The purpose of the Outsourced Accounting Services (OAS) team at Forvis Mazars is to help small to midsize businesses (SMBs) unlock their full potential. Across the SMB landscape, leaders are optimistic about growth, but that optimism comes with real pressure around talent, technology, and execution. This mirrors what Forvis Mazars observes globally and nationally in our C-Suite Barometer: Executive Leadership Insights in the US.
To continue the momentum from our inaugural SMB Report in 2025, we developed an intentional webinar series to address many of these common operational and financial challenges that we see day to day as SMBs navigate an evolving environment. The insights within our 2026 SMB Report are drawn directly from live polling questions and real-world conversations. They address challenges across industries and company sizes, reflecting the reality of the people doing the work.
The topics we covered include:
- Financial Reporting: Using clear data and insights to help make effective decisions around planning, budgeting, and regulatory compliance.
- Legislative Developments: Our Washington National Tax Office demystifies complicated legislative developments, including provisions introduced by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
- Leveraging Technology: Streamlining close processes with helpful features like dashboards, checklists, and customized management reporting.
- Safeguarding Your Business Against Fraud: Navigating emerging technologies to help detect new threats and considering strategies to enhance internal controls with guidance from a certified fraud examiner.
- Accurate Year-End Accounting: Reducing last-minute stress through proactive planning and strategies to help improve efficiency.
Individuals in a wide variety of roles participated in our webinars and answered polling questions to help us build this report. The largest share identified as managers or supervisors. Other roles included controllers, associates, C-suite executives, owners/operators, directors, and vice presidents. The variety of roles provided perspectives from both leadership and day-to-day operators.
This report is designed to be practical and actionable, and we hope you will use these findings as a starting point to spark conversations and bring value to your business.
To learn more, download your copy of the report today.