the answers track firm size and practice focus.
by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research
across the profession, accountants heading into the 2026 busy season are not sounding alarms, nor are they celebrating breakthroughs. instead, they are settling into a steady, almost restrained confidence.
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more tax, pricing, and the 2026 outlook
the latest busy season barometer reveals that firms’ sense of readiness bears a striking resemblance to where they stood a year ago. for some, this signals resilience. for others, it signals stagnation. the portrait that emerges is a profession caught between incremental improvements and persistent operational friction.
in aggregate, 44% of firms describe themselves as feeling “about the same” as last year. one-third say they are “somewhat more ready” or “totally ready,” while nearly one-fifth believe they are entering the season “less ready” than at this time in 2025. beneath these averages lie pronounced differences in firm size, workflow structure, business model and staffing stability. together, those factors explain why readiness is not evenly distributed and why some firms feel poised for a smoother season while others brace for familiar headaches.
but readiness is not about effort. it’s about finished. firms that feel ready are no longer talking about change—they’re talking about use. firms that feel less ready are still trying to get systems across the line.
the professionals on the front lines bear witness to the truth.
- “we are changing tax software from desktop to online,” says jonathan w. kaplow at kaplow cpas in houston.
- d’angelo & easton, a three-office firm in pennsylvania, “bought a small practice to avoid so much onboarding with new clients,” reports john d’angelo. in addition, the firm is increasing its minimum fees and implementing artificial intelligence.
- at gehring & farrwood in pullman, wash., tim gehring says that the firm has hired additional staff and implemented new software.
- jim sosinski at koenig cpas in clark, n.j., is “splitting clients into two groups, with easier returns getting an earlier data-submission due date.”
- in troy, mich., derrick winke will be more selective about taking on new clients and enforcing client deadlines and engagement letters.
- ryan parent at bhcb cpas reports that the two-office connecticut firm is turning to offshore staffing and “leveraging technology to move away from manual, labor-heavy processes.”
readiness is shaped most visibly by firm size.
solo practitioners and firms with two to ten employees exhibit more volatility, reporting both the highest enthusiasm and the highest apprehension. by contrast, firms with more than 25 professionals express a more stable outlook, reflecting greater depth in staffing, more refined processes and better leverage of support systems. larger practices often enter busy season with established calendars, documented workflows and predictable client cycles. smaller firms, by comparison, absorb uncertainty directly: staff absences, late client documents, and compressed review cycles matter more when the entire practice fits around a single conference table.
this pattern underscores the structural advantages enjoyed by larger organizations. more staff and more defined processes appear to translate into steadier confidence. yet size does not guarantee comfort. several midsized firms note that their systems are sound, but their capacity remains fragile, especially as client counts grow faster than available labor.
tax-heavy firms feel the most pressure
revenue model, however, may play an even stronger role in shaping readiness than size.
firms deriving most of their revenue from tax preparation tend to feel more exposed heading into high season. their optimism rises or falls with client discipline, document timing and staff sufficiency—variables over which they exert only partial control. by contrast, firms with meaningful recurring revenue from bookkeeping or client advisory services report greater stability. their work is spread across the year, making busy season an amplification of existing workflows rather than a sudden surge.
the contrast is striking. bookkeeping and advisory models not only smooth capacity demands but also produce steadier client communication and more usable real-time data. several respondents noted that year-round interaction with clients has helped reduce backlogs and surprises, increasing confidence heading into filing deadlines.
pricing power also appears to correlate with readiness.
firms reporting higher annual revenue per client and stronger fee structures are more likely to describe themselves as prepared. this connection is not surprising. firms with more revenue per relationship can invest more in processes, staff and technology. by contrast, practitioners serving large volumes of lower-fee clients report feeling more vulnerable to bottlenecks.
workload shape matters at least as much as workload quantity. some respondents with relatively modest client lists nevertheless describe feeling overwhelmed because most of their work arrives in a tightly compressed window. others, managing significantly larger books, express calm because their workflows are distributed and their systems reinforce consistency.
technology posture adds another layer to the readiness gap. firms planning to upgrade or expand their workflows during the coming year consistently express greater optimism than firms sticking with their current tools. those describing themselves as “more ready” frequently mention improvements in portals, better task tracking, stronger communication channels and experiments with automation.
the ‘less ready.’
those reporting themselves “less ready” tend to cite the opposite: insufficient automation, manual workarounds, undertrained staff or a lack of integration. “trying to get everyone on the same page” appears more often in the less-ready segment, while comments such as “improving processes” and “using more features of existing software” appear more often among the confident.
these differences in attitude mirror differences in capability. technology investments create not only better systems but also the belief that those systems will carry the firm when the calendar tightens.
a final factor shaping readiness is the level of client conditioning. firms that report smoother cycles with document gathering, portal usage, and deadline compliance are more likely to feel prepared. the opposite also holds: where clients are unresponsive, late or inconsistent, firms enter busy season on uncertain footing. readiness, in this sense, is a shared responsibility.
the data suggest that the 2026 busy season will feel familiar for most firms. but within the averages lie meaningful distinctions.
firms that are larger, better priced, more automated or more diversified tend to see the season as manageable. firms that remain heavily tax-dependent, manually oriented or capacity-constrained tend to foresee challenges. the gap between these groups offers not only a snapshot of the profession but also a roadmap for firms seeking greater stability and growth.
those firms that feel ready have not reached that point accidentally. they have invested in processes, client engagement and systems that absorb rather than amplify seasonal pressure. ultimately, readiness is not solely about how firms feel before the filing season opens. it is about the structures they built in the eleven months before it.