Accounting Industry Index statistics: Key findings from the Q1 2026 edition

The Accounting Industry Index – Q1 2026 edition, published by TaxDome, analyzes operational data from more than 15,000 tax, bookkeeping, and full-service accounting firms, from solo practitioners to firms with 25+ staff. Firms using TaxDome grew their client bases by 22% year over year from 2024 to 2025.

Accounting firms enter 2027 facing a constrained CPA pipeline, rapid AI adoption, and ongoing consolidation. Client demand keeps rising anyway.

This is the first edition of a new quarterly series. Here are five key accounting industry statistics for 2026 from the report, and what they mean for growing firms.

How the Index builds accounting firm benchmarks

The Accounting Industry Index is built on anonymized operational data from more than 15,000 tax, bookkeeping, and full-service accounting firms using TaxDome.

Growth metrics compare 2024 with 2025 for firms that were active on the platform in both years.

Client portal activity draws on all firms using TaxDome in 2025, including firms that joined during the year. The full report also segments results into five firm-size cohorts, from solo practitioners to firms with 25+ employees.

Accounting firm growth statistics: Client bases grew 22% while teams grew 10%

Across all firm sizes, client bases grew 22% year over year from 2024 to 2025. That growth was broad-based, spanning solo practitioners through firms with 25+ employees.

Team sizes grew 10% over the same period. In other words, firms are adding clients at more than twice the rate they’re adding staff.

Part of that gap reflects the ongoing CPA shortage. Rising compensation expectations and the time it takes to onboard new hires also make headcount an expensive way to add capacity.

The report points to a more deliberate approach. Firms appear to be increasing leverage through workflow structure, automation, and clearer role definition, which lets them serve more clients per team member.

For growing and larger firms, the priority in 2026 is building systems that let existing teams absorb rising demand.

GMV grew 27%, faster than client and team growth

GMV processed through TaxDome grew 27% year over year. That’s faster than both client growth (22%) and team growth (10%).

If revenue were purely a function of volume, GMV would track closely with client counts. Because it grew faster, firms are generating more revenue per client and per team member than they did a year earlier.

The report connects this shift to more disciplined pricing, higher-value advisory services, structured billing, and digital workflows that tighten the link between delivery and payment.

Accounts receivable statistics: Linking invoices to deliverables speeds payment 2.5x

Cash flow shapes how quickly a firm can hire, invest in technology, or ride out seasonal swings. For many firms, the gap between finished work and received payment is longer than it needs to be.

According to the Accounting Industry Index, firms that link invoices to deliverables get paid in 4.4 days on average, compared with 11 days for firms that don’t.

That one structural choice makes payment 2.5x faster. The closer billing sits to delivery, the sooner firms get paid.

Many firms pair linked billing with clearer pricing, such as tiered service packages within proposals. Defined scope makes pricing easier to communicate and enforce, which reduces collection friction later.

The report also finds that proposal adoption accelerates with firm size.

90% of clients who log in to the TaxDome client portal come back

Many firms hesitate to move clients onto a portal. They worry that clients comfortable with email, phone calls, and paper will push back, or even leave.

TaxDome’s data suggests those worries are overstated. 90% of clients who log in to the TaxDome client portal once return for future activity instead of reverting to email, phone calls, or paper.

If resistance were the real barrier, clients would try the portal once and drift back to old habits. Most stay, so the report frames adoption as an activation challenge.

That puts the focus on first interactions. Easy wins, like a welcome message clients can answer from the mobile app, show them the value of a central system right away.

What the Q1 2026 findings mean for accounting firms

Taken together, these accounting firm growth statistics describe a profession that is scaling through operations as much as through client acquisition. Growth increasingly depends on how work is structured, from onboarding and communication to proposals, billing, and payment.

TaxDome’s Chief Revenue Officer sees the same pattern across the full dataset.

Accounting industry statistics 2026: Frequently asked questions

What are the key accounting industry statistics for 2026?

According to TaxDome’s Accounting Industry Index – Q1 2026 edition, firms using TaxDome grew their client bases by 22% and their teams by 10% year over year from 2024 to 2025, while GMV processed through TaxDome grew 27%.

Firms that link invoices to deliverables get paid in 4.4 days on average, compared with 11 days for firms that don’t, and 90% of clients who log in to the TaxDome client portal once return.

Are accounting firms growing faster than they’re hiring?

Yes. Firms using TaxDome grew their client bases by 22% year over year while their teams grew 10%, so they added clients at more than twice the rate they added staff.

How can accounting firms get paid faster?

Firms that link invoices to deliverables get paid in 4.4 days on average, compared with 11 days for firms that don’t. That’s 2.5x faster.

Do accounting clients actually use client portals?

Yes. 90% of clients who log in to the TaxDome client portal once return for future activity instead of reverting to email, phone calls, or paper.

What is the Accounting Industry Index?

The Accounting Industry Index is a quarterly benchmark report published by TaxDome. It analyzes anonymized operational data from more than 15,000 tax, bookkeeping, and full-service accounting firms, and the Q1 2026 edition is the first in the series.

Benchmark your firm against the full report

These five findings are only part of the picture. The full report breaks down client growth, team growth, GMV, proposal usage, and invoice usage for each firm-size cohort, along with strategic implications for every stage of growth.