Payroll in 2026: The Tech Changes Canadian Accounting Firms Can’t Ignore

Payroll hasn’t changed much in years. But the technology underneath it is starting to shift fast.

Canadian accounting and bookkeeping firms are now managing payroll across multiple systems, relying on manual checks, and carrying increasing year-end risk. At the same time, new payroll technologies, automation, and AI-driven tooling are beginning to reshape how payroll can be delivered at scale.

In this live panel discussion, Rachel Fisch and Brian Clare (Co-founders of Paiday) are joined by Mike Libbey and Alison Giovannetti, leading voices in payroll and accounting technology, to break down the tech changes Canadian firms can’t afford to ignore as we move toward 2026.

This is not a product demo.

It’s a practical, future-focused conversation about how payroll technology is evolving, what’s already falling behind, and how firms can prepare without taking on unnecessary risk.

You’ll learn:

• Signs your payroll stack won’t scale into 2026
• What “modern payroll architecture” actually looks like in 2026
• Which payroll tasks are most likely to be automated by 2026 (and which aren’t)
• How AI is improving accuracy, exception handling, and payroll review
• What human oversight still matters and why firms that ignore this will struggle

Whether you’re running payroll for 5 clients or 500, this session will give you an idea on what’s coming next and how to think about payroll differently in the year ahead.