The Real Story Behind the AFR Top 100 Accounting Firms for 2026

Why this year marks a turning point for the profession.

Every year the AFR releases its Top 100 Accounting Firms list, and most people treat it like a scoreboard. A quick scan of who climbed, who slipped, and whether any new names broke into the rankings. Then it gets filed away and forgotten until the next edition.

But the 2025 list is different. Under the surface, it reveals one of the biggest structural shifts we have seen in the Australian accounting profession in more than a decade. For the first time in many years:

• The Big Four have moved backwards

• The mid-tier has stepped into a new era of growth

• The firms outside the top 20 are maturing faster than ever

This is not normal movement. It is a shift in momentum, expectations, and competitive advantage.

Here is the deeper story behind the list, what the data really tells us, and why the next few years will look very different for firms across the country.

Source: AFR Top 100 – 2025

The Big Four are sliding into a quiet decline cycle

The most surprising trend in the list sits right at the top. The Big Four have taken noticeable steps backwards.

• Deloitte dropped 8.3 percent

• EY fell 2.7 percent

• KPMG declined 4 percent

• PwC slid almost 6 percent

Collectively, the group shed more than 600 million dollars in revenue.

The AFR explains this as softer demand for advisory, but the reasons go deeper.

Enterprise clients have become more cautious with spend. They are breaking large consulting projects into smaller engagements with more specialist providers. Boards are more conservative. Brand pressure still lingers. Talent has tightened. And internal capability inside large organisations has grown to a point where certain consulting services are no longer automatically outsourced.

Automation is also taking a bite. Tasks that used to require teams of consultants are now handled by tools, templates, and internal software.

None of this means the Big Four are collapsing. They remain dominant. But they no longer have the automatic default position they once enjoyed. More enterprise clients are now willing to look down the line. And for the first time, the firms directly below them are strong enough to win that work.

The mid-tier is stepping into a genuine hypergrowth window

The biggest story in the data is the acceleration of the mid-tier. These firms are not just growing. They are scaling.

• BDO grew 12.3 percent

• RSM rose 11 percent

• William Buck increased 14.7 percent

• Grant Thornton lifted 6.9 percent

• Findex, Pitcher Partners, and Nexia all posted solid gains

These are not small bumps. These are firms that have spent the past few years doing the hard operational work: cleaning up workflow, investing in technology, restructuring teams, aligning nationally, and specialising by industry.

Client expectations have also shifted. Many mid-market CFOs and business owners now want:

• Shorter project cycles

• Predictable pricing

• Direct access to senior people

• Practical advice rather than theory

• Less process for the sake of process

The mid-tier can deliver this faster than the Big Four, with less bureaucracy and more partner involvement. As a result, opportunity that once flowed automatically to the top of town is now being captured by firms ranked between 5 and 20.

This window will remain open for a while.

AI adoption is rising, but maturity levels are uneven

Almost every firm in the Top 100 now claims to be using AI in some capacity. The list is full of references to automation, workflow improvements, analytics, and new internal tools.

A handful of firms have turned these experiments into actual capability.

• Xact has automated large parts of its construction advisory work

• Acclime and Stannards have embedded AI into compliance engines and reporting

• William Buck is using machine learning for forecasting and strategic analysis

But most firms are still in the early stages. Many AI initiatives sit in isolated pilots, basic workflow automations, or internal experiments that improve small pockets of work rather than shifting the operating model.

The technology is not the bottleneck.

The systems are.

AI only delivers real gains when firms already have:

• Clean processes

• Consistent workflow

• Structured data

• Clear ownership

• Repeatable client delivery

When these foundations are not in place, AI becomes another tool sitting on top of old problems.

One example of effective adoption is Vinyl, an Australian AI meeting notetaker built specifically for accountants and bookkeepers. Around 13 percent of the Top 100 now use Vinyl to automate meeting notes, produce file-ready summaries, and create advisory outputs.

Tools like this show what functional AI looks like. Not replacement. Not cost cutting. Just removing friction. Better documentation. Faster handover. Cleaner communication. Stronger advisory conversations.

The firms making the most progress with AI are the ones that had strong processes first, then layered AI on top.

Mergers and acquisitions are becoming the main driver of top-end growth

Some firms posted eye-catching numbers:

• Acclime grew 156 percent

• Fortuna grew 74 percent

• Xact grew nearly 60 percent

These are impressive results, but they cannot be treated as pure organic growth. They reflect a return to aggressive M&A.

We are entering another consolidation cycle. A large portion of the industry is facing partner succession issues, rising technology costs, and increasing pressure from clients. Private equity interest is back. National networks want greater reach. Regional firms want better systems and talent pipelines.

Over the next two years, we should expect significant consolidation within firms ranked 20 to 80. Some will merge for survival. Others will merge for scale.

The ones that move early will have a major advantage.

Capacity is still the hardest problem in the profession

The AFR notes a six percent drop in total staff numbers across the Top 100. But the profession has been living through the same underlying problem for years:

• Fewer graduates choosing accounting

• Mid-level accountants leaving the profession

• Seniors being recruited into industry roles

• International hiring slow and inconsistent

AI reduces manual load, but it does not replace qualified accountants. Not yet. Not even close.

The firms growing the fastest are not the ones hiring the most people. They are the ones reducing their dependency on constant hiring by investing in:

• Offshore teams

• Workflow simplification

• Automation

• Better processes

• Structured documentation

The firms with the cleanest internal systems feel the capacity squeeze the least.

Advisory is growing, but compliance is still the engine room

The profession loves saying advisory is the future and compliance is shrinking. The Top 100 tells a different story. Compliance still generates the bulk of revenue for the vast majority of firms.

Advisory is growing, but at a steady and realistic pace. It is not replacing core revenue anytime soon.

The firms building successful advisory divisions have a simple advantage. They treat advisory like a product. They package it properly. They build industry specific offerings. They use dashboards. They offer clear outcomes. They price upfront. They remove ambiguity.

They do not rely on casual partner conversations to carry the load.

The real shift: leverage is becoming the new competitive advantage

When you zoom out, the rankings tell a bigger story. The firms accelerating the fastest are the ones improving leverage across their business. Not headcount. Leverage.

Through:

• Workflow

• Automation

• Offshore support

• Industry specialisation

• Structured advisory

• Data driven decision making

• Better documentation

• AI tools like Vinyl that reduce admin

The old model of selling time is being replaced by a model driven by process, technology, and scale. The firms leaning into this are widening the gap.

Final thoughts

The 2025 AFR Top 100 is not just a ranking exercise. It shows an industry reshaping itself in real time. The Big Four have taken a rare step back. The mid-tier has stepped confidently forward. And the firms once stuck in the middle are operating with a level of maturity we have not seen in years.

The firms pulling ahead are the ones investing in stronger systems, clearer accountability, consistent workflow, better client delivery, and modern operating models. Technology sits on top of that foundation. Not the other way around.

The firms falling behind are not struggling because of AI. They are struggling because their processes have not kept up with client expectations. They rely on heroics. They rely on partners. Their systems are inconsistent. Their documentation is light. Their client experience is uneven.

The firms winning are building businesses that will still be competitive five to ten years from now.

That is the real story behind the Top 100. Not who sits where on the list, but who is building a firm that can scale in the decade ahead.