The UK has lost 3,745 accountancy firms since 2019, a drop of 8.6% across six years – that means the number of firms has dropped from 43,720 to 39,975.
Analysis from Rapport Digital shows a story of consolidation and retirement, rather than failure.
Private equity has swept through UK accountancy at extraordinary speed. According to Accountancy Europe’s 2025 review, the UK is the most active market on the continent, accounting for over 40% of all PE-backed accountancy deals in Europe. Crowe reports that as many as 20 of the UK’s top 60 firms are now private equity backed, including names like Grant Thornton UK, Evelyn Partners, Azets, Cooper Parry and Xeinadin. And the ICAEW’s 2025 mid-tier research found that roughly a quarter of mid-tier firms are PE-backed, with nearly half completing an acquisition in the past year alone.
Xeinadin alone has consolidation of 122 independent UK and Irish practices.
Retirement is the other pressure. The average age pf a UK accountant is 46, according to CCAB figures, and the pipeline behind them thinned badly: ICAEW, ACCA and CIMA enrolled 9,000 fewer students between 2017 and 2022. When a sole practitioner retires without a successor, that firm simply disappears from the register. An ageing profession with fewer new entrants means more of those quiet exits every year, and it’s a big reason 93% of employers report skill shortages in the sector.
Check out the full story at: UK Has Lost 3,745 Accountancy Firms Since 2019
