Carmel, Ind. (July 25, 2018) – The publishers of INSIDE Public Accounting (IPA), the award-winning newsletter for the public accounting profession, announce the release of IPA’s annual financial performance analysis and ranking of the nation’s 300 largest public accounting firms.

Rankings of The IPA 100 Firms
Now in its 28th year, the IPA 100 lists the 100 largest public accounting firms beginning with the Big 4. The $18.6 billion Deloitte again takes the No. 1 spot, followed by PwC ($16.0 billion), EY ($13.0 billion) and KPMG ($9.0 billion), U.S. operations only. The IPA 100 include another 96 national, regional and local firms, ranging from Chicago-based RSM US ($2.1 billion) at No. 5, to No. 100, Los Angeles-based Gursey | Schneider LLP ($37.9 million).

Newcomers To The IPA 100
Three firms debuted on the IPA 100 this year: No. 86 Schellman & Company, Tampa, Fla.; No. 92 Omaha, Neb.-based Lutz; and Gursey | Schneider.

IPA 200 and IPA 300 Rankings
IPA also publishes the IPA 200, which lists firms from No. 101 ($37.7 million) to No. 200 ($17.9 million), as well as the IPA 300, which covers Nos. 201 to 300 – firms of $17.8 million to $10.0 million. The annual rankings and accompanying analysis paint a comprehensive picture of the state of the profession.

Demographics of the Public Accounting Profession – 2018
The Big 4 firms collectively represent $56.5 billion in revenues, making up 75% of the total revenue of the IPA 100. Because of their size, IPA excludes metrics of the Big 4 in its in-depth analysis of the profession to provide all other accounting firms with meaningful comparative benchmarks. The next 96 firms represent $20.1 billion in total revenues. Excluding the Big 4, 42 firms are known as the IPA $100 Million Club, with revenues above that number. The 96 non-Big 4 firms collectively employ more than 90,000 staff across the United States.

The IPA 100: Key Highlights Of America’s 100 Largest Firms – Excluding the Big 4

• The pace of organic growth (excluding mergers) has continued a slowing trend to 6.3% this year from 6.8% in 2017 and 7.5% in 2016. Acquisitions (both traditional CPA firms as well as other consulting companies) pushed the overall growth rate to 9.4% – consistent with 2017.
• Organic growth in net income is at 6.4%, a welcome increase after slowing to 4.8% last year. Factoring in acquisitions, net income growth is up 8.2% over 2017.
• Audit and accounting services in the IPA 100 continue a multi-year decline as a percentage of total revenue. Audit and accounting now represent an average of 36.6% of total firm revenue as firms expand non-traditional services to meet growing client needs.
• Non-traditional services offered by the IPA 100, such as consulting, technology and financial services, climbed to an average of 28% of total net revenue. Nineteen percent of the IPA 100 now generate more than 40% of their total revenue from non-traditional services.
• Professional staff turnover (CPAs and other client-serving staff) averaged 15.5% for the IPA 100; with one in six IPA 100 firms averaging more than 20% professional staff turnover.

“Firms of all sizes are focusing on developing new products and services to better meet the increasingly complex needs of their clients,” says Mike Platt, principal with INSIDE Public Accounting. “CPA firms continue their expansion into services that are not traditionally associated with accounting firms – wealth management, cybersecurity, client marketing assistance, employee placement, media consulting, corporate social responsibility advice, business process outsourcing and many others.”

In-Depth Financial and Operational Benchmarking of the Accounting Profession
The full financial analysis of more than 550 accounting firms will be published in late September in the annual INSIDE Public Accounting National Benchmarking Report. The September issue of the subscription-based IPA newsletter will include the 2018 Best of the Best firms, those high-performing firms that are at the top of their game.

The full list of the 2018 IPA 100, IPA 200 and IPA 300 accounting firms can be found here.