Crowe's $1.3B Revenue and AI-Native Business Line

The Great Professional Shift Has Begun Consulting. Legal. Accounting. Industries once ruled by people — are now being rebuilt as platforms and products. The firms that fail to adapt won’t fade quietly. They’ll vanish. Because the future isn’t people vs. technology. It’s people + products. Expertise — wired into code. Insights — embedded into workflows. Value — delivered at scale. The fastest-growing firms don’t sell hours. They sell outcomes. Compliance that monitors itself. Contracts that review themselves. Finances that manage themselves. That’s the new client expectation: 💡 “Don’t just advise me. Automate me.” If your business model still depends on billable hours and layers of mid-level managers — you’re already competing on price. AI has rewritten the math: What took weeks now takes hours. The middle of the pyramid is being hollowed out. And while legacy firms debate “risk,” Startups and hyperscalers are already owning the client’s operating system. They’re not offering advice — they’re building control. So where’s the premium now? It’s in Partners who combine deep industry experience + AI-first tools. Fewer layers. Sharper spikes of expertise. Workflows that start with AI and end with judgement. The winners of this era won’t just deliver value. They’ll build dependencies — code, context, and capability that clients can’t live without. The question is. Are you building the future, or watching it leave your firm behind? #AITransformation #Consulting #LegalTech #AccountingInnovation #FutureOfWork #AIDrivenBusiness

In a world of AI-driven disruption, is your finance team ready to lead transformation? As a CFO, I've seen the pitfalls and the wins. Six months ago, I asked my finance team a simple question: "If AI could do 40% of what you do today, what would you want to do instead?" The silence was deafening. Not because they didn't have ideas. Because they were terrified, I was asking who we could replace. That moment taught me everything about why finance transformations fail. The problem isn't the technology. It's the narrative. Most CFOs roll out AI tools with a cost-saving pitch. "We can do more with less." "Improve efficiency." "Reduce headcount." And we wonder why adoption is slow. Here's what I learned: People don't resist change. They resist being made obsolete. So I changed the conversation entirely. We reframed AI as career acceleration, not a career threat. I gave the team a challenge: identify the work you hate, the repetitive, soul-crushing tasks that keep you from doing meaningful analysis. The list was long: → Manual journal entries → Variance analysis for 50+ cost centres → Reformatting reports for different stakeholders → Chasing approvals for routine transactions → Reconciling data across multiple systems Then I said, "What if AI handled all of this, and you spent your time on strategy, insights, and decision support?" That's when everything shifted. The wins came faster than expected. We started small. One use case at a time. In 5 years, there will be two types of finance professionals: those who work with AI to drive strategic decisions and those who do not. And those still doing tasks AI replaced 3 years ago. As CFOs, we get to choose which team we're building. The companies that win won't be the ones with the best AI tools. They'll be the ones with finance teams confident enough to use them. So ask yourself: Is your finance team learning to lead with AI or learning to fear it? What's your biggest challenge in preparing your finance team for an AI-driven future?

The job of a finance leader in a tech startup changes faster than ever. What worked last year will not work today. There was a time when finance could plan quarterly, optimise slowly, and rely on familiar models. That time is over. AI reshapes markets in real time. Pricing shifts overnight. Teams adopt new tools before leadership has finished discussing them. In this world, finance leaders cannot rely on what made them successful in the past. The work evolves too quickly. The expectations rise even faster. Reinvention is no longer optional. It is the role. One. Rethink how you understand the business. Your value is not in reporting what happened. It is in anticipating what comes next. Real time insight now matters more than perfect historical accuracy. Two. Change how you partner with the company. Finance can no longer wait for decisions. You are part of the decision itself. Founders, product and go to market teams need clarity, not caution. Three. Redefine what your job actually is. The role is shifting from control to alignment. From protecting the business from risk to helping it take the right ones. From analyst to strategic guide. This level of reinvention is demanding. But it is the reality of finance leadership in tech today. If you stand still, the company moves past you. If you adapt, the company moves because of you. What part of your leadership will you reinvent this year?

AI is reshaping accounting and that’s a good thing for small firms. As top 100 firms replace entry-level roles with automation, local and mid-sized firms have a golden opportunity. There’s incredible young talent entering the field they just need the right mentorship and path to ownership. If you’re 10–12 years from retirement, now’s the time to build your bench and secure your firm’s future. 🎧 Listen to the full episode here: https://lnkd.in/gWsD3kJn #accounting #cpafirm #firmgrowth #futureofaccounting #accountingprofession #valuepricing #talentdevelopment

Today, Michael Eastwood, Gary Bisbee, CFA, and I announced our third quarter results for 2025. Solid momentum continued with total company organic revenues rising by 7%, and our 'Big 3' businesses – Legal Professionals, Tax & Accounting Professionals, and Corporates, growing by 9%. It reflects continued momentum in our AI-driven innovation strategy and the impact of our agentic AI solutions like CoCounsel Legal and CoCounsel for tax, audit, and accounting. We’re launching new products and reshaping professional workflows by combining our expertise and trusted, authoritative content with cutting-edge technology. This is how we are empowering our customers to navigate increasing complexity and stay ahead, and I wanted to thank them, and our dedicated team, for these outcomes.

AI is reshaping accounting and that’s a good thing for small firms. As top 100 firms replace entry-level roles with automation, local and mid-sized firms have a golden opportunity. There’s incredible young talent entering the field they just need the right mentorship and path to ownership. If you’re 10–12 years from retirement, now’s the time to build your bench and secure your firm’s future. 🎧 Listen to the full episode here: https://lnkd.in/gjnMT_Cn #accounting #cpafirm #firmgrowth #futureofaccounting #accountingprofession #valuepricing #talentdevelopment

Exciting news! Crowe has officially launched Crowe Studio — a venture-style business unit designed to help organizations scale smarter, transform faster, and lead in an AI-powered economy. I’m thrilled to share that I’ll be leading the Y-Hire for AI Transformation team within Crowe Studio. Our mission is to help clients operationalize AI at scale by embedding the right talent and expertise directly into their teams. Instead of hiring individual AI engineers, Crowe Y-Hire gives you access to a full-stack AI team — from engineers and architects to PMOs and business analysts — all ready to plan, build, and deliver enterprise-grade AI solutions that drive measurable business impact. This launch represents more than just a new practice; it’s a new way to onboard talent. By integrating human expertise in AI and automation into how clients operate, we’re enabling continuous transformation and sustainable growth. If you’d like to explore how Y-Hire can help your business harness the power of AI, I’d love to connect. Let’s build what’s next — together.

Finance pros, don’t buy this fairy tale trending now on LinkedIn. So apparently… everyone’s a CFO now 🤷♂️ “AI will handle the repetitive stuff, and everyone will just do STRATEGY.” Cool story. I’m sorry… isn’t that role already called the CFO? So what now? Every accountant, analyst, bookkeeper, and intern suddenly gets promoted? With 20 days of experience in finance? Sure, and I’m Batman. Here’s the ugly truth 👇 1️⃣ Jobs will be lost. Everyone will get fired like it's 2008 all over again. Once enough tasks vanish, entire roles collapse. You don’t need 10 people “directing” AI, you need one. 2️⃣ There's a corporate ladder that will be respected. “From doer to decision-maker” sounds nice until you remember hierarchy. There aren’t infinite seats at the strategy table. 3️⃣ AI won’t just do the “what.” It’s already doing parts of the “why.” It runs the analysis, explains the story, and convinces you it’s right, even when it’s not. Blind trust is another risk. 4️⃣ “Human skills” aren’t enough. Empathy and storytelling sound cute until you realize finance still runs on data. The future belongs to people who blend technical + human judgment. 5️⃣ “Learn AI” isn’t a strategy. Learn what, exactly? Prompting? Data governance? Ethics? Telling finance pros to “learn AI” is the new “learn Excel.” Motivational noise without a roadmap. -- So no, this isn’t the “biggest opportunity finance gets.” It’s a redistribution of value... (toward the "few" who master both strategy and systems.) What do you think? 👉 Is this shift an opportunity, or just a polite way of saying “mass downsizing with better branding”? 👉 What should governments or firms actually do to protect finance professionals from being left behind? Drop your honest take, not the PR version. I want to hear how you really see this playing out. -- I went deeper on the future of finance jobs/roles in today's newsletter, check it out in the 1st comment.

The CFO role is evolving, and it’s no longer just about numbers. EY’s latest article, “Why CFOs Should Steer Strategy and Innovation Beyond the Balance Sheet,” highlights how finance leaders today are: - Becoming strategic partners in growth and innovation - Leveraging data, AI, and analytics to drive decisions - Building agile, people-focused finance cultures At ARES Partners, we see this shift reflected in the demand for CFOs and finance leaders who can lead transformation, not just manage it. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gAQPEQCF #CFO #FinanceTransformation #StrategicFinance #AuditAndFinance #FinanceLeadership #DataDrivenFinance #Accounting #Finance #BusinessStrategy #FinancialInnovation #CFOAgenda #FutureOfFinance

I had a great chat recently with a seasoned CFO who’s now steering finance in an early-stage AI/Tech business here in Manchester. We talked about what really matters for ambitious, fast-growing companies. My key takeaways: ➡️ Cash and cashflow are everything. Always know your burn rate and how long you’ve got. This company nearly ran out of cash four or five times in the past three years. ➡️ Make your numbers tell a story. Investors want to see a growth journey, not just reports. Turning data into a compelling pitch is key for fundraising and product launches. ➡️ Scalability is where the value lies. EBITDA is important, but investors look for rapid revenue growth with genuine product-market fit. ➡️ Get the right systems in place from day one. Keep things lean, automate where you can, and build in strong controls early. Only hire for roles you absolutely need and look to automate the rest. ➡️ Finance covers all sorts. Involvement in ops, fundraising, strategy and more. Being adaptable and ready to roll up your sleeves is vital If you’re a finance professional in Manchester or the North West and fancy moving into the scale-up world, drop me a message in confidence.