The 2026 AI in Professional Services Report from 成人VR视频 tells a striking story. Sixty-two percent of professionals are using generative AI daily. Thirty-four percent of tax firms are deploying it at an organizational level 鈥� up from 21% just a year ago. And yet only 19% of those firms are actually measuring the ROI of their AI tools. More than half aren鈥檛 measuring at all, and the remainder have no idea how their firms are measuring AI’s output. The pace of change is accelerating faster than most firms anticipated, and the window for early-mover advantage is closing.

But adoption alone isn鈥檛 the headline. The real story is what鈥檚 happening inside the firms that have moved from experimentation to transformation.

Leading firms are putting AI to work

Our research shows that just 14% of tax firms say agentic AI is currently part of their workflow, but 80% expect it to be central to how their organization operates within five years. The question for every firm leader is whether they鈥檙e building for that future today or planning to catch up later.

At 成人VR视频, we launched in March 2025 鈥� not as a pilot, but as a fully deployed, purpose-built agentic AI platform. In the months since, thousands of firms have embedded it into their daily workflows, and the results are measurable. The CoCounsel solutions include , and 鈥� tools that are helping firms transform the way they do tax research, tax preparation and strategic advisory. And users are reaping the benefits 鈥� with average time savings of 32% per task. Research that once consumed three to five hours now takes fifteen to thirty minutes. As , Tax Partner at Copeland Buhl, one of the top 20 accounting and advisory firms in the Midwest, puts it: 鈥淚t鈥檚 a super easy way to ask very complicated tax questions from a reliable source鈥� Everybody has said they can鈥檛 live without this anymore.鈥�

What sets CoCounsel apart is the fiduciary-grade AI it鈥檚 built on: drawing from trusted sources including more than 12 million 成人VR视频 Checkpoint expert-authored pieces, plus primary sources including IRS, FASB, GASB, AICPA, and IFRS. Every answer is cited, and every output is defensible. That matters in a profession where accuracy is non-negotiable.

, Principal at Virginia-based firm Harris, Hardy & Johnstone, captures what time savings means in practice: 鈥淭ime is worth more than anything else. Our industry is so choked for time that any minute I get back could mean an extra evening with my wife or a vacation without stress.鈥�

Built for the work 鈥� not retrofitted to it

What I hear most often from firm leaders evaluating AI tools is a version of the same concern: how do I know I can trust it? It鈥檚 the right question. General-purpose AI can generate plausible-sounding answers. But the high-stakes work tax and audit professionals do day-to-day means they need answers they can stand behind.

, Senior Tax Managing Director at Arizona-based firm Jansen & Company CPAs, tried several AI tools before landing on CoCounsel. His verdict: 鈥淚t saves us time, but not just time 鈥� there鈥檚 an accuracy and a confidence element there鈥� CoCounsel shines for deep research. Nobody can touch it.鈥�

AI is no longer a future consideration for tax and audit firms. It鈥檚 reshaping the profession now, across firms of every size. At 成人VR视频, we have moved beyond promise to delivery 鈥� in CoCounsel Tax & Audit, providing AI technology that is already transforming how high-stakes work gets done.

Elizabeth Beastrom is President, Tax, Audit & Accounting Professionals at 成人VR视频

Tax, Audit and Accounting has always been a profession built on rigor and responsibility. But the reality of running a modern practice is complexity keeps rising, timelines keep tightening, and client expectations keep evolving. Firms are being asked to do more, faster鈥攚ithout compromising quality.

Why this matters for firms

This recognition is not just about a new solution being introduced鈥攊t’s about what firms are prioritizing right now. Across the industry, leaders are focused on creating repeatable capacity鈥攏ot just surviving busy season. They’re prioritizing workflows that are reliable year-round. That means reducing friction in the return process, improving consistency across teams, and ensuring professionals have the time to apply judgment where it matters most.

That’s the lens I bring to . It’s designed to support the parts of the tax return process that can slow teams down, so professionals can stay focused on the work of humans: review, judgment, accountability, and advising clients with confidence.

Restoring time for professional judgment

There’s a lot of discussion about automation and the future of work. What I see in firms today is more practical: talented professionals spending too much time on repetitive steps, and not enough time on review, coaching, and client conversations.

The opportunity here is to shift time back to the professional鈥攕o firms can:

• Strengthen quality and consistency
• Improve responsiveness to clients
• And make the work more sustainable for teams

Honorable Mention: Ready to Advise

Accounting Today also gave an Honorable Mention to , which supports tax planning and advisory services.

That matters because once firms create more capacity, the next question is how to use it. Many firms are looking to grow advisory in a way that’s scalable and consistent 鈥� grounded in strong workflows and clear client outcomes.

Recognition like this is meaningful for us at 成人VR视频. But it’s even more meaningful because it reflects progress our customers can feel. When firms can rely on their technology to create more capacity and consistency in the work, they can serve clients with greater confidence. They can support their teams through peak demand, and make the practice more sustainable. That’s the kind of win we’re focused on: one that strengthens firms and the professionals who power them.

Elizabeth Beastrom is President, Tax, Audit & Accounting Professionals at 成人VR视频

听

Ready to Review is our new cloud-based, agentic AI tax workflow solution built on CoCounsel. For tax year 2025, it modernizes 1040 tax return preparation. It’s designed to take on the heavy, repetitive work of gathering client documents and preparing returns鈥攕o tax professionals can focus on what drew many of us to this profession in the first place: problem solving, critical thinking, and delivering great counsel to clients.听

For too long, firms have been stuck in a pattern that everyone recognizes as unsustainable鈥攅ver more complex returns, tighter deadlines, and mounting pressure on teams already stretched thin. Busy season has become synonymous with burnout and staffing strain. AI alone won鈥檛 fix that. But AI put to work in the right way鈥攖hrough agentic AI deeply embedded into tax workflows鈥攃an fundamentally change the equation.听

A Better Way Through Busy Season

The goal is not to replace professional judgment, but to clear away the manual, time-consuming tasks that prevent professionals from using that judgment to its fullest. Ready to Review gives firms a single, cloud-based, scalable platform that automates the gather and tax prep stages of the听workflow鈥攈elping firms manage more individual returns with existing staff while听maintaining听quality and control.听

We鈥檙e听already seeing the impact. Indiana-based CLH CPAs & Consultants听participated听in our early adopter program and saw听the potential for听transformative time savings. As Bob Lange, Partner at CLH, told us:听鈥淩educing return preparation time by听approximately an听hour on each simple 1040 is significant in terms of efficiency gains. For firms like ours, these time savings will be a game changer.鈥�听

I鈥檝e听said before that I expect firms will听ultimately pair听each CPA with at least one virtual agent. is a tangible step in that direction. It brings that 1:1 vision closer to reality by embedding Gather and Tax Preparer AI agents directly into the 1040 workflow in a way听that鈥檚听responsible, auditable, and grounded in trusted 成人VR视频 tax content and compliance听expertise.听

The Next Step for 1040 Prep

As solutions like Ready to Review become part of the day-to-day fabric of tax work,听we鈥檒l听see fewer 80-hour听weeks听and more time spent on the nuanced, client-focused work that truly differentiates firms.听We鈥檒l听make room for new talent who are excited about a career that leans into analysis and advisory rather than pure grind.听听

Ready to Review is now generally available in the United States for 1040 use cases, and its launch marks an important milestone in our broader journey with agentic AI on the听 platform.听It鈥檚听one more way听we鈥檙e听helping firms modernize in a way that is practical, grounded, and built for the realities of tax season.听

Elizabeth Beastrom is President of Tax, Audit & Accounting Professionals at 成人VR视频

LLMs for professional-grade AI solutions must be tailored with the right mix of data sources and go through a rigorous data architecture process. For enterprise tasks, developers need specialized data plus domain expertise to organize it in such a way that the eventual outputs will be helpful for end-user professionals. Developing a tool for accountants or tax attorneys, for example, involves gathering a wide array of tax codes, regulatory filings, legal interpretations, and more as well as integrating and standardizing this data into a format that LLMs can digest.

As I recently shared in , getting raw data to a place where it can be used to power a generative AI solution requires two steps: grounding and the human factor. Grounding is like giving an LLM a specialized education 鈥� analogous to an individual going from an undergrad degree to law school 鈥� by augmenting it with use-case-specific information. Human experts, of course, are irreplaceable when it comes to domain expertise, which is essential for creating industry-specific LLMs.

Leading the Technology Services team of engineers at 成人VR视频 is an incredibly rewarding experience. We tackle the unique challenges of creating professional-grade AI solutions that meet the high standards of accuracy and reliability demanded by legal and tax professionals.

Our team is deeply committed to bridging the gap between cutting-edge technology and specialized domain knowledge. We understand that our work doesn’t just involve writing code or developing algorithms; it’s about empowering professionals with tools that enhance their expertise and efficiency. Guiding this team has shown me the impact that thoughtful, well-crafted AI can have in transforming the way professionals work, and it reinforces our dedication to continuous innovation in this space.

Check out my article to learn more about the need for data curation and data stewardship in developing professional-grade AI solutions.

This is a guest post from Noah Pruzek, head of Technology Systems, 成人VR视频.