The accounting industry is entering a period of profound change. Consolidation among firms is accelerating, AI is expanding the boundaries of what’s possible, and clients now expect far more than statutory compliance. They want insight, foresight, and advice that materially improves their business.

We see these dynamics across all 18 markets where Silverfin is active. Firms that can grow advisory services alongside compliance are gaining ground. Those that rely on compliance alone are finding it harder to compete.

Our VP of Product, Martin Lysholt Nielsen, recently shared how Silverfin is responding: by investing heavily in technology that removes friction from compliance work while enabling firms to deliver advisory services at scale. Not because advisory is unfamiliar territory—accountants already have these conversations—but because growing firms need tools that make high-quality advisory repeatable across every client engagement.

Market forces shaping our roadmap through 2026

1. Consolidation is accelerating, not slowing

Technology has become a decisive factor in mergers and acquisitions. Acquiring firms need systems that make onboarding and integration fast. Firms preparing for a sale need modern platforms that signal operational strength. We’re designing Silverfin to support both sides of that equation.

2. AI delivers most value when accountants remain in charge

Recent advances have changed what software can do. But our experience rolling out AI to thousands of firms shows that results are strongest when AI enhances professional judgment rather than replacing it. That’s why we focus on “AI-assisted” workflows—tools that increase speed, accuracy, and confidence, without taking control away from accountants.

3. Compliance alone is no longer enough

Efficient compliance is expected. Clients now also want help managing cash flow, understanding performance drivers, and making informed growth decisions. Firms that can’t offer this broader perspective risk losing relevance to those that can.

4. User experience is a strategic differentiator

Ease of use isn’t cosmetic—it’s operational. Strong UX shortens onboarding time for new hires, reduces errors, and lowers cognitive load in complex work. In a tight labour market, that advantage matters more than ever.

Five core areas of product investment

1. Strengthening our compliance foundation

Regulatory requirements differ by country and evolve constantly. We continue to expand and maintain our coverage of corporate tax, statutory accounts, and compliance templates across all regions. This is essential, ongoing work.

2. Making compliance dramatically faster

While compliance is increasingly commoditised, reporting demands continue to rise. We’re addressing this by radically reducing time spent on compliance through automated data flows, streamlined workflows, intelligent templates, and agentic AI that takes on repetitive review tasks.

The Silverfin Assistant is becoming a far more capable co-pilot—designed not to replace accountants, but to remove low-value work so they can focus on judgment, risk, and client dialogue.

3. Firm-wide portfolio intelligence

As firms grow, managing clients one by one no longer scales. When legislation changes, you need immediate visibility across all affected files. When trends appear—margin pressure, liquidity issues, tax opportunities—you should identify them once and act everywhere.

We’re building portfolio-level intelligence that supports this reality. Proactive alerts highlight risks early. Pattern detection uncovers opportunities across similar clients. And leadership teams can roll out insights, actions, and discussion themes across entire client groups in one move—maintaining advisory quality without overloading senior staff.

4. Advisory workflows and data storytelling

Advisory services vary widely, but consistency is the real challenge—ensuring every client receives the right conversations, regardless of who manages the relationship.

We’re creating a unified platform that supports the full advisory cycle: preparation, conversation, and follow-up.

That’s why we introduced Talking Points. In growing firms, partners can’t attend every meeting, but they still need confidence that critical topics are covered. Talking Points automatically pulls relevant discussion items from review notes and data in Silverfin, presenting them clearly ahead of each client meeting.

During the conversation, users can move directly from a talking point into underlying accounts and documentation. Afterward, follow-up actions are captured and tracked automatically.

At scale, the impact is even greater. If margin pressure appears across multiple clients, managers can flag it once and ensure it’s addressed in every relevant meeting. This is how firms deliver consistent, high-quality advisory across an entire portfolio.

We’re also rethinking how financial data is presented to clients. With reporting already used 4.5 million times last year, we’re evolving from static visuals to narrative-driven insights that answer the question business owners care about most: what happened to my money?

From compliance data to client discussion to action tracking, advisory becomes a closed loop within a single platform.

5. Supporting assurance services

In several regions, firms provide limited assurance engagements such as compilation or extended reviews. We’re developing tools that support the documentation requirements for this work, while accounting for significant regional differences.

What enables all of this

Two foundational capabilities support every investment we’re making:

• Richer data and deeper integrations: High-quality advisory depends on complete, reliable data. We’re expanding integrations and improving data consistency across the platform to support better insights and conversations.
• Next-generation content creation: Around 80% of time in Silverfin is spent working with templates—working papers, compliance documents, and review procedures. We’re investing in tools that drastically reduce the effort to create and maintain them. Our long-term vision is simple: describe what you need in plain language, and let AI build the template for you.

What this means for the UKI

These five core investments form the foundation of where Silverfin is heading over the next three years. But the specific features, timing and priorities vary by market – shaped by local regulations, market maturity and what you’ve told us matters most.

For UKI firms, here’s what our product investments translate into:

Currently in development

• Consolidated reports across all your entities, plus the working papers side of lease accounting
• Better visibility across your client portfolio with improved period filtering
• Improved detailed P&L views for administrative expenses
• Corporation tax coverage for commencements and investment businesses
• Our latest AI-powered feature, Talking Points, helps you prepare for client meetings by automatically surfacing key discussion topics from your review work, supports seamless navigation during conversations, and tracks follow-up actions afterwards. Managers can also flag discussion topics across multiple client files at once – if margins are compressed across 20 clients, that topic gets flagged for all 20 automatically.

Coming in 2026 and beyond

• Better tools for managing your entire client portfolio more efficiently
• UK-specific features and integrations tailored to your market requirements
• Simpler navigation to help new team members get productive faster
• Clearer, more transparent invoicing
• AI-powered reconciliation that generates proposals for your review, keeping you in control
• Faster delivery of new templates for medical practices, charities, trust accounting and other specialised sectors

Everything on this roadmap comes directly from your feedback and our product strategy. We’re committed to making Silverfin the platform you can rely on for the long term.