Adam Boatsman, CEO, BGW Advisors

Invest: spoke with Adam Boatsman, CEO of BGW Advisors, about how artificial intelligence is reshaping accounting, why advisory work is becoming more valuable, and what continues to make Charlotte a strong market for entrepreneurial growth. “If we can look back and we can say our clients hired us because we helped them make better decisions, not because they had to get a tax return or a financial statement, that’d be a big win,” Boatsman said.

What have been the most important changes over the past year for the industry and for your firm, and how are they shaping your strategy?

The biggest change has been artificial intelligence. That may sound cliché because people talk about technology constantly, but this time the progress is real and immediate. It is already changing the way firms think about service delivery, internal processes, and the skills their people will need going forward.

A meaningful portion of the work that accounting firms have traditionally done will be handled by AI in some form. For the work that remains in human hands, AI will still play a role as a brainstorming partner, research tool, and first-pass organizer. That does not eliminate our value. It sharpens what our value actually is. We want to be the people clients call when they have a major decision in front of them and want a thoughtful second set of eyes.

Most business decisions are not obvious. They are often close calls, and that is where judgment matters. So our strategy heading into 2026 is not about replacing people. It is about figuring out how AI fits into our practice while retooling the team to operate effectively in a different environment.

How are economic conditions influencing the way clients approach growth, investment, and risk?

Most of our clients are small to midsized businesses, and many of them still feel worn down. Even when some indicators point in a better direction, there is still a sense of fatigue. Owners have dealt with inflation, volatility, and shifting policies for so long that many of them are simply tired.

That mindset affects how they think about risk. Even if the data says the environment is stabilizing, many business owners still feel like they have been grinding for years. They are more cautious, more selective, and more focused on protecting what they have built. In many cases, they are not looking for aggressive moves. They are looking for clarity and steadiness.

How are client expectations evolving, particularly around advisory services and financial planning?

The interesting thing is that the core advice has not changed much. AI may give us more time to provide guidance, but the guidance itself still comes back to the fundamentals. We are still telling clients to know who their profitable customers are and to go find more of them. We are still telling them to control operating expenses, maintain enough working capital, and think carefully about where they allocate capital.

We are also still focused on helping them build value over time so they are in a strong position if and when they want an exit. In that sense, the message is remarkably consistent. What is changing is our ability to deliver that message faster and with better support because technology can take some of the lower-level work off our plates.

How are you thinking about talent, both in attracting the right people and preparing your team for a changing profession?

I spend time on campuses speaking with students, and a lot of them are understandably nervous. They are asking whether there will still be entry-level jobs in accounting. That is a fair question, especially when they are reading about larger firms changing hiring plans or reducing headcount in some areas.

My view is that firms still need to develop talent, but the path will look different. A person does not need to complete endless repetitions of the same task to become capable. They need enough repetition to understand what is actually happening, what good work looks like, and where mistakes are likely to show up. Once they understand the basics, they can review technology-generated output much more effectively and make better judgment calls when the answer is not black and white.

That is true across experience levels. Senior professionals have always reviewed work and exercised judgment. Now, some of that review may be directed at AI-assisted output instead of a junior employee’s draft. The team also needs to spend more time on higher-level decision-making and client conversations. That is where the real upskilling challenge is.

How are you using AI internally?

It has become an incredibly useful tool for ideation and organization. I have used it to help think through training plans and structure ideas that otherwise might stay scattered in my head for weeks. It can synthesize a conversation into a clear framework in minutes.

That does not mean it replaces leadership or experience. What it does is accelerate the early stages of thinking and make it easier to turn rough ideas into something the team can actually use. For leaders, that is a major advantage.

As competition and consolidation continue across the industry, how does BGW Advisors differentiate itself?

We are now private equity-backed, so we are part of the broader shift happening in the profession. Even so, our differentiation has not really changed. We remain focused on privately held companies, entrepreneurs, family businesses, and founder-led organizations. Some may be owned by private equity, but they still need more than a tax return or a financial statement.

Our role is to be the financial quarterback. I believe the market is going to separate into a few buckets. One will be firms that are largely AI-driven and compete on efficiency. Another will focus more on controller and CFO-type support. Then there is the trusted advisor category, which is where we like to operate. That includes some of the capabilities of the other groups, but the emphasis is on helping solve broader business challenges.

What has helped us stand out is our ability to break advisory work into repeatable, understandable components. That allows us to train people in a way that scales and gives clients a consistent experience.

What makes Charlotte such a strong place for your firm to operate and grow?

Charlotte benefits from something simple: people want to move here. That creates momentum on its own. It also creates entrepreneurial activity because people who relocate, retire, or transition out of other roles often decide to start businesses, and that is right in our sweet spot.

The region also offers a strong quality of life. Even with rising costs, it remains a relatively reasonable place to live and do business. The housing market has been more stable than in many parts of the country, the airport is a major advantage, and the broader region offers a lot in terms of lifestyle. You have access to the mountains, the beach, and a deep pool of higher education institutions. That combination continues to attract both talent and business investment.

What are your top priorities for the next two to three years, and how do you define success over the next decade?

Our near-term priorities are retooling the team and making the best possible use of AI as a force multiplier instead of a replacement. We want to deepen the services we provide and make sure our people are prepared to operate in a more advisory-centered model.

In the long term success would mean helping redefine the profession. Too much of accounting has historically been viewed as compliance work that clients have to buy. The real opportunity is to become something more useful and more strategic. If we can look back and say our clients hired us because we helped them make better decisions, not because they had to get a tax return or a financial statement, that’d be a big win.

Do you have any final thoughts on technological disruption in the profession?

One thing I remind myself is that people are often right about what a new technology can do, but wrong about exactly who it will displace. When the internet emerged, there were all kinds of sweeping predictions about which companies and industries would disappear. Some changes did happen, but not always in the way people expected.

That is a useful perspective for AI. It is going to reshape accounting significantly, but that does not automatically mean firms lose their relevance. The firms that adapt, train well, and learn how to apply the technology thoughtfully will still have an important role to play. That is the part that gives me optimism.