Get Connected Toronto 2026: What AI means for Canadian accounting professionals

Intuit QuickBooks used its annual Canadian conference to bring Canadian accounting professionals together around a single idea: that human intelligence and artificial intelligence, working in combination, can do more for clients than either could alone. The message was clear– the future of Canadian accounting isn't human or AI, it's both. When professional judgment combines with a trusted AI-driven expert platform, the result is something more powerful: accounting professionals who can genuinely move the needle for the businesses and communities they serve.  

According to the Intuit QuickBooks 2026 AI Impact Report, the top barrier to AI adoption among Canadian businesses isn't cost. It's trust. And that single insight set the tone for everything that followed at Get Connected Toronto 2026. 

The accounting profession is not being replaced by AI — it is being repositioned by it. The firms that lean in, redefine what an accounting practice can do. 

Here are the highlights from the mainstage keynotes. 

"AI can calculate, but it lacks a pulse"

Puja Subrun, Regional Vice President of Intuit QuickBooks Canada, opened with a problem her audience knows well: clients are drowning in disconnected tools — anywhere from 7 to 25 apps — creating siloed data and lost insight. The solution, she argued, isn't more technology. It's integration. That's what Intuit Accountant Suite delivers — firm management, client work, and team oversight in one place, powered by Intuit Intelligence. 

But Subrun was careful to frame AI as a complement to professional judgment, not a replacement for it. "AI can calculate, but it lacks a pulse. It knows your client's data, but it doesn't know your client." Her principle: "AI where it counts. Human when it matters." When expertise combines with Intuit Intelligence, she argued, clients get the best of both worlds: AI built on decades of proprietary data, and the professional judgment only accounting professionals can provide. 

Subrun also pointed to Intuit's broader investment in Canada as context for the platform announcement– from national AI policy conversations with the Government of Canada, to the new Intuit for Education program, to partnerships with the NHL and PWHL. Taken together, she positioned these as signals of a long-term commitment to the Canadian accounting profession, not just a product cycle.  

Canadian accountants are worth seven times more than the software they use

Gary Drysdale, Director of Sales at Intuit QuickBooks Canada, offered a number worth sitting with: businesses spend approximately seven times more on accounting expertise than on software. He used that stat to reframe what firms are actually selling — not compliance, but judgment. 

He celebrated Intuit Accountant Suite built with accountants, for accountants, and invited Mike Libbey, Partner and COO at YBL, a fully virtual Ontario firm and early Intuit Accountant Suite adopter — to share his experience honestly. "The big opportunity is advisory," Libbey said. "AI gets us to specific, actual numbers– not generic advice." On the platform itself: "Being able to ask firm-wide questions about any client's books without leaving the platform is a game changer. This is much more than a facelift." 

Drysdale also confirmed that customer success improvements were a direct response to customer feedback — expanded to 7-day phone and chat, staffed by a fully Canadian-based and certified team. He went further, outlining a tiered support model that scales with a firm's growth: as firms move through the ProAdvisor program tiers, they unlock specialists with greater tenure, deeper domain knowledge, and faster escalation paths. The bigger your practice grows, the more supported it becomes. 

From system of record to system of intelligence

Accounting software has long looked backward. Joelle Sater, Professional Services Consultant at Intuit QuickBooks Canada, arrived on stage with a sharper vision: turn it into a GPS — an intelligent guide that looks through the windshield and helps accountants and their clients make better decisions in real time.

"AI can flag that a client's margins dropped 12% this quarter. But you're the one who can see why — because you know your clients, you spot trends before anyone else. That's what makes your firm indispensable." 

Sater announced two Intuit Accountant Suite features now in beta and free for Canadian accounting firms:

• Client Insights surfaces portfolio-wide issues in real time– one firm resolved an unexpected expense spike in under a week, a problem that previously wouldn't have surfaced until month-end.
• Books Close manages month-end at scale with AI-flagged categorization errors and automated reclassification.

And two additional product changes are relevant for Canadian practitioners:

• QuickBooks Online Payroll clients: coming soon to support direct contractor payments– no manual workarounds, no platform switching. Unlimited direct deposit, next-business-day payments for Premium and Elite clients, automatic sync to QuickBooks, and T4A and T5018 slips prepared automatically for year-end.
• QuickBooks Online Advanced clients: fixed asset depreciation is now getting a long-requested upgrade with custom declining-balance rates that align with CRA Capital Cost Allowance classes and how Canadian firms actually file. It's the kind of accountant-requested capability that keeps ambitious clients from shopping for a full ERP, and keeps you at the center of their growth. 

What Canadian accountants walked away with

The mainstage set the direction, but the real work happened behind the scenes. The breakout sessions at Get Connected Toronto covered responsible AI and ethics, strategic advisory, sustainable growth, and navigating industry change — reflecting where the profession actually is: not just curious about AI, but working through what leading with it looks like in practice. 

The clearest takeaway was also the simplest: the firms that move toward advisory, and use AI to get there faster, are the ones best positioned for what's coming.

This sponsored content was produced by Intuit; Canadian Accountant's editorial department was not involved in its creation.