8 Accounting Trends That Will Redefine the Role of Finance in 2026

The accounting profession is in the middle of a major shift. New technology, changing expectations from leadership, and a shrinking talent pool are reshaping what it means to work in finance, whether you’re closing the books each month or advising the CEO on growth strategy.

To understand what’s coming in 2026, we spoke with Ken Christiansen, Founder and CEO of augeoBPM, Inc., a Salesforce partner with accounting expertise that has been working with Accounting Seed since 2012. His firm provides hands-on controller and consulting services for small to mid-market companies, giving him a front-row seat to how finance teams are adapting to new tools and expectations.

Here are the trends finance professionals should be watching as they plan for the year ahead.

1. Accountants will use AI as a daily tool (and work to improve their prompting skills)

AI is no longer an experiment confined to tech-forward companies. According to a Goldman Sachs survey, 68% of small businesses are already using AI, with another 9% planning to adopt it within the next year.

But AI adoption alone carries little weight without evidence that it’s adding value. One study found 63% of finance leaders have deployed AI solutions in some form, yet only 21% are seeing measurable ROI. That gap is pushing CFOs to be more deliberate about where and how they use these tools.

“I’m using ChatGPT because once I mention the software I’m working in, it can dive into all the knowledge articles and give me tremendous detail with lots of nuance about the various features of the system,” Christiansen says. “It’s really quite amazing what it’s able to do.”

His controllers are paying for advanced versions of AI tools and learning how to craft better queries. “Some of them have learned better how to prompt the AI to get what they’re looking for,” he adds. “Took me a while to realize that once I got an answer, not to be satisfied with that, but to tell it to go deeper and give me more.”

2. Manual data entry will give way to strategic judgment

The volume of manual data entry that once defined accounting work is shrinking fast. AP and AR automation, in particular, are reducing the repetitive tasks that used to consume hours each week.

“There’s a lot fewer keystrokes,” Christiansen says. For his team of controllers and consultants, the work has shifted accordingly. “Our role becomes much more of configuration—getting everything set up and trained properly so it works as intended.”

This shift has implications for job security. Christiansen recalls warning his team over a decade ago that data entry alone wouldn’t protect their roles. At the time, it felt premature—manual work remained a significant part of the job. But that’s changing. “Now it truly isn’t about keystrokes anymore,” he said.

What replaces it? Judgment. Accountants will increasingly be called on to interpret data, flag issues, and advise on decisions, not just record transactions. “You’re going to be relied on to make judgment calls, qualitative calls,” Christiansen said, “and not perform repetitive entries.”

3. Accountants will be called into decisions across the organization

Finance used to operate in a silo. That’s changing. Christiansen has noticed that other departments—especially IT—are now consulting accounting before making changes, rather than after.

“Other departments are planning changes and they’re coming to accounting first to say, ‘Will this work?'” he said. “Rather than finding out when a hundred bad entries migrate through, and you realize, ‘Oh, there’s been an upgrade and nobody talked to us about it because they didn’t realize it has an impact on accounting.'”

This shift reflects a broader trend: finance will increasingly serve as a resource for the entire organization, not just a back-office function. “I think the accounting team becomes a resource to people in other areas because we understand the data structure,” Christiansen said.

4. Accountants will need new skills to stay relevant

Traditional accounting expertise isn’t enough anymore, and nearly 40% of CFOs are investing in specialized training programs to bridge skill gaps. Another 35% are open to hiring candidates from outside the typical accounting background—think data science or IT—and 28% are pulling talent from other departments entirely.

Christiansen recommends that newer accountants get their CPA if they want to move into higher-level roles. “Entry level accounting roles will require specific skill sets and certifications,” he said. “Being an accountant today requires both accounting and software technical skills”.

He also emphasizes the importance of understanding how data flows through systems—what he calls “process.” On flexible platforms like Salesforce, consistently rated the top CRM, users have a lot of freedom to create and modify records. Without a clear understanding of how those records connect and what downstream effects a change might trigger, it’s easy to create problems. “People who don’t have a strong process orientation have difficulty on this platform,” Christiansen said. “The system provides great flexibility but you may overlook steps if you lack a good grasp of the end to end process”.

5. Finance teams will compete harder for talent (and rethink how they hire)

The accounting profession is facing a demographic squeeze. Research indicates that three-quarters of today’s accounting professionals could retire within 15 years. Meanwhile, the number of new CPA exam candidates has dropped 27% over the past decade.

For SMBs that already struggle to compete with larger firms for top talent, this will require new approaches to hiring and team development. In one survey, three in five small business owners said they were affected by labor shortages in 2025.

Christiansen has felt this pressure when hiring for his own firm, though he’s found that specializing in a well-known platform helps. “I’m attracting stronger candidates now—partially because we’re more established as a company, but also because people want experience working on Salesforce,” he said.

His advice for those entering the field: be intentional about building specific skills. The days of vague, generalist roles are ending. “Those entry level jobs to be a general office person are in decline,” he said. “If you want to be a bookkeeper, take some accounting classes. Learn how data migrates through the system, and the related accounting controls.”

6. Accountants will need quality data to be seen as high performers

As automation takes over routine tasks, the focus will shift to the quality of the data itself. Christiansen sees this as one of the most significant changes in the profession.

“It used to be that accounting was viewed quantitativey—how much work can you get done?” he said. “Now it’s more about building quality into the process, evaluating the quality of the data. That means data analytics, learning how to spot deviations and trends.”

This is backed by broader research. Nearly 40% of CFOs don’t completely trust their organization’s financial data, and 50% of senior finance professionals lack full confidence in the numbers they work with daily. And it’s estimated the average business loses $15 million every year to bad data.

7. Finance teams will be expected to deliver real-time visibility

Leadership expectations are shifting. It’s no longer enough to deliver accurate financials at the end of the month—executives want to know where the business stands at any given moment. Real-time visibility into cash flow, receivables, and expenses is becoming the baseline expectation.

For accountants, this changes the job. Less time generating reports, more time interpreting them. Less time reconciling data between disconnected systems, more time advising on what the numbers mean for the business.

Christiansen sees this shift accelerating as more companies move their financial data onto the same platform as their sales and operations data. When everything lives in one place, accountants aren’t stuck chasing down discrepancies between systems—they can focus on helping leadership make decisions. “The accounting team becomes a resource to people in other areas because we live downstream from them and inherit their data,” he said. “They see the connectedness and have learned to collaborate before making changes”.

8. Preparing for a year of more change

The accounting profession is moving toward a model where technology handles the routine and humans handle the judgment calls. For finance professionals at every level, that means building new skills, understanding the systems they work in, and stepping into advisory roles that would have seemed unlikely a decade ago.

“I think there’s room for accountants to have a broader strategic impact,” Christiansen said. “In this data driven environment, a knowledgeable and tech savvy accountant will find many growth opportunities both in and outside the accounting department”.

His closing advice is tangible and pragmatic: get out of the office, understand the business, and don’t rely on keystrokes to keep you employed. “Viewing the workplace through the lens of accounting can expose waste, mismanagement, and inefficiency. That’s what you’re trained to see.”

Accounting Seed is a cloud-based accounting platform built on Salesforce that helps finance teams work more efficiently with automation tools for AP, AR, and financial reporting. To learn more, request a demo.