Research
How big UK accountancy firms are
Staff numbers from filed accounts show that most UK accountancy companies with a staff figure are very small: 98.2% (32,194 of 32,771) have 20 staff or fewer. 37 have more than 100.
The answer
Of 54,295 trading UK companies that list accounting, bookkeeping or tax as their activity, 32,771 (60.4%) have a staff number in their latest filed accounts. Of those, 67% (21,960) have 1 or 2 staff and 31.2% (10,234) have 3 to 20. Only 37 have more than 100. These are companies, not practices, and the size bands are ours, not the legal size categories.
Trading accountancy companies by size
| Size band | Staff number | Companies | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Micro | 1 to 2 | 21,960 | 67% |
| Small | 3 to 20 | 10,234 | 31.2% |
| Medium | 21 to 100 | 540 | 1.6% |
| Large | Over 100 | 37 | 0.1% |
| Total with a staff number | 32,771 | 100% |
Shares are of the 32,771 trading companies that report 1 or more staff. Of the 54,295 trading companies, 32,771 report 1 or more staff, 8,180 report 0 employees (no size band; this can happen when only the directors work in the company) and 13,344 have no staff number in that period. None of the last two groups is in this table.
Where the staff work
Adding up the staff numbers of the 32,771 companies gives 124,251 staff. The 37 large companies account for 11.9% of those staff. The 21,960 micro companies account for 24.7%.
| Size band | Companies | Share of companies | Share of staff counted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Micro (1 to 2) | 21,960 | 67% | 24.7% |
| Large (over 100) | 37 | 0.1% | 11.9% |
A group may employ its staff through one company and hold other practices in companies that show few staff, so these figures may not show the full picture for groups.
London compared
Our London figures cover a defined subset: trading companies with a registered office in postcode areas E, EC, N, NW, SE, SW, W, WC, leaving out 4,009 companies at shared addresses (postcodes with 20 or more trading accountancy companies).
| Size band | UK | London subset |
|---|---|---|
| Micro | 67% (21,960) | 67.4% (4,780) |
| Small | 31.2% (10,234) | 31.4% (2,226) |
| Medium | 1.6% (540) | 1.1% (80) |
| Large | 0.1% (37) | 0.1% (5) |
| Companies with a staff number | 32,771 | 7,091 |
| Share of staff in large companies | 11.9% | 17.7% |
The London subset has 5 large companies, so its share of staff in large companies moves a lot if one of them changes.
What these figures cannot tell you
- Company, not practice: the staff number belongs to one company. A practice that runs several companies, or employs its people through one of them, can show few or no staff on the others.
- Missing staff numbers: 13,344 trading companies have no staff number. They may file paper accounts, have filed no accounts in that period (for example because they are new), or file accounts without the figure. We cannot tell their size.
- Different dates: each staff number is an average for that company's own accounting period, and periods end on different dates.
- Not a quality measure: size says nothing about how good a firm is, or which size suits your business.
Why this matters if you run a business
A very small firm may mean you deal with the same person every time. A bigger one may have more people who can cover. Size alone does not tell you which will suit you. Our form asks what your business needs and then looks for participating firms that take businesses of your size and type. How we classify firms explains the size bands and why we chose them.
How we counted accountancy companies
- Who is included: every live company on the Companies House register with SIC code 69201 (accounting and auditing), 69202 (bookkeeping) or 69203 (tax consultancy), with status "Active", leaving out companies that file dormant accounts. That gives 54,295 companies.
- Who is left out: 6,261 dormant companies and 3,105 companies being struck off, in liquidation or in administration. Sole traders and partnerships are not on the company register, so they are not counted. Firms that chose a different SIC code are missed.
- Staff number: the average number of employees shown in the company's latest accounts filed electronically between October 2025 and September 2026, taken from the Companies House accounts data. Companies House publishes accounts data only for electronically filed accounts.
- Size bands: ours, not the legal size categories. Micro is 1 to 2 staff, Small 3 to 20, Medium 21 to 100 and Large over 100. Companies whose accounts show 0 employees get no band and are counted separately (8,180 trading companies).
- Companies, not practices: one practice can run several companies. Until we match companies into practices, all counts here are registered companies.
Sources
- Companies House, Free Company Data Product (bulk company file dated 1 October 2026). download.companieshouse.gov.uk/en_output.html. Checked 12 October 2026.
- Companies House, Accounts Data Product (monthly files, electronically filed accounts only). download.companieshouse.gov.uk/en_monthlyaccountsdata.html. Checked 12 October 2026.