Private equity is not “coming” for the tax industry. It is already setting the pace, and 2026 is the year the gap becomes visible to clients.
The Thomson Reuters Institute put hard numbers behind what many leaders feel in the field: roughly half of the top 25 US tax, audit, and accounting firms have completed or are pursuing a private equity transaction. That is no longer a niche experiment. It is a structural shift.
What is fascinating is the split-screen reality inside the profession. The same research shows most professionals are not chasing PE. 57% say it is not even on their radar, and another 30% say they are not interested even if approached. The survey also breaks down how few firms are actually “in market” today: 5% completed a PE deal, 11% are actively looking (or plan to), 8% are open if approached, and 76% are uninterested or unprepared.
That divergence is exactly why 2026 will be a forcing function.
PE changes the operating model, not just the cap table. The report calls out why partners say yes: capital to modernize, automate, and consolidate, plus faster decision-making and more corporate leadership structures. It also highlights a blunt incentive: retiring partners can see payouts that are often two to three times higher than traditional internal buyouts. That money does not just reward the past. It funds the next playbook: AI, workflow automation, and acquisition-driven scale.
You can see the playbook in the market. Grant Thornton closed a “significant growth investment” led by New Mountain Capital in May 2024, explicitly positioning it to accelerate its strategy. (Grant Thornton) Citrin Cooperman became a case study in roll-up velocity after New Mountain’s 2021 investment, and in January 2025 it announced a new investment as Blackstone acquired a stake from New Mountain. (Citrin Cooperman)
Here is my bet for 2026: the winners will not be “PE-backed firms” versus “independent firms.” The winners will be firms that treat tax as a technology-enabled product and treat delivery as an engineered system.
In 2026, clients will increasingly buy outcomes, not hours. They will expect proactive, data-driven guidance, faster cycle times, and cleaner digital experiences. The firms that can invest aggressively in automation, data platforms, and AI-enabled delivery will compress turnaround times and expand margins at the same time. PE makes that acceleration easier because it can bankroll the modernization debt that partner-led models have historically struggled to fund at speed.
But PE also introduces real risk. Culture can get commoditized when ROI timelines dominate the conversation, and there are growing concerns about auditor independence as financial ownership structures evolve. If you lead a firm, you do not get to ignore that tension. You have to design around it.
If you are a technology leader inside a tax or professional services firm, I would frame 2026 as three non-negotiables:
- Industrialize delivery. Standardize data intake, workflow, and quality controls so you can scale expertise without burning out your best people.
- Invest like a product company. Build reusable platforms, not one-off solutions. Your differentiator is your system of work, not your slide deck.
- Be explicit about trust. Independence, security, and governance cannot be “handled later,” especially when ownership models evolve.
The uncomfortable truth is that “standing still” is no longer a neutral choice. The Thomson Reuters report says it plainly: standing still is not a viable strategy. In 2026, the market will reward firms that can deliver faster, more predictably, and more digitally, while still protecting the core trust that makes tax work valuable.
If you are leading a firm that is not taking PE, what is your counter-move this year: an ESOP, strategic M&A, bank financing, or a real commitment to self-funded modernization?
Because clients will not care how you funded the transformation. They will only feel whether it happened.
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