What advisors and wealth firms gain from CPA partnerships

As the financial landscape grows more complex and the shortage of certified public accountants continues to deepen, financial advisors and CPAs are finding new reasons – and new ways – to collaborate.

Aside from the chance to gain new clients from referrals, the intersection of tax planning and wealth management is emerging as a strategic service opportunity, especially for advisors serving affluent clients needing sophisticated, integrated solutions.

An imbalance of manpower

According to Justin Coffin, a former tax attorney and wealth management advisor at Apollon Wealth Management, who’s also the founder of Apollon New England, accountants as a rule have a lot of work to do during tax season and extension season. That’s when staffing shortages across accounting firms – with CPAs aging out of the industry faster than new talent can come in – tend to be felt hardest.  

“They just don’t have the staffing to keep up with the number of people who need returns done,” Coffin told InvestmentNews in a recent interview. “That has a knock-on effect on the investment and advisory services industry because a lot of what we do, if we do our jobs well, is making sure that investment allocations are lined with the income being generated for clients, how much cap gain can we take this year, and doing basic tax planning in addition to more maneuvering around liquidity events and estate planning.” 

According to John Pastore, executive vice president at Integrated Partners, the accounting profession is struggling through a structural imbalance, with the Big Four accounting firms having lots of spare capacity firms while smaller players struggle. At those smaller firms, a lot of tough decisions are being made to either take on opportunities from more cha;llenging clients, or focus on existing clientele.

“If college students understood how dynamic the role of a cross-disciplinary CPA advisor could be, I think there’d be more enthusiasm around coming into the profession,” he said. “The opportunity only gets greater with thousands of CPAs over 55 and nearing retirement.”

Taxes, taxes, everywhere

For accounting firms, Coffin says changes to accounting rules along with drastic shifts from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act add to the already-heavy load of CPA firms, whose main work is focused on tax preparation. He recalls “backbreaking” shifts during his own time in the profession, when he and other CPAs would work 80-hour weeks in the height of tax season.

“For the right people, it’s intellectually stimulating, and the camaraderie with your colleagues is great,” he said. “But that’s hard on a family, for young professionals, and for people with kids.”

While CPA firms have traditionally focused on tax services, Pastore maintains that tax advisory is a promising opportunity for them to shift gears. Citing AICPA President Mark Koziel, he emphasized how tax services concentrate on reporting the previous year’s activities, while tax planning and advisory looks ahead at future years for future opportunities, which makes for more proactive defense. 

“Tax planning sits at the intersection of life, law, finance. Every major individual life or business event carries tax implications, and those rules are always changing,” Pastore said. 

Recently, Integrated Partners marked a milestone with ts CPA Alliance Program, reaching 250 CPA partner firms nationwide. The program, which connects CPAs and financial advisors in a collaborative model, aims to help advisors gain high-quality client referrals while enabling CPAs to expand their service offerings and deepen client relationships. The firm says advisors leveraging the CPA Alliance saw an average 20.3% increase in trailing 12-month revenue, outpacing a leading industry benchmark of 17.6%

While it’s clear at this point that AI will not substitute for real CPA talent, Pastore suggests there’s a threat of displacement to consider when it comes to lower-value services. With that in mind, he says alignments between CPAs and wealth advisors allow firms to rethink the opportunities around lower-revenue “millionaire-next-door clients,” who are increasingly thinking about family governance, legacy, and how to disinherit the IRS.  

“You’re also able to offer those higher-end clients – the family office clients, the complex business owner clients – services that are almost impossible to do if you did it in-house,” he says.

Easing the load

With both professions under pressure to do more with less, financial planning software is playing a pivotal role in making collaboration more efficient. Coffin and Pastore pointed to Holistiplan and eMoney’s ability to support tax analysis, scenario modeling, and client communications.

“You need to stay on top of the technology. It’s hard to wear all the hats,” Pastore said. “[You need] a tech stack that supports your growth and allows you to cover more ground.” 

According to Coffin, advisors can get real value from cash flow modelling tools with a healthy degree of tax integration. For financial planning software, he underscored the ability to scan tax returns and model scenarios, helping advisors pinpoint opportunities before bringing them to a CPA partner for further analysis.

“There’s tools out there that make it easier for financial advisors to identify what things you could be bringing to the accountant.” he said. “We all understand that ultimately when it comes to the tax planning piece of it, the accountant gets the real say.” 

For advisors looking to build stronger relationships with CPAs, Coffin said making the collaborative process as easy as possible is key. Aside from becoming reasonably fluent in tax lingo, he urges advisors to be extra sensitive around peak periods.

“How can I make this the easiest knowing how busy you are, knowing that there’s not enough people, being aware of the calendar?” he says. “How can I make this process from my side as easy as possible for the accountant so that we are being accretive to their work and giving them the opportunity to easily work with us, as opposed to being a pain and making it more difficult?”

For Pastore, “everything starts with the concept of being a good guest in the CPA’s house,” which means giving them a sense of security in the partnership.

“Systems and process equal comfort. Once the CPA firm knows that you’ve got systems and processes, they achieve a state of comfort,” he says. “It’s not until you achieve a state of comfort that you get to profitability.”