人工智能对会计服务业的影响越来越大

Accounting ServicesWilliam Blair’s Second Annual Please refer to important disclosures on pages 28 and 29. Analyst certification is on page 28.William Blair or an affiliate does and seeks to do business with companies covered in its research reports. As aresult, investors should be aware that the firm may have a conflict of interest that could affect the objectivity of thisreport. This report is not intended to provide personal investment advice. The opinions and recommendations here- Executive Summary...........................................................................................................3Respondent Profile and Methodology..............................................................................4Organic Revenue Growth...................................................................................................5Price Realization..............................................................................................................10 The accounting services industry is massive but, with limited exceptions (e.g., CBIZ and Andersen),almost entirely privately held. There are thus limited publicly available data points on the industryto help inform investors, companies, and other industry stakeholders as to the key trends impact-ing the industry on both a short- and medium-term basis. With this in mind, and in partnershipwith Winding River Consulting, we conducted our second annual survey of accounting servicesexecutives (78% of respondents are the top executive at their respective firm [e.g., president, CEO,or managing partner], with an additional 20% of respondents in some other executive manage- •Organic Revenue Growth.We estimate organic revenue growth across the group was 7.3%in 2025. Adjusting for firm size (e.g., giving more weight to larger firms’ growth rate) to betterreflect the total industry growth rate during the period, we estimate organic revenue growth of 5.1% in 2025, a modest deceleration from 6.7% in 2024. Looking ahead to 2026, surveyrespondents expect organic revenue growth of 8.3%, or 7.3% adjusted for firm size. Consult-ing, client accounting services (CAS), and tax are expected to be the primary drivers of growth •Price Realization.We estimate realized price increases of 4.6% across the group in 2025,though the largest firms’ price realization was notably softer (+2.9%). In the aggregate, re-spondents expect similar increases in 2026 (+4.4%) and over the next 3-5 years (+4.5%). •Talent Environment & Compensation.Talent attraction and retention were relatively stablein 2025 after pressures eased significantly in 2024 compared to the tight labor market expe-rienced over the preceding two- to three-year period. Executives still expect compensation •Artificial Intelligence & Automation.Accounting services firms are actively assessing theimpact of AI on their businesses; nearly two-thirds of respondents have seen targeted deploy-ment of tools at their firm. On average, respondents view AI as more of an opportunity than athreat, with the potential to improve productivity, narrow staffing pyramids, and expand mar- •Non-U.S. Labor.We continue to believe there is a long runway for increased usage of non-U.S.labor going forward, and survey respondents seem to agree; around 70% of respondents ex- •M&A.M&A remains a key growth strategy for the majority of firms in our population, thoughthe increased prevalence of private equity and higher multiples appear to have priced some Consistent with our inaugural survey in January 2025 (Accounting Services: William Blair’s InauguralExecutive Survey), our second annual accounting services survey anonymously polled industry execu-tives across a wide array of firm sizes and capabilities. Especially important to the value and signals ofthe survey, in our view, is its focus on top decision-makers across the accounting services landscape;on this point, 78% of the 45 survey respondents are the top executive at their respective firm (e.g., As shown in the exhibit below, our respondents ranged from firms with under $10 million in rev- enue all the way up to some of the U.S.’s largest CPA firms with over $500 million in revenue. Whilethese firms are sure to have vastly varied capabilities and internal investment ability, most offerthe same core services to their clients, namely audit, tax, advisory, and client accounting services(CAS). Some firms also offer tangential services, such as wealth management, cybersecurity ad-visory, litigation support, and certain HR capabilities (e.g., payroll), but these offerings are lessstandardized across the industry. Of the 45 respondents, it is worth noting that eight (18%) indi-cated that they have received financial backing from external capital (e.g., private equity), a rapidly trends, including organic revenue growth, pricing, the talent environment (including compensa-tion), technology (including AI adoption), the use of non-U.S. labor, and M&A, with insights on botha backward-loo