The accounting profession is undergoing a critical transformation. The pace of change is accelerating, client needs are expanding, and a new generation of accountants carries a fresh vision for leadership and the profession as a whole.

The promotion to Partner demands a new mindset, deeper self-awareness, and greater autonomy. For New Partners to thrive and lead with confidence, they must own their leadership journey while at the same time, firms must equip them with updated tools to lead with curiosity, empathy (for themselves and others), and resilience.

Because of our work with both firms and individuals, we knew gaps existed in this defining career milestone, but we wanted to learn more.

So, we created the 2025 Intend2Lead New Partner Experience Survey. Our goal was to listen deeply to the voices of recently promoted New Partners from across the US (and beyond), to understand their challenges, opportunities, and sources of–and needs for–support.

We surveyed:

  • 110 newly promoted Partners responded to our survey. The call went out to anyone in public accounting promoted to the highest level at an accounting firm, effective January 1, 2023 through December 31, 2024.
  • Respondents represented 30 U.S. states, with one international respondent from India.
  • 48% of respondents have capital/ownership interest in their firm.

We asked:

  • What does it really feel like to step into Partnership right now?
  • Where are firms succeeding in supporting their new leaders?
  • Where are the gaps?

The New Partners’ answers offered surprises, places for growth, and areas of established successes. All of it was inspiring.

Download a copy of the full report here.

The Challenges New Partners Face

The survey revealed five central challenges that shape the New Partner experience today:

  • Creating space for additional responsibilities while protecting self-care
  • Lack of transparency around Partner evaluation and compensation
  • Letting go of prior responsibilities to focus on strategic priorities
  • Navigating firm politics
  • Influencing change

These five areas reveal both operational hurdles and shifting human challenges, highlighting the tension between the profession’s traditional structures and the evolving needs of a new generation of leaders who are asking bigger questions about meaning, purpose, and balance.

Six Levers for Success

We also uncovered six foundational levers that help shape the success of a New Partner’s transition:

Performance Structures

  • Goal-setting – Partners with clear, co-created goals reported higher confidence and effectiveness.
  • Feedback – Only half of Partners felt they received enough of it, and even fewer found it actionable.
  • Compensation clarity – Many faced a significant expectations gap that eroded trust.

Developmental Supports

  • Training – Pre-promotion training helps, post-promotion training is even more impactful, and together, they elicit the best results for long-term success.
  • Executive Coaching – Those who received professional coaching, especially after promotion, reported significantly higher transition success.
  • Mentorship – The most powerful support often came from informal and external mentors, not just formal firm programs.

Across all six levers, one theme emerged clearly: open, intentional communication is the catalyst for growth. Without it, the gap between firms’ good intentions and Partners’ lived experiences only widens.

What This Means for the Profession

We see these findings as a call to action. They ask us to move beyond the old paradigm of technical excellence alone and embrace a new dimension of leadership.

At Intend2Lead, we call this the Dimension of Possible. It’s the space where leaders thrive, cultures flourish, and the profession evolves with love, curiosity, and purpose.

For firms, this means reimagining support for New Partners:

  • Engage in transparent conversations about expectations and compensation.
  • Treat goal-setting as a developmental practice, not just a performance metric.
  • Invest in post-promotion training and coaching as standard, not optional.
  • Expand access to mentorship, both inside and outside the firm.

For individuals, it means owning your journey:

  • Define your own vision of success.
  • Seek out mentors who challenge and support you.
  • Ask for feedback and create your own systems for growth.
  • Embrace (and ask for) professional coaching and training as catalysts for thriving.

Why This Matters

The transition to Partner isn’t just about the individual; it’s about evolving and advancing the profession to meet current and future needs. How new Partners are supported, or not, shapes their personal success as well as the future of their firms and the accounting profession as a whole.

As one survey participant advised their peers, “Don’t be afraid to ask for help and let your voice be heard.”

This is the new philosophy of leadership we’re seeing–and it is the foundation of the profession’s evolution. As another respondent put it, “Always be willing to reach out to someone for advice. Stay vulnerable.”

The New Partners of today are leaders who are eager to speak, listen, ask for what they need, and grow together.

Our Belief in Love

At Intend2Lead, we hold a simple but radical belief: our future depends on our capacity to lead with love.

Love looks like curiosity about ourselves and others, creating cultures of belonging where every voice matters, and practicing coaching as a leadership style, where leaders empower others instead of holding power. It also looks like choosing growth over perfection, and possibility over fear.

The 2025 Intend2Lead New Partner Experience Survey offers an analysis of where our profession stands today when it comes to supporting our New Partners. It is also an invitation for firms to reimagine how they develop this critical group of leaders, for New Partners to step boldly into their own Dimension of Possible, and for all of us to shift the tide of the profession, together.

What Comes Next

Let’s find the Dimension of Possible, together.

The journey doesn’t end with these findings. This is the beginning of a new conversation about what it means to thrive as a New Partner, as a firm, and as a profession in a time of transformation.

You can download a copy of the full report here.

If you’re ready to explore how your firm can turn these insights into impact, we’d love to talk. When we choose to invest in the growth of our leaders with openness, transparency, and empathy, we don’t just create stronger firms, we create a profession where people, purpose, and possibility can truly flourish.

We offer many customizable programs for firms and individuals, as well as our Personal Partner Success Plan, which we created after years of working directly with this key group of leaders.

This support process starts by inviting each New Partner to bring their whole selves to the table and envision the leader they want to be.

From there, we guide New Partners to:

  • Define clear, one-year goals that align with their vision.
  • Build quarterly action plans to move their goals forward.
  • Identify resources to support execution.
  • Establish a maintenance and self-accountability structure.
  • Create habits and routines of support for self-care.
  • Integrate personal goals with firm goals.

Then we ask a pivotal question: How will you know you’re moving toward what truly matters to you?

When New Partners set their own measures of success, they take ownership of their journey. Their goals become a foundation that provides stability and inspiration, empowering New Partners to navigate their expanded responsibilities while staying connected to their purpose.

See you in the DoP,