The accounting profession’s adoption of AI has expanded over the past year. At AICPA’s 2026 Engage conference, we asked John McGowan, CEO of tax software platform HubSync, and Pat Mihelic, HubSync’s director of product management, about AI readiness among accounting firms, the dovetailing of PE investment and AI adoption, and the education accounting professionals need to trust AI models. McGowan founded HubSync in 2019 after more than 20 years as CIO for global and US tax at KPMG.

What have you been seeing in terms of AI readiness across the accounting profession?

John McGowan: I had two clients over the last week use the same term: disorienting. I’ve heard a client say, “We don’t know when or how to jump on the merry-go-round. It’s changing. We jump on it now, and we make a decision, it could be outdated.” 

Do you see commonalities in the types of firms that are early adopters?

John McGowan: It’s a mix. I would say, without question, the larger firms are all going hard, and certainly we can talk [about] private equity. The industry is driving a ton of AI push.

How PE firms are pushing for more rapid AI adoption.—CV

It’s a bit of pick your poison with a splash of choose-your-own-adventure. Either way, the state of the economy right now depends on how you slice it.

“There are so many different ways you can read the current economy,” Emily Mandel, senior economist at Moody’s Analytics, told CFO Brew. “It’s not that one’s right or one’s wrong, it’s just that people are experiencing the current economy very differently, and how much people weigh the different risks that we’re seeing is also informing their view of current conditions.”

For CFOs, it’s a matter of knowing which issues to watch the most closely, and determining just how they’ll impact your firm. Below, Mandel walks us through some of the biggest issues and how CFOs might react to them.

Tell it to me Strait. If there’s an issue every CFO should probably be losing some sleep over, it’s the war in Iran and blockage of the Strait of Hormuz, which Mandel dubs “one of the biggest supply shocks we’re confronting,” particularly in the near term.

Why your results may vary.—NP

The labor market is experiencing some déjà vu.

Total labor turnover in May was largely unchanged compared to April, the latest job openings and labor turnover survey (JOLTS) data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. This year, job openings remain elevated, though hires, quits, and layoffs were once again unchanged at lower levels. But that’s not the only familiarity in the latest data: Employers have reported little change in job turnover in May since 2024, suggesting that late spring may emerge as the cyclical period when employers reset their hiring plans for the rest of the year, one expert tells HR Brew.

Diving into the data. Employers reported 7.6 million total job openings in May, relatively unchanged from April, remaining at their highest-recorded levels in two years. Wholesale trade reported the largest spike in openings, up by 71,000 month over month, followed by accommodation and food services, and real estate and rental and leasing.

On the other hand, healthcare and social assistance, which for the past several years singularly led job growth in the US, saw a decline of 115,000 in job openings. The decline in demand in this sector could be a sign that healthcare no longer dominates the labor market, economists noted.

Market stagnation can discourage workers and job seekers, HR Brew reports.—PM

Skip the noise and cut to the jobs that matter. CollabWORK curates openings from top employers and shares them directly in trusted spaces like CFO Brew—click here to see the full list for readers like you.