Reflecting back on Accountex 2026, we summarise the emerging tech trends and the results from this years Pro Drive IT in Accounting Benchmarking Survey.
Accountex is the premier event for accountants, finance professionals, and bookkeepers. The 2026 event was the busiest ever with over 13,000 unique attendees and the Pro Drive stand was busy throughout the two days.
The key trends identified by our team both from speaking to practitioners and the presentations at the event were:
The potential commoditisation of some services through the use of AI and how firms will need to pivot to meet the demand for more advisory services.
Making Tax Digital is the most immediate challenge for most firms and will create a lot more complexity which Accountants will need to help their clients manage.
The accountancy profession still does not fully understand their responsibilities around cyber security and there is a big gap between best practice and what is happening.
The 2026 IT in Accounting Benchmarking Survey
Pro Drive IT once again conducted its annual IT benchmarking survey, offering a snapshot of how accountancy firms are managing their technology infrastructure. This year we have presented the results against those from Accountex 2024 & Accountex 2025 as well as the current rolling 2 year results. Here are the key headlines:
This year we had a wide variety of firms completing the survey, from small practices with just 1 member of staff to businesses with around 50.
The responses showed a continuation of a worrying trend from the previous year's survey with a significant deficit in terms of cyber security resilience.
The average IT maturity score was 36 (compared to 49 in 2025). This ranks as "basic" on our scale of IT maturity.
About the survey
The Pro Drive IT maturity benchmarking assessment has been designed to show businesses how well they're managing their technology and provide instant, actionable steps on how to improve.
It takes just 5 minutes
It's completely free
You will receive customised results instantly
If you would like to benchmark your IT, complete the survey using the link below.
