Tom Hood on AI, hybrid work, and other 2026 themes shaping accounting

On this episode of the JofA podcast, an AICPA executive and regular guest discussed trends from discussions with numerous finance professionals, delving into how AI and hybrid work might affect accounting this year and beyond.

“Now we’re going to be talking about managing AI agents in finance and accounting,” Tom Hood, CPA/CITP, CGMA, said. “That’s going to be a whole different world, and it’s going to be exponential in what we can do with it.”

Hood, the AICPA’s executive vice president–Business Engagement and Growth, also explained why CFOs are cautiously optimistic about growth and how the Rise2040 project is helping the profession prepare for long-term change.

What you’ll learn from this episode:

• How AI is shifting from simple productivity tools to powerful finance agents — and what that means for accounting professionals.
• Practical strategies for making hybrid work more effective, including purposeful in-office collaboration.
• Why CFOs and finance leaders are cautiously optimistic about growth in 2026 despite economic uncertainty.
• How anticipatory thinking and hard-trend analysis can help accountants prepare for long-term change and disruption.
• Why trust and integrity remain core accounting values.

Play the episode below or read the edited transcript:

— To comment on this episode or to suggest an idea for another episode, contact Neil Amato at Neil.Amato@aicpa-cima.com.

Transcript

Neil Amato: Amazingly, it was 12 years ago that I first met this next guest on the Journal of Accountancy podcast. This is Neil Amato with the JofA. Welcome back to the show. That guest that I’m talking about is Tom Hood. We are recording at Digital CPA at the Gaylord National Convention Center, National Harbor, Md., Tom’s home state.

Tom, first of all, thank you for being back on the podcast. Thanks for taking time. What do you remember about that CFO Conference way back in 2013, my first CFO conference, and the first time I met you, as I said?

Tom Hood: Neil, it’s always great to be here with you. Yeah, you think about the CFO Conference in 2013, it was a whole different world. That was like before cloud for the most part, or the early days of it. Financial reporting was in the bigger mini-computer systems and things like that. It was a very different world. Now, I think a lot of the topics were like most of our conferences, breaking areas of us trying to figure out what’s next and bringing the community together to solve those problems, which we’re still doing today.

Amato: Yeah. Exactly. Back then, I knew you as social media guru, president and CEO of the Maryland Association [of CPAs]. You’re still a social media guru, but now you’re my colleague. You’re EVP, executive vice president of Business Engagement and Growth.

You still do pay attention to social media. You’re still pretty active on it, right?

Hood: Yeah, it’s my go-to. It’s how I learn, it’s how I connect, how I stay on top of things.

Amato: Looking ahead, we’re talking about this conference. Also, the Future of Finance Summit later this week in Denver. We’re recording mid-December, but this is to air in early January. What are some of the things you’re hearing out of this event, DCPA, that you believe are going to resonate with that Future of Finance group, which is large corporates and others that you can explain? Tell me about that.

Hood: I think it’s a lot of common themes. The whole CAS practice, client advisory services, is the hallmark of this conference, even though they’ve now moved into DAS, dynamic audit [solution], and tax. But what our corporate CFOs are worried about are the same thing that the CAS practice worries about is how to use the accounting to guide your company through chaotic times and make them sustainable.

The key drivers that we’re hearing here: AI, no surprise. Obviously, technology. Technology accelerating, and the idea of how do we move into being better advisers? That’s the exact same trajectory that the CFOs have been on, and now even the controllers are on, which is, how do I add value in a world where a lot of the transaction layer is getting automated?

Amato: Yeah, exactly. There’s definitely more of that looking-forward focus and more of that looking-forward ability because of that technology that, I don’t want to say we take it for granted, but some of it, you forget how it was not that long ago. AI is one of those things that’s jump-starting everything for companies, for firms. What else, as we look into 2026, in the early days when we’re going to air this episode, what else is top of mind for that business and industry audience, that Future of Finance audience?

Hood: I think the key about AI is – so there’s been a whole lot of controversy that AI hasn’t produced really good returns. And that’s because most people are using AI to do the productivity pieces. Help me write emails, help me find things, help me do those kind of things. Personal productivity for professionals. I think we’re going to move into the new era where you’re going to be talking about agents.

Now we’re going to be talking about managing AI agents in finance and accounting. That’s going to be a whole different world, and it’s going to be exponential in what we can do with it. We have to learn our way into it and do that. But that’s going to be a lot of the conversation we’re going to have at Future of Finance. I think it’s going to be a big conversation here in some of these CAS practice courses. I think it’s going to hit every angle of our whole profession.

Amato: In the new year, where do you think CFOs and other finance leaders stand on how they’re grappling with hybrid work, fully in-office work, remote work, etc.?

Hood: From our community at the Future of Finance, these are pretty large corporate CFO types, controllers, and most of them, majority of them are hybrid to this day. I can’t name one that I know has gone all back to office. What’s different, though, is they’ve learned how to navigate hybrid in a much more productive way. They’re doing things with purpose.

In other words, if you bring people back, you’re going to come back in two days a week; those two days are planned for something important, like strategic planning, or learning, or doing those types of things. They’re not coming in and then sitting on Zoom calls all day, which is the worst thing you can do with a team. I think that’s probably No. 1.

I think when you look at the commute times, which I live in this area, the Baltimore/D.C. area, and commute times are horrible. If I had to spend an hour each way on a commute and go into an office where not everybody was there, or you’re on Teams or remote or Zoom or whatever, it would make me crazy because you can get a lot more done when you have that little bit of time at home and you’re saving two hours a day. It’s really hard to say, everyone’s back five days a week.

That’s how I’m seeing it. That’s how most of these organizations are seeing it, and they feel like they’ve got to keep that up because people will leave. They’re just not going to put up with it.

Amato: That’s one issue they’re dealing with in the new year. Another few that I want to touch base on – this is related to our business and industry Economic Outlook Survey came out the first week of December. Revenue and profit projections slightly up compared to the last quarter, own-company optimism slightly up, but domestic economic optimism slightly down. They know there’s a lot of challenges out there. But why do you think there is that little peak of optimism, that slightly higher revenue and profit projection for 2026?

Hood: I have been thinking about that since that outlook survey came out. I’m sitting there looking at that and commenting on it. It’s been a very sideways year. In other words, people thinking it’s good or bad. You can see it waffling. I feel like what’s happened now, though, is we’re coming out of the government shutdown. The tax bill’s in, and I think people are seeing a bit of optimism through all of this because now we’re looking ahead at 2026, we’re talking about rate cuts. You’re seeing some of those things be talked about.

I feel like people, they’ve made some tough moves through the shutdown, and now they’re prepared for growth. In fact, one of our top issues last year and throughout this year was innovation and growth was No. 5, had never been on there before. That’s telling me that the CFOs have now made this shift. Instead of cost-cutting, we’re seeing them now look forward. They’ve got more tools in their tool belt, so they’re doing more projection, more looking ahead. They feel more confident in doing that, and now they’re beginning to say, “We’re going to have some positive growth here.”

Amato: One project, I guess, major initiative that the AICPA and CIMA have ongoing is the Rise2040 project. Now, one of the futurists, or I guess the futurist who is leading us on this journey or advising, facilitating, is a guy you know. One, I’m hoping you can tell me some about Dan Burrus and then also the Rise2040 project.

Hood: Yeah. Dan Burrus is a friend of mine. I met Dan, I want to say 2015, when he opened up a Wolters Kluwer conference, and he did his hard-trend thing. He polls the audience, and I’ll never forget that you can see all the answers going up on his poll. Basically, what are the trends and what are the opportunities? I saw more creativity and optimism from that audience of CPAs, mostly practitioners, than I’ve ever seen in all the work I’ve done with CPAs my whole career.

It instantly drew me to go, there’s something Dan’s doing that I need to learn about. Because we were going through some pretty heavy stuff back in that time frame, that we were like, what’s ahead for our profession? I sent him a note. I went up and shook his hand, got his card, followed up with him, and sure enough, his hard-trend methodology – anticipatory – really does teach a framework that CPAs, CGMAs, and accounting and finance people can really apply. It applies to us so well, Neil. That’s what blew me away.

I’ve been out to meet him in San Diego. He did work for us in Maryland, created a learning system that we’re going to revitalize with AI with him. He’s been a brilliant thought leader but with a framework that CPAs can learn and apply. That’s what really drew me to him and his work.

Amato: That’s great. I think that’s a really good summation of, you know, he can definitely draw in an audience, and it’s definitely something that needs to be done. The way things are moving, you got to think 15 years ahead instead of just two.

But I’ll go back to thinking just one year ahead. Again, we’re going to air this episode in January; unfortunately, you, Tom Hood, will not have the Baltimore Ravens in the playoffs, it appears. You can put that aside and not have to worry about that in January. But as this year starts, what are you looking forward to as it relates to the profession?

Hood: Well, I’m looking forward to the continuation of these conversations that we’re having globally with Rise2040. If you look at some of the preliminary results, there’s going to be what I would call the usual suspects. Clearly, AI is a big trend, but the way CPAs are beginning and CGMAs are thinking about it is different. This idea that we’ve got to think about how do we actually use it and create value? That’s a big theme.

The notion of trust and integrity and how we have to hold on to that and keep that at our core, which, Dan Burrus would say, is probably one of the biggest things that he’s seeing from our results that our profession truly wants to keep that at our core. And they’re going to use that in a world of AI, he would say, that’s more important than ever.

That gives us this positive attitude about how we embrace AI, which is what we’re seeing from our membership. They’re leaning into it. That’s exciting. We get our whole community energized about that? That’s huge.

Amato: Definitely something to look forward to. Tom Hood, thank you for the time. Thank you for being a reliable, excellent guest over the years on the Journal of Accountancy podcast.

Hood: Well, Neil, thank you for having me. I don’t know, there could still be a little glimmer for the Ravens, by the way, but I understand.

Amato: OK, we’ll have to edit. We’ll see if my prediction holds true or not. Tom, thank you very much.

Hood: Thanks, Neil.