Accountancy Age 50+50 Report 2025 in partnership with Intuit QuickBooks
Consolidation is the headline story of the year. With 44% of the Top 100 engaging in M&A activity, firms are no longer just growing organically; they are buying capabilities.
The Accountancy Age Top 50+50 Rankings Report 2025, produced in collaboration with Intuit QuickBooks, offers the most comprehensive, data-driven view of the UK’s 100 largest accountancy firms. This year’s dataset reveals a profession growing in scale, strengthening through consolidation, and modernising at speed.
Growth, consolidation and a more connected market
- 65% of Top 100 firms reported UK fee-income growth last year, and nearly 70% expect that growth to accelerate again in the year ahead.
- 44% engaged in M&A activity, underlining how strategic consolidation has become for capability-building and market positioning.
- 70% now operate as part of an international network, reinforcing how globally connected UK firms are becoming.
This year’s table shows a profession steadily reshaping itself — with firms broadening service lines, aligning into larger platforms, and investing in the infrastructure required to scale sustainably.
A profession still anchored in assurance — but shifting toward advisory
Audit and assurance remain the backbone of the 50+50 cohort, representing ~38% of total reported fee income. Tax contributes another ~25%, while advisory and consulting now account for over a quarter of firm revenues. Deals, restructuring and specialist support services form roughly 10% of the total mix.
QuickBooks Perspective: Technology Is Now the Differentiator
In their opening remarks, Intuit QuickBooks are clear: the firms pulling ahead are the ones weaponising technology. Cloud, automation and AI have shifted from experiments to everyday foundations — producing cleaner data, faster workflows and more connected client experiences.
QuickBooks emphasise that real-time visibility is becoming “oxygen” for modern firms, and the profession is rapidly increasing its appetite for tech-skilled talent. Data analysts, automation leads, cloud specialists and AI-enabled roles are now central to how firms operate, deliver value and support clients.
Technology investment has entered a new phase
Across the 50+50 cohort, technology is no longer discretionary — it is embedded.
- Median tech spend among firms reporting more than £10k investment sits just under £300k.
- The top quartile exceeds £900k, with some firms reporting eight-figure digital budgets.
- Nearly 50 firms now offer software-advisory services to clients — a notable evolution in their value proposition.
QuickBooks’ own findings reinforce the shift:
46% of accountants use AI daily, and 95% say technology reduces time spent on compliance.
People, leadership and governance are becoming strategic priorities
- The talent landscape is tightening and firms are responding decisively:
- 66% plan to increase UK partner numbers by mid-2026.
- 95% now have a formal diversity and equality policy.
- Hybrid working is firmly established, but firms are redesigning mentoring and development pathways to protect apprenticeship-style learning.
- Culture, governance and people development have shifted from “nice to have” to core ingredients of competitiveness and compliance — particularly as regulators raise expectations around audit quality and leadership accountability.
Looking ahead…
As audit reform continues to evolve, sustainability reporting moves toward formal adoption, and AI becomes integrated into core workflows, the profession faces a period of simultaneous transformation.
This year’s findings point to three defining forces for 2026:
- Margin pressure through rising costs and tighter pricing discipline.
- AI and tech governance becoming central to regulatory scrutiny.
- Leadership and succession planning gaining urgency as firms scale.
The Top 50+50, supported by Intuit QuickBooks, provides the clearest benchmark of how firms are confronting these pressures — and where the profession is heading next.
