÉÄê

Tax, Audit and Accounting has always been a profession built on rigor and responsibility. But the reality of running a modern practice is complexity keeps rising, timelines keep tightening, and client expectations keep evolving. Firms are being asked to do more, faster—without compromising quality.

Why this matters for firms

This recognition is not just about a new solution being introduced—it’s about what firms are prioritizing right now. Across the industry, leaders are focused on creating repeatable capacity—not just surviving busy season. They’re prioritizing workflows that are reliable year-round. That means reducing friction in the return process, improving consistency across teams, and ensuring professionals have the time to apply judgment where it matters most.

That’s the lens I bring to . It’s designed to support the parts of the tax return process that can slow teams down, so professionals can stay focused on the work of humans: review, judgment, accountability, and advising clients with confidence.

Restoring time for professional judgment

There’s a lot of discussion about automation and the future of work. What I see in firms today is more practical: talented professionals spending too much time on repetitive steps, and not enough time on review, coaching, and client conversations.

The opportunity here is to shift time back to the professional—so firms can:

• Strengthen quality and consistency
• Improve responsiveness to clients
• And make the work more sustainable for teams

Honorable Mention: Ready to Advise

Accounting Today also gave an Honorable Mention to , which supports tax planning and advisory services.

That matters because once firms create more capacity, the next question is how to use it. Many firms are looking to grow advisory in a way that’s scalable and consistent – grounded in strong workflows and clear client outcomes.

Recognition like this is meaningful for us at ¶¶Òõ³ÉÄê. But it’s even more meaningful because it reflects progress our customers can feel. When firms can rely on their technology to create more capacity and consistency in the work, they can serve clients with greater confidence. They can support their teams through peak demand, and make the practice more sustainable. That’s the kind of win we’re focused on: one that strengthens firms and the professionals who power them.

Elizabeth Beastrom is President, Tax, Audit & Accounting Professionals at ¶¶Òõ³ÉÄê

Ìý

Ready to Review is our new cloud-based, agentic AI tax workflow solution built on CoCounsel. For tax year 2025, it modernizes 1040 tax return preparation. It’s designed to take on the heavy, repetitive work of gathering client documents and preparing returns—so tax professionals can focus on what drew many of us to this profession in the first place: problem solving, critical thinking, and delivering great counsel to clients.Ìý

For too long, firms have been stuck in a pattern that everyone recognizes as unsustainable—ever more complex returns, tighter deadlines, and mounting pressure on teams already stretched thin. Busy season has become synonymous with burnout and staffing strain. AI alone won’t fix that. But AI put to work in the right way—through agentic AI deeply embedded into tax workflows—can fundamentally change the equation.Ìý

A Better Way Through Busy Season

The goal is not to replace professional judgment, but to clear away the manual, time-consuming tasks that prevent professionals from using that judgment to its fullest. Ready to Review gives firms a single, cloud-based, scalable platform that automates the gather and tax prep stages of theÌýworkflow—helping firms manage more individual returns with existing staff whileÌýmaintainingÌýquality and control.Ìý

We’reÌýalready seeing the impact. Indiana-based CLH CPAs & ConsultantsÌýparticipatedÌýin our early adopter program and sawÌýthe potential forÌýtransformative time savings. As Bob Lange, Partner at CLH, told us:Ìý“Reducing return preparation time byÌýapproximately anÌýhour on each simple 1040 is significant in terms of efficiency gains. For firms like ours, these time savings will be a game changer.â€�Ìý

I’veÌýsaid before that I expect firms willÌýultimately pairÌýeach CPA with at least one virtual agent. is a tangible step in that direction. It brings that 1:1 vision closer to reality by embedding Gather and Tax Preparer AI agents directly into the 1040 workflow in a wayÌýthat’sÌýresponsible, auditable, and grounded in trusted ¶¶Òõ³ÉÄê tax content and complianceÌýexpertise.Ìý

The Next Step for 1040 Prep

As solutions like Ready to Review become part of the day-to-day fabric of tax work,Ìýwe’llÌýsee fewer 80-hourÌýweeksÌýand more time spent on the nuanced, client-focused work that truly differentiates firms.ÌýWe’llÌýmake room for new talent who are excited about a career that leans into analysis and advisory rather than pure grind.ÌýÌý

Ready to Review is now generally available in the United States for 1040 use cases, and its launch marks an important milestone in our broader journey with agentic AI on theÌý platform.ÌýIt’sÌýone more wayÌýwe’reÌýhelping firms modernize in a way that is practical, grounded, and built for the realities of tax season.Ìý

Elizabeth Beastrom is President of Tax, Audit & Accounting Professionals at ¶¶Òõ³ÉÄê

At ¶¶Òõ³ÉÄê, our starting point is, and will remain, methodology. For decades, firms have relied on ¶¶Òõ³ÉÄê PPC methodology as the gold standard for audit quality, documentation, and compliance. Our vision for AI in auditing builds on that foundation. We’re not asking firms to change how they practice. We’re focused on making PPC the most AI‑automated audit methodology in the market—through our own products and through deep partnerships with innovators our customers already trust.

That’s the idea behind our recent partnerships with , , , , , and . Together, we’re embedding PPC into AI‑driven tools across We’re supporting AI-powered automation with , so firms can automate more work while staying grounded in the trusted methodology they already rely on.

Trullion: Methodology‑aware automation for financial statement review

Financial statement review is one of the most judgment‑intensive parts of the audit—but many of the underlying procedures are repeatable. Our integration with Trullion brings AI‑native automation to financial statement review and testing, with full traceability back to PPC methodology and the relevant guidance at every step.

Artie Minson, CEO at Trullion, describes the shift: “This partnership signals a new era for audit automation and lays the foundation for trusted and truly agentic workflows. Our vertical AI solution is built for auditors by auditors, ensuring our outputs are within the framework of professional standards. This integration creates methodology-aware automation. Auditors can now focus their time on applying judgment to fully evidenced, agentic outputs, rather than searching for them, delivering audits with unmatched efficiency, accuracy, and quality.”

For us, “methodology‑aware” is key: automation is valuable only when it operates within the same professional framework firms already use to define, document, and support their work.

Audit Sight: Substantive analytics that reduce testing

Substantive testing is another area where firms feel the strain. Even when technology is available, many teams still default to large samples and manual procedures.

As T.C. Whittaker, Co‑Founder and CEO of Audit Sight, puts it: “Audit firms are seeking smarter ways to expand capacity and elevate quality without adding headcount. Bringing automated testing together with ¶¶Òõ³ÉÄê’ PPC methodology — and enabling it through Guided Assurance — is the ultimate unlock for auditors. It transforms the audit plan itself, making it intelligent and dynamic by tailoring procedures, eliminating unnecessary tests, and reducing sample sizes based on automated evidence and client-specific risk. This partnership represents a shared vision to redefine how assurance is delivered in the modern era.”

Crunchafi: Automating lease procedures inside PPC

Lease accounting has become a complex, time‑consuming area for many firms. Too often, teams spend hours on calculations and reconciliations instead of higher‑value work.

By integrating Crunchafi into Guided Assurance, we bring seamless lease accounting automation directly into PPC‑based workflows, eliminating manual lease calculations and providing audit-ready journal entries, amortization schedules and footnote disclosures while preserving firms’ established methodology.

Mike Cooke, CRO atÌýCrunchafi, explains: “Audit teams want efficiency without sacrificing quality. By aligningÌýCrunchafi’s automation with the PPC Methodology, we’re giving firms a clearer, more reliable way to handle lease accounting from the start of the engagement to the final deliverable.”

This is the pattern we’re aiming for: automation that plugs into how firms already work, rather than asking them to start from scratch.

Fieldguide: Empowering Firms with Flexible Paths to Automate PPC Methodology

Many firms also want a more connected environment where methodology, evidence, and automation all live together. Our goal is to meet firms where they are – and give them options.

That is why we’ve partnered with Fieldguide to embed Guided Assurance—which delivers PPC methodology—directly into Fieldguide’s professional‑grade agentic AI platform. This creates a unified experience where trusted PPC content and intelligent automation collaborate to execute engagements efficiently and consistently.

Whether firms choose to automate audits with ¶¶Òõ³ÉÄê or Fieldguide, they can be confident they’re using the most trusted and automated methodology in the profession. This flexibility reflects our commitment to innovation and the unique needs of our customers.

Jin Chang, Co-Founder and CEO of Fieldguide says: “Firms are under pressure to do more with less. They need trusted methodology and AI agents that work the way they do. By embedding ¶¶Òõ³ÉÄê PPC methodology into our platform, we’re helping firms deliver higher quality work with more consistency and less effort. This partnership reflects a shared commitment to the future of the profession.â€�

Validis: Data as the foundation for AI‑driven auditing

AI is only as good as the data behind it. For many firms, getting clean, audit‑ready data from clients is one of the toughest operational challenges.

Through , our work with Validis focuses on solving that. Validis powers secure, on‑demand ingestion of client trial balance, general ledger, and subledger data directly into Audit Intelligence. From there, we use AI and machine learning to focus testing on high‑risk areas, segment populations by risk, and reduce the number of items to be tested, with anomaly detection automatically surfacing unusual items and generating the required documentation.

As Jeff Gramlich, Managing Director at Validis, explains: “We’re excited to collaborate with ¶¶Òõ³ÉÄê, a true market leader and innovator, to deliver audit-ready data through our cutting-edge ingestion capabilities. This partnership provides auditors with the data breadth and granularity crucial for effective AI-driven auditing. By integrating our technology into the Audit Intelligence suite, we’re empowering auditors to conduct data-driven audits with enhanced efficiency and risk analysis, ultimately transforming the process to benefit both auditors and their clients.”

Valid8 Financial: Turning evidence gathering into an automated workflow

Finally, there’s the everyday work of matching samples to evidence and documenting that work in a way that stands up to inspection and peer review. This is some of the most manual and time‑consuming work in an audit.

, developed with Valid8 Financial, automates the matching and documentation of samples to supporting evidence, dynamically tracing accounting transactions to banking activity to confirm occurrence. It brings technology traditionally used in advisory, forensic, and financial crime work into an integrated audit workflow.

Brett Suchor, CEO of Valid8 Financial, says: “We built our technology to solve real problems auditors face every day – reducing the manual, time-consuming work of matching samples to evidence. Through our collaboration with ¶¶Òõ³ÉÄê, we’re delivering a faster, more reliable testing experience to audit professionals across the industry.”

The future of Audit

In the next 3-5 years, we’re going to see big changes to the audit profession. Audit is moving decisively toward an automated, data-driven future. Using the right tools to increase efficiency and quality so teams can focus on higher risk areas and deliver better outcomes for clients is paramount.

In today’s environment, firms are being asked to do more with less, navigating tighter deadlines, increasing complexity, and growing client expectations. At ¶¶Òõ³ÉÄê, we are bringing auditors advanced audit technologies, with ourÌýnewest audit solutionsÌýincreasing efficiency and accuracy.

We’ll keep investing in our own AI capabilities and in this partner ecosystem so firms can modernize at their own pace, on their own terms—without walking away from the methodology that has served them well for decades.

This post was authored by Dave Wyle, General Manager of Audit at ¶¶Òõ³ÉÄê.