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Everyone wants to be “data-driven,” but let’s be real, if the culture isn’t there, even the shiniest new technology won’t move the needle. For finance leaders, data integrations and data integrity are essential to cross-collaborative and decision-ready teams, especially in the age of generative and agentic AI. Creating a data-driven culture isn’t just about dashboards and metrics, it’s about trust, accessibility and buy-in from teams across the organization. In other words: if your data lives in a silo, so will your decisions.

Join CFO Brew and industry leaders to explore how finance teams can foster a culture where data isn’t just collected, but acted upon. We’ll unpack how CFOs and finance teams are building cross-functional trust, creating a true north in decision-making, democratizing data, and ultimately turning finance into the connective tissue of business decision-making.

Learn practical steps for creating a single source of truth for the CFO so reporting, forecasting and decision-making all move in the same direction.

Explore how CFOs and finance leaders are using transparent reporting frameworks and cross-functional dashboards to build trust and accountability with business partners.

Understand how forward-thinking CFOs are future-proofing teams by leveraging AI and clean data to do more with less. Hear from peers on why secure, finance-specific AI tools and strong data governance are critical for handling sensitive information and how to avoid common pitfalls that put your teams at risk.

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Being data-driven takes more than dashboards; it requires trust, accessibility, and a culture that breaks down silos. Join CFO Brew and Workiva to learn how finance teams are building collaboration, strengthening decision-making, and future-proofing operations with AI.

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Culture Eats Data for Breakfast: How Finance Teams Can Make Insights Stick

Courtney Vien

Accounting firms are thriving. That’s according to Wolters Kluwer’s 2025 

, based on a survey of 2,768 global tax and accounting professionals conducted in April and May of this year.

Representatives of more than 4 in 5 (83%) firms globally and 86% of US firms said their revenue had increased year over year. At least eight in 10 firms globally and in the US reported profitability increases.

Advisory services continued to be a growth area. More than nine in 10 US firms now offer advisory services as either a core offering or upon request. Majorities of both small (52%), midsize (53%), and large (58%) US respondents said their firms had plans to expand such services.

More than three-quarters of North American firms (76%) planned to invest more in AI in the three years. And 37% of respondents started using AI tools in the past year, compared with 10% in 2024. The most common AI use cases for US firms included tax, accounting, and audit research (42%); as a productivity tool (41%); and summarizing documents (38%).

Globally, many firms are interested in pursuing private equity investment. Nearly a third (32%) of firms worldwide and in the US accepted PE money in the past three years. In the US, views toward PE were mixed: 44% of accounting pros said their firms were interested in private equity or third-party funding, while 29% indicated they weren’t at all interested.

Strategic partnerships or joint ventures are still a more popular investment strategy than PE; 37% of US firms pursued them in the past three years and 49% of respondents expressed interest in this avenue.

And acquisition activity continues to be a favored investment strategy: 28% of US respondents said their firms had acquired another firm in the past three years, and 44% were interested in acquisition.

Editor’s note 10/10/2025: A previous version of this story showed the 2024 survey results instead of the 2025 results.

Illustration: Brittany Holloway-Brown, Photos: Adobe Stock

83% of accounting firms had revenue growth year over year

Only 27% are using it, according to a Wolters Kluwer survey.

News built for finance pros

News built for finance pros