The past year confronted clients and advisors alike with heightened uncertainty and rapidly shifting macroeconomic conditions, making it more challenging for professionals to meet rising expectations for service, insight and responsiveness.
As technology, regulation and client expectations evolve in 2026, accounting, tax and wealth management firms will transform into modern, relationship-based practices. Advisor services have advanced in tandem with AI, and as generative and agentic AI tools become embedded in professional workflows, firms are unlocking new levels of personalization, automation and decision intelligence.
AI is moving from experimentation into production environments, all while talent shortages continue to constrain growth as firms rethink how to stay competitive. For wealth advisors with tax and accounting services, the year ahead will require balancing innovation with risk management while modernizing the client experience to deliver greater value, deepen engagement, and drive measurable growth.
Hyper-personalization and AI
AI is transitioning beyond pilot programs into core workflows, enhancing front- and back-office functions alike to support more personalized, high-impact client interactions. Firms seeking to modernize the client experience will increasingly rely on real-time data and predictive analytics to provide tailored services.
As investments in technology grow, client expectations will shift as a result. Clients will demand transparent, relevant insights delivered through seamless digital experiences. AI-enabled tools can support personalized communications across preferred channels, whether email, phone or social platforms. For a modern advisor, shifting between channels often requires rapid adjustments in tone and messaging, which is an area where AI can provide real-time assistance.
In 2026, advisors will continue to leverage AI to automate administrative tasks, improve advisory interactions and surface the right insights at the right moment, all without replacing human judgment. The combination of professional expertise and AI will elevate hyper-personalization, resulting in advice that feels truly individualized rather than broadly segmented. In turn, relationship-based advising will become even more central, with human judgment emerging as a critical competitive differentiator.
Talent pressures
While investing in the right tools is essential, it's only part of the modernization challenge for wealth, tax and accounting practices. Even as AI adoption accelerates, firms face a persistent skills shortage with analytics, data fluency and familiarity with other emerging technologies.
To close these gaps, firms will need to prioritize upskilling, with a focus on data interpretation, AI governance literacy and consultative capabilities. Wealth advisors with accounting and tax practices must also expand their understanding of alternative investments, including digital assets, private equity and real estate, to meet increasingly diverse client needs.
Leading firms will emphasize continuous learning and cross-functional collaboration, ensuring tech investments translate into real value. AI-powered enablement tools help professionals access short, on-demand training moments that fit into their daily workflow, equipping teams with the skills and context they need exactly when they need it. When clients raise concerns about market volatility or geopolitical developments, AI-powered tools help advisors quickly access relevant context and respond with confidence and timeliness.
At the same time, specialized roles such as data scientists or AI operations specialists will become more common across finance and accounting organizations. Hiring strategies will evolve accordingly, emphasizing a balanced mix of technical expertise and client-facing skills that define the advisory profession of the future. By pairing data intelligence with human judgment, firms will be better positioned to build deeper relationships and deliver more frequent, personalized engagement.
Entering the partnership era
From Citi Wealth's partnership with BlackRock to Morgan Stanley's collaboration with OpenAI, 2025 saw billions of dollars committed to strategic alliances, underscoring the value of combining financial expertise with advanced technology. As a result, 2026 will spur an evolution from "disruption" to "co-evolution," with partnerships accelerating innovation and expanding market access without requiring full in-house development.
Joint solutions will expand access to more holistic, data-rich services that enhance operational efficiency and strengthen engagement. Firms will no longer need to choose between generic third-party tools and internally built systems. Instead, emerging partnerships will support specialized models and large language models trained on proprietary knowledge, seamlessly integrated into existing platforms and workflows.
Firms that pull ahead in 2026 will lean into an ecosystem mindset, recognizing collaboration as a source of competitive advantage. For accountants and tax professionals, this approach expands access to tools and expertise needed to manage complexity, serve clients more effectively, and maintain compliance in an evolving regulatory environment.
As firms prepare for the year ahead, the combination of the right technology, targeted training and strategic partnerships will distinguish those positioned for growth from those constrained by siloed, legacy systems.
Preparing for the pivot
Technology, talent and partnerships will define the next era of accounting and financial services. Firms that thrive will be those that embrace AI responsibly, invest in skills that match the pace of innovation, and build collaborative partner ecosystems to support better client outcomes.
In an environment defined by complexity and change, the firms that succeed will treat modernization not as a one-time initiative, but as a sustained commitment to adaptability, trust and long-term client value.
