One in Three Clients Will Reconsider Your Firm Over AI

Thomson Reuters' June 2026 Future of Professionals report surveyed 1,816 professionals across 62 countries. The finding that should worry every accounting and law firm partner: 32 per cent of corporate clients will reconsider their professional services provider within the next 12 months. Not over fees. Not over responsiveness. Over AI.

The gap between what clients expect and what firms deliver has widened past the point of patience. 78 per cent of corporate clients now say AI-enabled quality improvements are essential or very important when evaluating providers. Only 6 per cent believe most providers are actually delivering. Among those reconsidering, one-third say it puts more than one million dollars in annual work at risk per relationship. Applied to the US legal and CPA markets alone, Thomson Reuters estimates $143 billion in client revenue is in active reconsideration.

Australia is not immune. We covered in April how 40 per cent of professional services firms globally now use generative AI — nearly double the prior year. Australian law firms still trail global peers on daily AI use by a factor of three, per earlier Thomson Reuters data. The firms losing client confidence are not the ones that refused to try AI. They are the ones that adopted it on paper but never embedded it in how they actually deliver work.

The client side of this story gets the headlines. The talent side is equally expensive. One in four professionals in the Thomson Reuters survey say they would consider leaving their firm within two years if it fails to deliver on AI's potential. Among those, 13 per cent are considering it within 12 months. The average replacement cost per professional: $232,000.

62 per cent of professionals say access to professional-grade AI tools would factor into whether they accept a new role. Among those already using AI at work, nearly one in three would reject a position that did not offer it. AI access is becoming a baseline expectation in professional services — in the same way flexible work arrangements became non-negotiable five years ago. Firms that cannot offer it will recruit from a shrinking pool.

When firms move slowly, staff move without them. One-third of lawyers, accountants, and compliance professionals in the survey are using AI tools their organisation has not approved. Among those who say their firm is too slow on AI, the figure rises to 41 per cent.

We wrote recently about the compliance risk this creates for Australian businesses. The Privacy Act changes taking effect in December 2026 require organisations to disclose automated decision-making that could affect individuals' rights. Shadow AI — where staff use consumer-grade tools to process client data without the firm's knowledge — is the fastest path to non-compliance. 96 per cent of the professionals surveyed said confidentiality safeguards were a requirement for any AI tool. They know the risk. They are using unsanctioned tools anyway because the alternative is no tools at all.

First, ask your clients directly whether they believe your firm is keeping pace with what AI enables. The 78-to-6 gap in the Thomson Reuters data suggests most firms will not like the answer — but hearing it from your own clients, before they act on it, is the difference between a problem and a crisis.

Second, audit what your staff are actually using. If you have not provided approved AI tools with proper confidentiality and data-handling guardrails, the default is not 'no AI.' It is unsanctioned AI with no protections. Give your people a path that works within your compliance requirements and they will take it.

Third, measure and communicate your AI impact. Only 18 per cent of firms in the companion Thomson Reuters survey track AI return on investment. The firms that survive this shift will not be the ones with the most tools. They will be the ones that can show a client exactly what AI does for the quality, speed, and cost of their work.

Key takeaways

Want to know where your firm stands before your clients decide for you?

Book a call and we'll assess your AI readiness against what your clients and staff now expect — and build a plan to close the gap.