Slight slowdown in growth for networks but associations hit double digits

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Networks

For the 33 accountancy networks that took part in this year’s World Survey, overall growth remained positive at 7%. This is a slight slowdown from last year which saw 8% growth. The total fee income for all networks this year was $297,193.2m, up from $274,844.8m last year.

For the Big Four growth slowed compared to last year, with Deloitte, PwC and EY all showing 4% growth compared to last year’s 9%, 6%, and 9% respectively. KPMG’s growth remained the same at 5%. Outside of the Big Four, the top ten networks all grew by 6% or more, with half of them achieving double digit growth. Growth in staff number was sluggish this year with only a 1% increase on last year. Layoffs have been widely reported in the accountancy profession and this could be a contributing factor. PwC saw the biggest decline in staff numbers this year, recording 25,000 less staff members on the previous year, a 6% decline.

Associations

This year saw 18 associations take part in the World Survey, with 13% growth achieved overall, exceeding the growth rate of the Networks for the first time since 2019. Total fee income reached $37,185.4m, up from $29,238.5m last year.

Staff growth was much more positive for the associations than the networks this year, coming in just shy of double digits at 9%, taking total staff numbers for the associations to 292,049, up from 250, 297 last year.

Networks

This year, all four service lines saw positive, double-digit growth. Audit and assurance demonstrated the highest growth at 14%, up from 7% growth last year. This was followed by accounting services at 13%, and then advisory services and tax services, both at 10%. The advisory service line saw the highest fee income figure at $117,397.6m.

Deloitte once again had the highest advisory fee income at $43,008.0m, accounting for over a third (37%) of the total advisory fee income reported by all networks combined. While Deloitte led by some margin in terms of total fees, second place PwC had a strong year with 44% growth, taking its total advisory fee income to $23,260.0m, up from the previous year’s $16,104.0m. EY was the only member of the Big Four to show a decline in advisory fee income, with fees down 5% on last year. Outside of the Big Four, RSM led the way with advisory fee income of $3,881.5m, up 26% from last year.

For accounting services, BDO had the highest fee income at $2,241.3m followed by ETL Global and HLB, while strong growth was seen by fourth place Moore Global at 29%.

PwC led the way for the tax service line with fee income of $12,737.6m. The highest growth amongst the big four was seen by KPMG at 12%. Outside of the big four, BDO saw the highest fee income at $3,399.5 while strong growth was seen by Moore Global at 25%.

In audit and assurance, PwC saw the highest fee income at $19,383.4m and also experienced the strongest growth at 28%, followed by EY at 15%. Outside of the big four, BDO saw the highest fee income at $6,137.1m.

Associations

Like the networks, associations also saw double-digit growth across all service lines, achieving 14% growth in advisory, tax and accounting services, and 12% growth in audit and assurance.

Praxity led in terms of revenue for all four service lines.

For advisory services, Praxity saw fee income of $2,119.7m. Second place Allinial Global and third place PrimeGlobal both demonstrated strong growth at 26% and 27% respectively, while the highest growth amongst the top 10 associations was seen by DFK International at 51% followed by AGN International at 48%.

Praxity’s fee income for the tax service line hit $2,890.0m, with Allinial Global and PrimeGlobal again taking second and third place at $2,028.4m and $1,357.0m respectively. PrimeGlobal showed strong growth at 44%, with high growth also seen for AGN International and DFK International at 37% and 26% respectively.

For the audit and assurance service line, Praxity’s fee income reached $4,154.2m, followed by Allinial Global at $2,028.4m and PrimeGlobal at $1,791.3m. The highest growth rates were seen by PrimeGlobal and DFK International at 23% and 22% respectively.

For accounting services, Praxity saw fee income of $1,343.9m, followed by LEA Global at $1,233.2m and PrimeGlobal at $1,031.4m, while DFK International experienced the highest growth at 46%.

Networks

There was positive growth across all regions for the networks this year, with North America, Europe, and the Middle East reporting double digit growth (12%, 11%, and 10% respectively).

In terms of revenue, North America had the highest fee income ($40,644.0m) followed by Europe ($27,285.7m), Asia-Pacific ($12,749.8m), Latin America ($2,117.2m), the Middle East ($1,237.0m) and Africa ($978.5m).

Europe had the most consistency in terms of growth at the top of the table, with the top ten networks in this region all declaring double-digit growth.

Associations

It was a more mixed outlook for the associations regionally. While all regions except Asia-Pacific saw positive growth, this only reached double digits for Europe (27%), Latin America (11%) and the Middle East (both 11%). Fee income for the Asia-Pacific region remained consistent with last year with 0% growth.

In terms of revenue, North America still reported the highest fee income ($19,877.8m), followed by Europe ($12,647.4m), Asia Pacific ($3,408.2m), Latin America ($611.2m), the Middle East ($373.2m), and then Africa ($267.6m).

Globally, the Big Four saw an overall 4% increase in fee income, taking the total combined fee income to $212,181m. This growth was lower than the 8% increase experienced last year.

The highest growth was seen in the EMEA region with a 10% year-on-year increase, bringing total reported fee income for the region to $80,143m for 2024. PwC once again took the top spot for fee income in the region, though Deloitte saw the highest growth at 12% compared to 11% for PwC.

The Asia-Pacific region saw a 5% decrease in fee income to a total of $32,003m. Fee income in the region was highest for Deloitte, followed by PwC, though all of the Big Four saw a decrease in fees in the region in 2024.

Positive growth ranging from 1% to 4% was seen by all of the Big Four in the Americas. Deloitte continues to hold the top spot in terms of fee income, but the highest growth was seen by KPMG at 4%.

Looking at staff numbers, there was little movement across the board for the Big Four firms, with only a 1% total increase in staffing figures globally. The Asia-Pacific region saw a 2% overall increase and EMEA saw a 1% increase, while the Americas saw a decrease of 1%.