Key Facts and Trends in the Accountancy Profession 2025

Published: 15 October 2025

Key Facts and Trends is produced annually by the FRC to provide helpful statistical data on the accountancy profession, and provide contexts to its work.

This is the twenty-third edition of Key Facts and Trends in the Accountancy Profession.

Introduction

Overview

1This publication provides statistical information and trends on members and students in the accountancy profession, and audit firms responsible for auditing Public Interest Entities (PIEs)^[1].

2Information is obtained from the following eight accountancy bodies (which includes six UK chartered accountancy bodies and two professional bodies):

• the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA)
• the Chartered Accountants Ireland (CAI)
• the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA)
• the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA)
• the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS)
• the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW)
• the Association of International Accountants (AIA)
• the Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT).

3In the UK there are four Recognised Supervisory Bodies (RSBs), which register and supervise statutory auditors and audit firms. These are ACCA, CAI, ICAEW and ICAS. There are five Recognised Qualifying Bodies (RQBs) that can offer the Audit Qualification. These are ACCA, ICAEW, CAI, ICAS and AIA.

4CIMA is a UK-based professional management accounting body; CIPFA is a UK-based professional accounting body focused on the public sector, while AAT is a UK-based professional body for accounting technicians.

5In this edition, 31 PIE Audit Firms (out of 34 PIE Audit Firms contacted) participated, compared with 33 out of 41 PIE Audit firms in last year’s publication. Despite the number of audit firms exiting the PIE market, this year saw a higher response rate of 91% versus 80% last year.

How to use this report

6This report provides information for students, academics and those who work within the accountancy industry to help them understand the landscape of the profession in the UK in 2024. This year, we have provided the statistical data in an accompanying data file to make it easier to use.

7The Highlights section provides an overview of key facts and trends for the UK – combined with the Republic of Ireland (ROI), where relevant – and worldwide data where available, that we consider relevant to all stakeholders. For further information, please refer to the accompanying data file.

8The content of this publication is for general information purposes only. Where appropriate, we highlight significant trends and explain possible limitations of the data; however, it is important to note that we do not check the accuracy of the information provided. We stress that it is often difficult to make comparisons between the different accountancy bodies, or between the PIE audit firms, given the differences in the way data is classified by those bodies and firms, and because of different regulatory arrangements in the UK, ROI and rest of the world.

9The Appendices include details on the methodology, points to note and the Financial Reporting Council’s (FRC’s) responsibilities in respect of the supervision of the professional bodies and UK statutory auditors.

10As always, we are grateful to those who take the time to complete our questionnaire on how we can continue to improve this publication.

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Footnotes

1. [1]

   Public Interest Entities (PIEs) are: (a) an issuer whose transferable securities are admitted to trading on a UK regulated market; (b) a credit institution within the meaning of Article 4(1)(1) of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council, which is a CRR firm within the meaning of Article 4(1)(2A) of that Regulation; (c) a person who would be an insurance undertaking as defined in Article 2(1) of Council Directive 91/674/EEC of 19 December 1991 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the annual accounts and consolidated accounts of insurance undertakings as that Article had effect immediately before exit day, were the United Kingdom a Member State.

Highlights

1. Members and Students of the Accountancy Bodies

11Membership of the accountancy bodies continues to grow, though more slowly than in the previous year. The accountancy bodies surveyed in this report have over 408,000 members in the UK and ROI, and over 623,000 members worldwide. Membership grew by 0.8% in the UK and ROI, and 1.1% worldwide^[1] between 2023 and 2024.

12The overall decline in student numbers that we have seen in the previous years for the five RQBs, CIMA and CIPFA, has continued for 2024, although some of the bodies showed an increase in numbers. Between 2023 and 2024, student numbers in the UK and ROI decreased by 0.3% and by 0.1% worldwide, compared to a fall of 0.2% and an increase of 0.1% respectively last year.

13There are now under 155,000 students in the UK and ROI, and under 585,000 worldwide. The total number of students who became members worldwide increased by 12.3%, compared to a fall of 5.9% in 2023 and 0.8% in 2022.

14A review of the five RQBs alone shows a growing student population, with ACCA having the largest increase. In 2024, there were in total nearly 116,000 students registered with RQBs with addresses either in the UK or ROI, up from nearly 113,000 in 2023.

15Around 1,800 members were awarded the Audit Qualification in 2024, down from 1,900 in 2023. In 2024, there were nearly 9,600 approved training offices in the UK and ROI, of which ICAEW accounts for nearly 60%.

16For AAT, the number of members in the UK and ROI, and worldwide both decreased by nearly 2% between 2023 and 2024. This is in contrast with an increase in the number of students by over 30% in the UK and ROI, and worldwide.

17Annual income generated from all members and students increased in 2024 for all but one of the bodies. ACCA continues to generate the highest income out of the seven bodies (excluding AAT) at £258.8m in 2024, while CIMA and ICAEW saw the largest income increases of 17.8% and 11.1% respectively in 2024. CIPFA achieved the highest growth in average income per member and student population of 13.8%.

18The number of statutory audit firms registered with the RSBs continues to decline, falling to 3,760 firms in 2024 compared with 5,007 in 2020 (a 24.9% decline in the past five years). The number of registered audit firms fell by 6.9% in 2024, down to 3,760, compared with 4,038 firms in 2023 and 4,310 in 2022.

19The number of new applications (172) to become a registered statutory audit firm grew by 25.5%, in contrast with the rate of voluntary surrender (430), which was 19.8% in 2024. However, given the latter’s absolute number was higher, the result is a net decline in overall numbers.

20Regarding diversity, the accountancy bodies collect data on their members and students concerning seven of the nine protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010. For their workforce, they collect data on all nine protected characteristics. Additionally, we also ask whether any of the bodies collect data on the socio-economic background of their members and students, and their workforce. This data shows no significant changes in trends.

2. PIE Audit Firms

21After the relatively high growth in total fee income for the last two years – 11.1% in 2023 and 11.9% in 2022 – the Big Four^[2] UK audit firms saw minimal growth of 1.2% in 2024. For firms outside of the Big Four, the growth in total fee income continues at pace – 9.8% in 2024 – albeit slower than the increases of 13.2% in 2023 and 18.5% in 2022.

22Audit fee income for the Big Four UK firms maintained strong growth, increasing by 9.9% in 2024 compared with a 19.5% and 7.6% increase in 2023 and 2022. Audit fee income for audit firms outside the Big Four increased by 15.4% in 2024, compared with 23.2% in 2023 and 23.3% in 2022.

23Fees for non-audit work to audit clients increased by 2.5% for the Big Four UK firms, compared with a decrease of 8.9% in 2023. In contrast, non-Big Four firms saw a larger increase in these fees of 8.2% in 2024 compared with a decrease of 4.5% last year.

24For the Big Four non-UK firms, audit fee income as a proportion of total fee income rose from 29.9% in 2023 to 32.3% in 2024, while fee income from non-audit work to audit clients as a proportion of total fee income fell marginally from 8.8% in 2023 to 8.7% in 2024. Fee income from non-audit clients as a proportion of total fee income declined from 61.3% in 2023 to 59% in 2024.

25The average audit fee income per Statutory Auditor/Responsible Individual (RI) for the Big Four UK firms in 2024 was £2.82m compared with £2.47m for the Big Four non-UK firms and £1.55m for non-Big Four firms. The average for all firms with PIE clients was £2.31m, an increase of £0.1m (4.5%) compared with 2023.

26In 2024, the five largest^[3] firms (by number of listed audit clients) outside of the Big Four firms audited 13.2% (33) of the FTSE 250 companies; in 2023 this was 11.6% (29). Firms outside these five (and the Big Four), audited 5.2% (13) of the FTSE 250 companies in 2024, compared with 4% (10) of the FTSE 250 companies in 2023.

27Regarding diversity at audit firms, our survey questions focused on senior management at each of the 31 PIE Audit Firms, highlighting those managers, directors and partners who are female, from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, have a disability, or identify as LGBTQ+.

Footnotes

1. [1]

   The location of members and students is based on the registered address supplied to the accountancy bodies and may be either the place of employment or the place of residence.

2. [2]

   Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

3. [3]

   The five largest audit firms outside the Big Four (based on number of listed audit clients) are BDO, Johnston Carmichael, Forvis Mazars (formerly Mazars), Macintyre Hudson and PKF Littlejohn. This value is taken from the 2024 AQR Scope Survey.

Appendix 1 : Methodology, points to note and the FRC’s responsibilities

Methodology and points to note

28The Highlights section references data for the UK and the ROI combined, as well as worldwide data. We aggregated the UK and ROI data for certain figures. This is because some auditors and audit firms are registered in both jurisdictions and, in some cases, it is difficult for bodies to separate the data. The Irish Auditing and Accounting Supervisory Authority (IAASA) publishes information relating specifically to the ROI accountancy bodies, which can be found at https://iaasa.ie/.

29Statutory Auditors and Third Country Auditors Regulation (SATCAR) 2016 designates the FRC as the Competent Authority responsible for the public supervision of statutory auditors^[1].

30Care is needed if making comparisons between firms using the information in this report as firm composition can – and often does – vary from year to year. Moreover, not all accountancy firms have PIE audit clients and, those without are not approached to provide information for this publication.

31Fee income for PIE Audit Firms is broken down in this report by audit fee income, fee income from non-audit work to audit clients and fee income from non-audit clients. Firms are also asked to break the audit fee down further to audit fee income from PIE and non-PIE clients. This is to give an overview of revenue streams.

FRC’s responsibilities

32For the purposes of this report, under SATCAR 2016, the FRC is the designated Competent Authority for statutory audit in the UK. Our responsibilities as the Competent Authority are set out in regulation 3 of SATCAR 2016, which permits the FRC to delegate some of the tasks required to fulfil its responsibilities. The FRC also has functions and powers regarding statutory auditors, RQBs and RSBs, under Part 42 of the Companies Act 2006, which were delegated to us by the Secretary of State.

33The FRC’s statutory responsibilities for supervising the regulation of statutory auditors include, but are not limited to:

• Supervising the regulation of statutory auditors by RSBs, the award of the statutory audit qualification by RQBs and assessing annually whether the recognised bodies continue to meet the requirements for recognition.
• Assessing that each RSB carries out the Regulatory Tasks delegated to it by the FRC in accordance with the requirements of the Delegation Agreements between the FRC and the four RSBs. The tasks include the registration of audit firms and individuals, audit firm monitoring, Continuous Professional Development and enforcement.

34The FRC has a range of regulatory powers that it may use in cases where an RSB or RQB fails to meet its statutory responsibilities.

Footnotes

1. [1]

   SATCAR 2016 implements obligations in Assimilated Regulation 537/2014 (the Audit Regulation) and EU Directive 2006/43/EC as amended by EU Directive 2014/56/EU. The Audit Regulation relates to the audit of PIEs and forms part of assimilated law under the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023. As amended, it will continue to apply in the UK as domestic legislation. SATCAR 2016 was also amended to reflect the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.

Appendix 2: Glossary

35This glossary provides definitions of many of the acronyms, abbreviations and some key terms used within the Key Facts and Trends publication and data file:

Term	Definition
AAT	Association of Accounting Technicians.
ACCA	Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.
AIA	Association of International Accountants.
AIM	Alternative Investment Market. This is the London Stock Exchange's market for small and medium-sized growth companies.
AQR	Audit Quality Review team, which is part of the FRC.
Audit Qualification	The statutory audit qualification provided by an RQB to its members under the Companies Act 2006.
Audit services	These are: reporting required by law or regulation to be provided by the auditor. reviews of interim financial information. reporting on regulatory returns. reporting to a regulator on client assets. reporting on government grants. reporting on internal financial controls when required by law or regulation. extended audit work that is authorised by those charged with governance performed on financial information and/or financial controls where this work is integrated with the audit work and is performed on the same principal terms and conditions.
BAME	Black, Asian and minority ethnic (used to refer to communities other than White British).
Big Four	The four largest audit firms: PricewaterhouseCoopers, KPMG, Deloitte and EY.
CIMA	Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.
CIPFA	Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy.
CPD	Continuing Professional Development.
Crown Dependencies	Territories that are not part of the United Kingdom, but are self-governing possessions of the British Crown, and include the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey, and the Isle of Man.
FRC	Financial Reporting Council.
FTSE 100	An index composed of the 100 largest companies listed on the London Stock Exchange.
FTSE 250	An index containing the 101st to 350th largest companies by market capitalisation on the London Stock Exchange.
IAASA	Irish Auditing and Accounting Supervisory Authority.
ICAEW	Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.
CAI	Institute of Chartered Accountants Ireland.
ICAS	Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland.
LGBTQ+	Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer/questioning and other identities.
LSE	London Stock Exchange.
Non-audit services	Non-audit services comprise any engagement where an audit firm, or a member of its network, provides professional services to: an audited entity an audited entity’s affiliates, or another entity in respect of the audited entity, other than the audit of financial statements of the audited entity. Non-audit services may also comprise any engagement where a firm or a member of its network, provides professional services to another entity where the subject matter of the engagement includes the audited entity and/or its significant affiliates. Consideration may be given to such factors as the nature of the service, the ultimate beneficiary, the fee and the perspective of an objective, reasonable and informed third party.
Non-UK firms	EY Ireland, KPMG Ireland, KPMG in the Crown Dependencies.
Next five	The five largest audit firms outside the Big Four UK firms (based on number of listed audit clients) are BDO, Johnston Carmichael, Forvis Mazars (formerly Mazars), Macintyre Hudson and PKF Littlejohn.
PIEs	The Public Interest Entities(PIEs) are: an issuer whose transferable securities are admitted to trading on a UK regulated market. a credit institution within the meaning of Article 4(1)(1) of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council, which is a CRR firm within the meaning of Article 4(1)(2A) of that Regulation. a person who would be an insurance undertaking as defined in Article 2(1) of Council Directive 91/674/EEC of 19 December 1991 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the annual accounts and consolidated accounts of insurance undertakings as that Article had effect immediately before IP completion day, were the United Kingdom a Member State.
PIE Audit Firm	A UK statutory audit firm that audits PIEs and is registered in the PIE Auditor Register established and maintained in accordance with the PIE Auditor Registration Regulations.
Principal	An individual in a sole practice (where the firm is a sole practice), a person who is a partner (including both salaried and equity partners where the firm is a partnership), a member of a limited liability partnership (where the firm is a limited liability partnership), a director (where the firm is a corporate practice) or any individual who is held out as being a company director, partner, or member.
Public Sector Equality Duty introduced by the Equality Act 2010. The duty covers age, disability, sex, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, and sexual orientation.	Public Sector Equality Duty introduced by the Equality Act 2010. The duty covers age, disability, sex, gender. reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, and sexual orientation.
RI	Responsible Individual that is a natural person who is a principal or employee (but not a subcontractor or a consultant) of a Statutory Audit Firm and is registered with an RSB as a Statutory Auditor.
ROI	Republic of Ireland.
RQB	Recognised Qualifying Body are bodies in the UK recognised to offer the Audit Qualification, in line with the requirements of Schedule 11 to the Companies Act 2006.
RSB	Recognised Supervisory Body are bodies in the UK that can register and supervise audit firms, in accordance with the requirements of Schedule 10 to the Companies Act 2006.
SATCAR 2016	The Statutory Auditors and Third Country Auditors Regulations 2016.
UK	United Kingdom.
UK GAAP	Generally Accepted Accounting Practice in the UK.
UK Regulated Market	Has the meaning given in section 1261 of the Companies Act 2006.
Year end	An accounting procedure undertaken at the end of the year to close out business from the previous year and carry forward balances from the previous year.

The Financial Reporting Council does not accept any liability to any party for any loss, damage or costs howsoever arising, whether directly or indirectly, whether in contract, tort or otherwise from any action or decision taken (or not taken) as a result of any person relying on or otherwise using this document or arising from any omission from it.

Published: 15 October 2025