Contents
- What AI does in a practice today
- Who does the work as routine tasks move to software
- How AI affects the value of your firm
- AI as one way to create capacity
- If you would rather step back
- Questions
General information for practice owners, current at the time of writing (July 2026). Figures are as reported by industry sources; rules and deadlines change — check the current position and take your own advice.
AI has been the main topic at accountancy events this year. Reports suggest around 91% of UK accountants are now using or planning to use AI, and nearly half use it at least weekly. A widely cited figure also puts the share of AI pilots that fail at roughly 95%. Adoption is high, and most pilots do not yet become part of a firm's everyday work.
What AI does in a practice today
Today AI mainly automates production work: invoice processing, bank reconciliation and document handling. Around 45% of firms report using AI to automate repetitive tasks, and a rising share are trying AI “agents” that work alongside staff. These tools save time in the back office, and the owner still has to decide what the firm does with that time. Buying a tool is the small part of the job. The larger part is changing how the firm runs so that people use the tool every day, and that is where most pilots stall.
Who does the work as routine tasks move to software
Practice partners need to know who will do the work in the months ahead. AI frees time from routine tasks, and that time adds value only when people use it for higher-value work. Reports suggest around 80% of firms believe the role is shifting from compliance towards advisory and judgement. Firms are using AI in two different ways:
- Move up — free capacity for advisory, judgement and relationships
- A firm that is more valuable and harder to replace
- Cut cost — squeeze the same compliance model and compete on price
- A firm that is easier to replace
How AI affects the value of your firm
This matters if you plan to sell. A practice that runs on documented systems, sensible automation and advisory relationships is less owner-dependent and more valuable, and buyers pay a premium for those qualities (see how to increase value). A firm that still depends on the owner and a large volume of manual compliance is more exposed, whatever software it has bought. AI adds value when the time it frees goes into better work. Used only to cut cost on an unchanged model, it changes little.
AI as one way to create capacity
In 2026 AI is best treated as one of several ways to create capacity. The others, covered in how firms are freeing up capacity, are automation, outsourcing routine production and standardising process. The firms that do best will use whichever of these frees capacity to move up to advisory and build a calmer, more valuable firm.
If you would rather step back
If you do not want another decade of technology changes, rising compliance and thin margins, that is a sound reason to plan your succession. Whichever you choose, the aim is the same: a calmer, systemised firm that depends less on its founder. A firm like that is easier to run and easier to sell.
