This is revealed in the 21st edition of the Key Facts and Trends (KFAT) report, the annual facts and figures report from the UK regulator Financial Reporting Council (FRC) about the accounting profession. Particularly British accounting firms in the group smaller than the Big Four performed well in terms of fee revenues in 2022.
This year’s report highlights the gradual but consistent growth in the number of accountants in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. That number increased by just over two percent in 2022 to nearly 400,000 members, who are affiliated with the six professional accounting organizations in the UK. However, the number of accounting students decreased by 3.5 percent in 2022 to over 155,000.
The overall percentage of women among the members of the accounting organizations increased slightly to 38 percent, compared to 37 percent in 2018. Among accounting students, fifty percent are women in the UK.
This year, thirty firms with Oob clients participated in the associated FRC survey of the sector, along with a total of 54 firms. More than half (51 percent) of the members are 45 years old or older, but among the Oob firms, this is only 22 percent.
Total fee revenues increased by 11.9 percent at the big four firms in the UK and by 18.5 percent at the non-big four firms. Revenues from audits alone increased by 7.6 percent at the big four firms and by 23.3 percent at the other firms.
Currently, 33 audits from the UK FTSE 350 ranking are conducted by non-big four accounting firms. This is slightly more than the 27 non-big four audits for that group of listed companies last year.
Providing more choice for the FTSE 350 audit market was one of the main objectives of the FRC in the transition to the new UK regulator, the Audit, Reporting and Governance Authority (ARGA).