There has been a 2.1% increase in accountancy members to over 400,000 in the past year, according to the Financial Reporting Council’s (FRC) 21st edition of its Key Facts and Trends (KFAT) report.
The increase comes despite the number of accountancy students falling by 3.5% in 2022 to just over 155,000.
Additionally, the concentration of audits with the Big Four firms continued to reduce with 33 FTSE 350 audits being undertaken by non-Big Four audit firms compared with 27 last year.
This year 30 firms with PIE clients (out of 54) participated compared with 25 firms in last year’s publication.
Whilst 50% of students are female the overall percentage of members of the accountancy bodies who are female is 38%, although that does represent a slight increase compared to 37% in 2018.
The report also found that the largest proportion of worldwide members were aged between 35 to 44 in 2022, accounting for 28% of the total population; 51% are 45 and over.
Although, for the workforce of the PIE auditors who responded to our survey, only 22% are 45 and over.
Additionally, this year 30 firms with PIE clients (out of 54) participated compared with 25 firms in last year’s publication.
The report also revealed total fee income increased by 11.9% for the Big Four UK firms and 18.5% for the non-Big Four firms as three more non-Big Four firms auditing PIEs responded to the survey this year, compared to last year.
Audit fee income also increased by a more moderate 7.6% for the Big Four firms and 23.3% for the non-Big Four with the same caveat applying.
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