KPMG firms rank AI and technology change among top five-year issues
AI change management now tops CPA firms’ five-year list, with technology issues rising in five of six size groups. KPMG’s audit, tax and advisory teams are already feeling the shift.
Technology change management, including the rise of AI, ranked as the top five-year issue facing CPA firms in a 629-response AICPA survey of practices from sole practitioners to firms with more than 500 professionals. KPMG audit, tax and advisory teams are already adjusting staffing, training and workflow design around new tools.
The AICPA’s 2026 PCPS CPA Firm Top Issues Survey was conducted online from April 20 to May 22, 2026, and organized responses into six firm-size groups. Across that breakdown, change management due to technology and AI ranked No. 1 in the five-year outlook. Technology-related issues also moved up sharply from two years ago, landing in the top two among five of the six firm-size categories, with only the smallest firms not following the same pattern as closely.
Current priorities still varied by firm size. Solo practitioners and firms with two to 10 professionals both put managing tax law complexity at the top of their current concerns. Firms with 11 to 30 professionals ranked hiring experienced staff first, and that group made up almost a third of respondents. Larger firms also kept workload management, staff development and hiring experienced people near the top of the list, even as tech adoption and AI moved higher.
Lisa Simpson, the AICPA’s vice president of firm services, linked the results to transformation in technology, people skills and operating models and called accounting a people business.
On May 11, 2026, KPMG projected that 93% of U.S. companies will be deploying or scaling AI in finance functions over the next 18 months, and that half already plan to orchestrate or develop multi-agent AI systems across workflows. Christian Peo, KPMG’s vice chair of audit and assurance, called the shift from adoption to orchestration an operational reality, while Thomas Mackenzie, KPMG US and global audit chief digital officer, called practical training key.
On June 9, 2026, KPMG and Microsoft expanded their global relationship to help clients deploy AI at scale, including Microsoft Agent 365 for KPMG’s Trusted AI framework and Microsoft 365 Copilot across KPMG’s global workforce.
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