2025 was a banner year for accounting optimization, and 2026 looks ready to be the same. As your organization reflects, it’s time to embrace the technology trends that’ll define 2026.
While the year certainly had its challenges, organizations proactively responded by embracing flexibility and functionality to address sustainability. From examining operational processes to improving drivers of mission success, process optimization is defined for 2025 and is expected to be at the forefront in 2026.
As organizations work to be nimbler, they are embracing AI, automation, and the continued move to cloud accounting. So as your organization readies for the new year, let’s explore the top nonprofit and association accounting trends of 2026 and examine how to best position your organization for sustained success.
Key Accounting Trends for 2026
AI Adoption and Practical Use Cases
AI in accounting has moved from novelty to necessity, offering practical solutions that enhance speed and accuracy.
While only 21% of organizations used AI in the past calendar year, those that do found significant value in content generation, marketing, and analytics, and planned to increase their investment in AI, according to a Momentive Software survey.
As more AI tools are developed, organizations can use AI to reduce administrative work while assisting with tasks such as brainstorming new fundraising ideas, creating content templates to thank supporters, and summarizing essential statistics in an easy-to-communicate format.
Accountants can use AI to automatically categorize complex transactions, flag potential fraud or compliance risks, and perform predictive analytics to better forecast cash flow based on historical donor data.
Automation of Workflows and Reporting to Combat Talent Shortages
The persistent shortage of skilled finance professionals in the nonprofit sector continues to put pressure on existing teams. Organizations are responding by investing in upskilling current staff in new technologies such as AI and automation, and by leveraging integrated software to simplify workflows, making the financial management role more strategic and less administrative.
AI can help organizations fight talent shortages and decrease administrative costs. Some practical uses of AI include streamlining workflows for invoice processing, bank reconciliations, and routine grant reporting. This not only frees up finance teams to focus on strategy but also drastically reduces the potential for manual data entry errors.
Cloud-Based Accounting
Again, cloud-based accounting tools remain increasingly relevant. Several years of research show that organizations continue to migrate to cloud-based accounting software, and migrating to the cloud remains a major pillar of cloud accounting trends.
Cloud-based systems provide the flexibility needed for hybrid workforces and ensure data security and accessibility. The shift allows finance teams to access real-time data from any location, making quick pivots and scenario planning much simpler.
Cloud systems foster collaboration, offer new opportunities for information sharing through comprehensive dashboards and reports that facilitate exchange, and, when appropriately utilized, increase efficiency throughout an organization and improve visibility into operations.
Increased Demand for Real-Time Financial Visibility
The future of accounting is centered on real-time intelligence that makes stats accessible to everyone in an organization.
Executive leadership and boards are increasingly demanding immediate visibility into financial health, program efficacy, and fund utilization. This necessitates robust reporting tools that can instantly connect revenue and expenditure to mission outcomes.
When it comes to reporting and increasing visibility, your organization must embrace a solution that gives complete, at-a-glance visibility into your organization’s financial health. It helps leadership and the board stay updated on cash flow, key metrics, and provides the critical insights you need to make confident decisions—all from a single, intuitive screen.
Help your organization be more responsive in 2026. The Go-to Guide for Mission-driven Accounting covers the fundamentals of sound financial management and compliance, while positioning your organization for strategic growth.
Regulatory and Compliance Shifts
The regulatory landscape is set for continued evolution, placing greater demands on nonprofit and association organizations for transparency and detailed reporting. Keeping pace with these mandates requires continuous monitoring and investment in flexible accounting systems that can quickly adapt to new rules, ensuring your organization remains compliant and avoids potential penalties. Proactively addressing these shifts is essential for maintaining stakeholder trust and focusing resources on core mission delivery rather than reactive compliance efforts.
ESG and Sustainability Pressures
Growing focus on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) factors will increasingly impact financial reporting, even within the nonprofit sector. Organizations will need to develop systems to track and report on non-financial metrics related to sustainability, demonstrating their commitment to broader societal impact beyond their immediate mission. This heightened scrutiny necessitates integrating ESG data collection into core accounting processes, allowing for transparent disclosure that satisfies donor and stakeholder expectations.
Data Security and Fraud Prevention
With the increased reliance on cloud-based systems and real-time data access, data security will become a paramount concern, especially as nonprofits handle sensitive donor and financial information. Using cloud-based systems with industry-standard security built in tools to prevent fraud is crucial.
Nonprofit Accounting Trends
Just as organizations pivoted to become nimbler in 2025, it’ll remain just as crucial in 2026. As we navigate through political and economic uncertainties, technological shifts, and changing donor behaviors, the need for data-driven insights and unified systems has never been more critical.
Momentive Software research shows that early technology adopters enjoy significant advantages across multiple performance metrics. These organizations are more likely to be very optimistic about their future and report stronger revenue growth, donor engagement, and operational efficiency.
The organizations that will thrive in the coming years aren’t necessarily those with the most significant budgets or longest histories, but rather those that strategically leverage technology, diversify funding, strengthen donor relationships, embrace innovation, and build collaborative networks.
Sustainability pressures
The nonprofit sector continues to face extraordinary challenges to sustainability. Revenues and donations are shrinking, and nonprofits nationwide are scrambling to find new funding streams and explore new revenue opportunities. In this uncertain economic climate, it’s more important than ever for nonprofits to think creatively and strategically about their budgeting efforts.
As we move into the new year, questions about the economy’s strength remain. When planning for uncertainty, nonprofit leaders should look back at what’s worked before, create scenarios for how the year could unfold, and develop separate plans and budgets for their most optimistic year, a slightly scaled-back year, and one that accounts for decreased revenues and donations.
Be prepared to pivot to other scenarios if your actuals aren’t meeting your projections, and don’t be afraid to try something new. The Guide to 2026 Proactive Budgeting is your secret weapon for moving beyond traditional budgeting and creating a fiscally sound financial roadmap for 2026 and beyond.
Revenue diversification
The top way to battle those sustainability challenges is through revenue diversification.
Trying new ways to reach existing donors and find new donors can help your nonprofit create new revenue sources. Peer-to-peer fundraising continues to be one of the fastest-growing ways for nonprofits to expand their reach and revenue. In fact, participation in the top 30 peer-to-peer fundraising programs grew 15.6% from 2022 to 2023, signaling that organizations of every size are seeing success by turning their supporters into active fundraisers.
Peer-to-peer fundraising empowers your most passionate advocates to raise money on your behalf by launching their own campaigns and sharing them with friends, family, and coworkers. It’s not just a modern fundraising trend—it’s a proven way to engage new audiences and build long-term donor relationships. It is key for organizations looking to diversify their revenue streams in the new year. But it’s not the only solution. When considering your 2026 projections, take a holistic view of your organization and examine if intradepartmental barriers contribute to inefficiency.
Fundraising and accounting barriers
Interdepartmental barriers prevent complete visibility into fiscal health, as organizations often use separate systems for accounting and fundraising. Even if unintentional, a barrier between these departments limits visibility into nonprofit operations and can contribute to errors with manual data entry.
Breaking down these barriers will be critical to overcoming uncertainty and having proper visibility into nonprofit health.
Robert Parkinson, CFO at Paterson, N.J.-based Turning Point, broke down a barrier in his organization by unifying his organization’s fundraising and accounting software.
“Any money that we don’t have to spend on extra administrative costs, extra systems, and even extra time can be dollars spent toward fulfilling the needs of our community,” Parkinson said. “We’re replacing time-consuming spreadsheets, calculations, and back and forth across people and teams with GiveSmart and MIP, the automation of data and transactions frees us up and is going to save us time and money that can go back into our treatment programs.”
As Parkinson demonstrates, breaking down this barrier increases efficiency by strategically unifying data, eliminating manual entry, streamlining reporting workflows, and aligning each department toward your organization’s most significant goal: accomplishing its mission.
The final piece of the puzzle to operational success in 2026 is embracing operational efficiency.
Association Accounting Trends for 2026
Associations face similar pressures as nonprofits in the coming year. While reliance on dues and events gives associations a unique financial profile, fluctuating member numbers and tightened professional budgets are leading to unstable member enrollment.
Similarly, association accounting trends demand adaptive forecasting and meticulous tracking of both dues and non-dues revenue to ensure financial stability amid fluctuating conditions.
Membership and Budget Modeling
Just like with nonprofits, success hinges on precision. Instead of static budgets, associations must prioritize fluidity and create a living, breathing document. Membership and dues forecasting based on anticipated churn, join rates, and tiered structures. Due to economic uncertainty, this must be paired with budgeting in fluctuating membership environments, requiring multiple scenario plans (optimistic, base, guardrail) to pre-determine cost controls and ensure financial resilience.
Members’ Changing Preferences
For years, a critical knowledge gap has plagued associations, leading directly to membership lapse. Associations underprioritize career services, yet members see them as a top priority.
Growing Non-Dues Revenue Streams
Non-dues revenue streams require sophisticated tracking. Associations must differentiate and track income from both in-person and virtual components of hybrid program revenue. Furthermore, integration is key to accurately tracking all event-based and educational income, including certifications, registrations, and exhibit fees, ensuring every revenue source is measured against its true cost for accurate profitability reporting.
Preparing for the Future of Accounting
The coming year presents a mandate for mission-driven organizations: to achieve sustainable growth you must embrace operational efficiency and integrated technology.
Organizations that will thrive will move beyond static budgeting by implementing scenario planning and aggressively pursuing revenue diversification, using strategies like peer-to-peer fundraising. Crucially, success requires breaking down interdepartmental barriers by unifying fundraising and accounting systems to eliminate errors and gain the real-time financial visibility demanded by boards.
Ultimately, technological adoption, from cloud accounting and automation to exploring the practical uses of AI, will drive greater mission impact by freeing up administrative costs.
By proactively addressing these shifts, your organization can be fiscally sound, highly compliant, and ready to navigate any economic uncertainty.
FAQ
What are the biggest accounting trends for 2026?
The biggest trends are centered on process optimization and digital transformation to ensure financial sustainability. This includes:
Dynamic Budgeting: Moving from static budgets to scenario planning (optimistic, base, conservative) to navigate economic uncertainty.
Unified Systems: Breaking down barriers between fundraising and accounting data by integrating platforms to improve visibility and eliminate manual errors.
Technology Adoption: Leveraging AI, automation, and cloud accounting to increase efficiency and shift staff time from administration to strategy.
How is AI changing accounting?
AI in accounting is moving from a novelty to a necessity, enabling finance teams to increase speed and accuracy. Practical uses include:
Automation of Routine Tasks: Streamlining invoice processing, bank reconciliations, and routine report generation.
Risk Mitigation: Automatically flagging potential fraud, anomalies, and compliance risks in real time.
Predictive Analytics: Using historical data to better forecast cash flow and anticipate shifts in donations, helping with strategic planning.
What are cloud accounting trends?
The main trend is the continued migration to cloud-based accounting environments to achieve greater organizational flexibility and data integrity. Cloud systems:
Improve Access: Allow finance teams to access real-time data from any location, supporting hybrid workforces.
Enhance Collaboration: Foster collaboration and information sharing through comprehensive, up-to-date dashboards and reports.
Strengthen Security: Ensure better data security and governance compared to legacy on-premise systems.
What trends are shaping nonprofit accounting?
Nonprofit accounting is primarily shaped by sustainability pressures and the need for greater transparency. Key trends include:
Revenue Diversification: Actively seeking non-traditional income sources, with peer-to-peer fundraising being a key tactic to expand the donor base.
Real-Time Visibility: Increased demand from boards and executive leadership for immediate insights into financial health and program efficacy.
Regulatory Compliance: Proactive preparation for regulatory changes, especially regarding fund restrictions and new tax law impacts on donor giving behavior in 2026.
