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Advisory services have long been positioned as the future of accounting. For many firms, it has remained more of an aspiration than a fully executed strategy.

In this episode, Rob Brown and Chelsea Summers break down what is actually happening inside firms today. Drawing on IPA data and ongoing conversations with firm leaders, they explore whether advisory is truly taking hold or still largely conceptual.

The data shows meaningful movement. Advisory now represents roughly one-third of firm revenue across IPA firms. That signals a real shift away from a purely compliance-driven model.

But the more important question is why this shift is happening now.

Several forces are converging:

1. Client expectations are changing, with businesses looking for guidance, not just reporting
2. Technology is automating compliance work, limiting its growth potential
3. Talent expectations are shifting, with professionals seeking more consultative and client-facing roles

At the same time, advisory is not something firms can simply layer on.

It requires changes across the firm, such as:

1. Pricing models
2. Training and skill development
3. Leadership alignment
4. Success measurements

It also requires a different mindset. One focused on insights and outcomes, not just efficiency and utilization.

Looking ahead, the conversation highlights a broader transition. The past decade was about recognizing advisory as an opportunity. The next decade will be about scaling it.

Firms that invest in leadership, client relationships and specialized expertise are more likely to succeed. Others may continue to struggle to move beyond compliance.

Welcome back, you wonderful audience, to the Inside Public Accounting Podcast. I'm Rob Brown.

And I'm Chelsea Summers, Executive Director of Inside Public Accounting. Today we're talking about something that almost every firm leader mentions when we ask about the future of their firm. It's advisory services. For years, advisory has been framed as the next stage of the profession. Firms talk about it in their strategy meetings. It shows up at a lot of conference presentations. It's part of nearly every growth conversation inside of a firm.

Yeah,

I'm Chelsea. This is an international show. have an international audience. You're over there in the US I'm here in the UK, but this is everywhere right now. This is the conversation here. It's the conversation in most accounting firms. There's a downward pressure on compliance fees and the world is changing. So, you'll know if you go to any accounting conference, our audience will know to advisory is one of the hot topics on the agenda, but I don't know about you. Sometimes it feels like

This is one of those concepts, these ideas that everyone agrees with, everyone agrees it's the way forward, but then struggles to actually implement.

Yeah, I think that's right. And that's really the question that we want to explore today. Are firms actually shifting towards advisory or are they mostly just talking about it?

And this is where

Inside Public Accounting is amazing, Chelsea, because you have the narratives behind the numbers. So you bring the stories and the facts to life. So when you look at the IPA data and all the research surveys that you do, what exactly does it tell us? Are firms truly moving in that direction for advisory?

So the data shows us that something important is happening. But I think what's interesting, more than the numbers themselves, is why the shift is happening right now and what that could mean for the future of accounting firms. Because the move toward advisory isn't just adding a new service line. In a lot of ways, it's a broader change in how firms create value for their clients.

So it's a signal as we say, it's indicating change. And for a long time, advisories felt like one of those ideas that everyone agrees with. All accountants want to be that trusted advisor, but in theory, they're struggling to execute and price it and package it and deliver it. All of these things are in play.

Yeah, if you go back 10 or 15 years, advisory was something firms talked about as an aspiration for their firm. But the core business model of most firms still revolved around tax compliance and assurance work.

But that's,

it's not dead, is it? That kind of work. We're still seeing that.

Yeah, what we're seeing now is different. Advisory is not just a future concept, it's becoming an operating strategy for firms. The data shows that advisory has grown significantly over the past several years. Across all of our firms, advisory now represents a third of total revenue, which is really a meaningful shift compared to where firms were a decade ago, where it was substantially less than that.

A third seems

like a huge amount and it's only going to get bigger I guess. Tell us what's driving the changes in these firms.

I think the first major driver is client expectations. Clients today, they want more than the compliance services. They really want guidance.

They want someone who can help them think through their decisions, whether that's their technology investments, cashflow management, succession planning, or their operational strategies. And the accounting firms are uniquely positioned for that because they already understand the client's full financial picture. So what many firms are realizing is that the most valuable conversations that they have with clients often happen outside of the compliance engagements.

Or the compliance engagement is driving these questions and it's a platform, it's a foundation. And it's great to see accounting firms finally embracing that future looking approach because they've looked back historically, here's what you've done over the last 12 months. So it's great to see. I'm intrigued by the technology element here, Chelsea, because it's playing a part, isn't it?

Yeah, technology is really reshaping the compliance work. The automation workflow tools and AI are making a lot of tasks faster and more efficient. And that's really good for clients and good for the firms. But it also means the traditional compliance model has less room for growth than it used to.

Firms are starting to recognize that if they want to grow their revenues and margin over time, they need services that are based on expertise and insight and not just repeatable processes. And advisory fits that model so much better.

so much so. And is there any evidence that there are other things driving this change in firms?

I think another factor that I don't think gets talked about enough is talent. So younger professionals that are entering accounting, they want work that feels more consultative. They want to solve problems and they want to interact with clients. And advisory work can provide them that opportunity. So firms that are building advisory capabilities often find that it helps them attract and retain talent, which we know is a huge challenge facing the profession right now.

Yeah, that's so true. We've said before, nobody wants to be chained to a desk for 10 or 15 years in a dark room in the hope of making partner that those days are gone for entrance to the profession. So it's interesting. The traditional model was really compliance driven. That was the staple diet of accountants and all that early career work was structured. It was process oriented. We might call it grunt work, but those games are changing. Do you think the advisory push now?

is reflective of the career experience people can get in the firm. You're right, they do want interesting work.

Yeah, I do. Advisory work tends to involve more collaboration with clients and more strategic thinking. It allows professionals earlier in their career to feel like they're contributing to real business decisions. And for many people entering the profession today, that kind of work is much more appealing than purely compliance-driven tasks.

Yeah,

we want to move beyond the spreadsheet. And we do want those conversations where we're helping clients and we feel like we're making a difference. There's something more meaningful, purposeful in that. And we know particularly the younger generations coming through, they want that meaning and purpose in their life. And it certainly tracks with what we're hearing from staff that are in terms of what they're looking for in a career. It's not about the hygiene factors and the money and even the package. So.

Any of the drivers in play here, Chelsea?

think firms have been intentionally moving this direction for years. But advisory growth doesn't happen overnight. It's going to require new pricing models, some different training structures, different leadership skills, and sometimes even different compensation structures inside the firm. So firms that are making the most progress today are often the ones that have started building those capabilities several years ago.

makes sense because I've got the impression before that many firms think, we'll shift to advisory and they can do it like that, and a drop of a heart. But this so much needs to be laid down and firms just can't flip like that overnight.

No, advisory really requires a different way of operating. You're gonna need leaders who are comfortable having those strategic conversations with clients. And you need teams with specialized expertise. And you often need different ways of pricing and delivering those services. And that kind of change takes time. It's not just a flip of a switch and we're advisory now.

And it's not just

process and automation. It's a culture change, isn't it?

Yes, that's exactly right.

Yeah, well, we, I know we've talked about this in previous podcast is it's an important topic.

Yeah, this connects to something that we talked about in our 10 predictions episode for 2026 earlier this year. One of the predictions that I made was that we're entering a period where firms will be taking advisory a lot more seriously, not just as a service line, but as a core part of how the firm operates and how it's gonna grow in the future.

So less a

side offering and more of a central pillar of strategy.

Yeah. And when you look at what's happening across the profession, it really does feel like the shift is beginning to take shape. Firms are hiring specifically for advisory roles. They're building client accounting services teams. They're expanding their consulting offerings. Advisory is increasingly becoming part of the strategic identity of many firms and not just something that they occasionally offer to the clients who ask about it.

But we've still got to square this circle. I've advised is one of those things that sounds a lot easier than it actually is.

Yeah, I think the biggest mistake is assuming that they can just layer advisory on top of their existing compliance model. But advisory requires such a different mindset. Compliance work is really built around utilization and efficiency, where advisory work is built around insights and outcomes.

There's a lot of re-imagining required here and shifts inside the firm because they're moving away from the way things have been done for thousands of years. Double entry bookkeeping has been the same. What does that look like, Chelsea? You talk to a lot of these leaders and influencers in firms. What's changing in there?

Yeah, so firms are going to need to rethink their pricing and their staff development and training and how they structure those client relationships and ultimately how they're measuring success. That's so much more than just let's launch a new service or let's acquire a new service.

And I've talked

on my show, Counting Voices, about the different kinds of firms that are emerging and many firms there, we want to be automated, we want to be driven with technology, but that actually takes you further away from the client because you've got less intimacy, you're having less conversation. So it is a payoff. You're very good at looking into the future, Chelsea, and you've got the figures that can predict what does the future look like in the area of advisory.

So I think the past decade was about recognizing the opportunity for advisory, whereas the next decade is going to be about figuring how to scale that advisory. Some firms I think are gonna be very successful in that, while others are gonna continue to talk about it without fully changing their operating model. And I think the difference between those two groups will likely come down to the leadership. Firms that are investing in leadership development, their client relationships and specialized expertise are gonna be the ones that unlock

the potential of advisory.

So the message

here to our audience is this is not just a ⁓ trend or something that's going to pass. This is a larger shift in how firms are creating value and keeping sustainable.

It is and the profession is moving from a model built primarily on compliance work to one that combines compliance with strategic guidance. And the firms that navigate that transition are going to be the ones that really I think shape the future of what the accounting profession looks like.

And I'm intrigued,

Chelsea, what's going to happen to the firms that don't get this? Because if advisory is the future and they want to stay embedded in compliance, or they're unwilling or unable to move, quick comment on what might be the future for them.

Yeah,

and I think there's space for firms like that. Like you said, those ones that want to invest in technology and really be known for, we do really quick tax returns or we do really quick audits because we use technology. But I'm not sure that the margins are there and I'm not sure that the revenue growth is there. It's going to need to scale and be a numbers thing as opposed to charging more because it's going to get so much more efficient.

This is great information. I'm so excited to see the results when they come out of your 2026 IPA practice management survey. And to our growing audience, we're very approachable to your questions and your stories. So feel free to reach out and share your firm's advisory strategy with us and stay tuned for more insights in upcoming episodes.

If you liked today's episode, please let us know, share it with a colleague and thanks for listening to the Inside Public Accounting podcast.