Mike Liu – stock.adobe.com
No one can say where the top firms in the profession will ultimately end up. Are they headed for traditional mergers? Private equity investment? Stock offerings? Flips to as-yet-unnamed investors? Will they be ESOPs or adopt alternative practice structures? Even those that have definite destinations in mind know there will be changes along the way. But what we can definitely say is that wherever they’re going, they got there faster in 2025.
This year’s roster of Top 100 Firms grew 8.58% last year, up significantly from the 4.89% reported for 2024. That higher rate was largely a result of major mergers among the profession’s billion-dollar firms, like last spring’s
They also have plenty of people on board, despite concerns about staffing shortages and the pipeline problem, with the Top 100 growing their total staff by more than their revenues. They also continue to bring on plenty of partners for the most part, though the billion-dollar firms lagged here somewhat, growing their partner ranks by just 3.8%, while firms with between $100 million and $1 billion in revenue grew theirs by 15.24%.
Mergers or acquisitions of one kind or another seem more and more likely to be a destination for the Top 100: Besides Moss Adams, three other Top 100 Firms —
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Inorganic growth isn’t their only route, however; the leading firms in the profession are also making the long journey away from pure compliance work, with the goal of becoming primarily advisory firms. They’ve been on that trip for several years now and plan to continue — but they also hope to boost organic growth by focusing on better serving a better roster of clients.
Another destination many of them have in mind is a strong CAS practice. Once again, CAS was the most common source of growth for the T100, with 75 firms expanding their practices, and a fifth of them saying it was their fastest-growing offering. Of course, well-trodden paths like attest, nonprofit work, real estate and manufacturing remain important, too.
CAS was even more popular among our Regional Leaders, who see it as a major opportunity for them and the profession; they also agree with the Top 100 on the tremendous potential of advisory, particularly when paired with modern technologies. What’s more, they see paths forward on both sides of the debate about private equity in the profession, with some ready to partner up to access capital and expertise, and others aiming to differentiate themselves as fully independent firms, ready to scoop up staff and clients who don’t want to work with PE-backed firms.
They’re certainly making the most of their opportunities, collectively reporting approximately a billion dollars more in revenue than in 2024, and more than half of the regionals had average growth rates above that of the Top 100 Firms, helped along the way by both regular M&A and private equity, both of which played major roles in reshaping this year’s rosters.
While no one can say what the final destination of this year’s Top 100 Firms and Regional Leaders will be (or even if they will ever stop growing long enough to declare a final destination), one thing is for certain: They’ve got a head of steam up, and they’re leaving the station at top speed.
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