Accounting firm leaders aren’t struggling to understand that artificial intelligence will change the profession. They’re struggling to understand what comes next.
Everywhere you look, firms are evaluating AI platforms, piloting new use cases, developing policies, and searching for opportunities to improve efficiency. At the same time, they’re confronting a familiar set of challenges: a shrinking talent pool, rising retirements, increasing client expectations, and growing pressure to deliver higher-value advisory services.
Individually, none of these issues is new. Collectively, however, they are forcing firms to confront a question many have never fully addressed: What should the workforce of the future actually look like?
For years, most firms have approached talent planning as a staffing exercise. They hired when demand increased, filled open positions when people left, and promoted professionals as opportunities arose.
That approach worked when the profession was built around relatively predictable career paths and organizational structures. Today, it is no longer enough.
AI, outsourcing, automation, and demographic shifts are changing not only how work gets done, but who does it, where it gets done, and what skills will be needed in the years ahead.
The firms that thrive in the next five years will not simply implement new technology. They will intentionally redesign their workforce to fit. The truth is that workforce design is now as important as long-term growth or client strategies, and should be given the appropriate time and attention.
The Challenge Is Bigger Than AI
Much of the conversation surrounding AI focuses on tools, platforms, and implementation.
Those are important discussions. But they only address part of the challenge. Every technology decision creates workforce consequences.
If AI performs work previously assigned to entry-level staff, how will professionals develop the judgment and experience needed to become future managers and partners?
If firms rely more heavily on outsourced resources to address capacity constraints, how should internal roles evolve?
If talent shortages continue and retirements accelerate, what skills should firms prioritize when hiring?
These questions reveal an important reality: AI cannot be treated as a standalone initiative.
People strategy, technology strategy, outsourcing strategy, and growth strategy are becoming increasingly intertwined. Decisions made in one area inevitably affect the others.
Yet many firms continue to evaluate them separately. That disconnect is often where leaders become overwhelmed. They know change is necessary, but they struggle to determine where to begin and how all the moving pieces fit together.
The Traditional Pyramid Is Giving Way to a New Model, But Not the One We Expected
For decades, accounting firms relied on a familiar organizational structure.
Large classes of entry-level professionals formed the base of the pyramid. Over time, some advanced into management – the middle – and leadership positions – the top – while others exited the profession. The model created a steady pipeline of future talent.
For several years we have heard this model will be modified and we should expect a new model, one that resembles a diamond. Technology and outsourcing increasingly absorb routine and repeatable tasks, allowing firms to hire fewer entry-level professionals. Firms would need to develop a larger middle layer to support the delivery of insight, judgment and advisory value.
But that perceived future structure is already being challenged.
It’s being proven that firms may need fewer people at the entry level, however, they will still need a strong enough base to develop into the middle management level. Rather than a pyramid or a diamond, the future firm staffing model may look more like a house.
The foundation consists of internal and outsourced resources, utilizing AI, automation, and workflow technologies that support standardized work.
The walls are experienced professionals who interpret information, manage client relationships, oversee quality, solve complex problems, and deliver strategic advice.
The roof is leadership – partners and executives focused on governance, innovation, growth, and long-term direction rather than day-to-day production.
Start With an Honest Assessment
Developing a people strategy can feel daunting, but firms can simplify the process by approaching it systematically. The objective is not to reduce headcount. It is to create a workforce structure that aligns talent with the activities that create the greatest value.
The first step is an assessment of the current people strategy. Leaders should take an honest look at the effectiveness of its hiring process, turnover rates, retention challenges, hiring success, growth expectations, and workforce utilization.
- How effective is the firm at recruiting new hires and identifying the skills they need to possess?
- Why are people leaving?
- Which professionals are being retained?
- How effective is the firm at recruiting experienced talent?
- What skills are becoming harder to find?
Answering these questions helps establish a baseline before introducing additional variables such as AI and outsourcing.
From there, firms can begin evaluating how technology and alternative staffing models affect future workforce needs.
The Questions Every Firm Should Be Asking
A modern people strategy requires leaders to look beyond immediate staffing concerns and consider the long-term implications of today’s decisions.
Several questions deserve particular attention:
- Are we aligned around a long-term vision? Workforce decisions should support the firm’s strategic direction, or its North Star. Partner expectations, growth objectives, and talent investments must all point toward the same future state.
- How will work get done? Firms need to determine the appropriate mix of people, technology, and outsourced resources required to meet both current and future demand.
- What skills will matter most five and 10 years from now? As AI changes the nature of work, firms may need different capabilities than they have historically prioritized. In some cases, the better hire may not be a direct replacement for a departing tax manager, for example, but someone who has the skills to manage AI agents.
- How will we develop future advisors? As routine work becomes increasingly automated, firms must rethink training, mentorship, and career development. Technical competence remains important, but critical thinking, communication, leadership, and advisory skills are becoming increasingly valuable.
- How do we create sustainable careers? Retention strategies must evolve beyond compensation and utilization metrics. Professionals are seeking flexibility, meaningful work, growth opportunities, and clearer career pathways.
Designing What Comes Next
Most firms are still in the early stages of connecting these dots. Your people strategy must be viewed through the lens of the disruptors to the profession. if your people strategy is traditional and separate from the big picture, you may create failure points by hiring the wrong people, too many people, or not enough.
The firms that gain a competitive advantage over the next decade will not necessarily be the first to adopt every new technology. They will be the firms that understand the operational consequences of change and intentionally design a workforce that can support their long-term vision. People development isn’t like a game of checkers or even chess, it’s four-dimensional chess.
At Thomson Consulting, we help firm leaders navigate these interconnected decisions by bringing structure to complexity. From workforce assessment and organizational design to talent development and technology planning, we help firms ask the right questions, evaluate the consequences of change, and build people strategies that support sustainable growth. We’ll walk beside you and challenge you along the way.
In the age of AI, workforce planning is no longer enough. The future belongs to firms that intentionally design the workforce they want to become.