FRC report highlights rising accountancy student numbers in UK and ROI

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Published: 5 October 2026

The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has today released the 24th edition of its Key Facts and Trends (KFAT) report, offering a comprehensive overview of the UK accountancy and audit landscape.

This year’s report, featuring data from 30 of 33 audit firms with Public Interest Entity (PIE) clients, shows that student numbers in the UK and Republic of Ireland (ROI) increased between 2024 and 2025. This is despite student numbers decreasing worldwide and follows declining numbers in the UK and ROI in recent years.

Membership across the accountancy bodies also increased with UK and ROI membership increasing by 2.5% and worldwide membership increasing 2.9% between 2024 and 2025.

Within the PIE audit market, the five largest firms outside of the Big Four continued to increase their share of FTSE 250 audits to nearly 18% in 2025, up from around 13% in 2024. In the broader audit market, there is ongoing consolidation with the number of registered audit firms decreasing by 9% to 3,421 firms in 2025.

To support its usability, the FRC has again provided the KFAT report directly on its website and in an Excel format, allowing users to interact with the data.