I disagree. There is already a huge shift occurring among the wiser practitioners and firms in this country (you can see it in the various discussions occurring on this Board, not to mention CPE and CPA Society topics, etc.). Subscription models, value pricing, value-added services, shifting away from focusing on history to being forward-thinking, etc. A three day summit I attended in August had a VERY heavy focus on the state of our profession, adaptation, how we must evolve, the very serious issue of LACK of CPAs, among many other topics. We still have a very strong future, but we are definitely under going not only an evolution, IMO, but also a revolution. Even the CPA exam is being modified in an attempt to appeal to more potential candidates.
The ones that are going to suffer are the ones unwilling to adapt, and I realize that does constitute quite a high number of individuals and firms in our profession...probably more due to age than anything else. The ones that have already made significant moves to adapt are thriving. The ones that are not able or willing to adapt? They're closing up shop or selling out before they end up killing their businesses. I am seeing it left and right as a 36 year old owner of a pretty successful Firm and where my entire life has been about adding value, adapting, etc.
I do not feel the least bit threatened by Intuit or H&R Block, now or in the future. They make A LOT of mistakes and absolutely do not provide any personalized level of service that successful business owners and individuals wish to have. Do you really think they are going to help small businesses plan for and open new locations, markets, or service or product offerings for example? Heck no! Not to mention the "forward thinking" tax aspects.