🇺🇸 Market Briefing · United States

United States: The Capacity Opportunity

The number of licensed US accountants has fallen by two-thirds from its 2019 peak, even as 36 million small businesses keep generating recurring demand. The constraint is capacity, and it is the largest growth lever American firms have.

The Numbers

United States at a glance

653,408Licensed US accountants in 2025, down from a 1.93M peak in 20191
30%+Decline in CPA exam candidates since 20162
~120,000Accounting and auditing openings projected each year4
36.2MUS small businesses, 99.9% of all firms5

The Thesis

Demand is not the constraint. Capacity is.

The same three forces are reshaping every developed accounting market. Here is how they read in United States.

The Constraint

The pipeline has hit a 20-year low

  • Licensed accountants fell from a 2019 peak of ~1.93M to 653,408 by 20251
  • Roughly 300,000 accountants and auditors left the profession in 2020 to 20221
  • Accounting graduates are at a 20-year low; CPA exam candidates are down 30%+ since 201623
The Demand

Demand that keeps compounding

  • 36.2M small businesses, 99.9% of all US firms5
  • The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects 120,000+ accounting and auditing openings every year4
  • Compliance complexity and advisory appetite keep rising
The Response

The model the largest firms already use

  • Global delivery: a dedicated, qualified team inside the firm’s own workflow and controls
  • Client relationships, judgement, and sign-off stay with local CPAs
  • Scale capacity in weeks rather than a multi-month recruitment campaign
Explore the full five-part deep dive

The deep-dive analysis uses Australia as the worked example. The dynamics, and the response, apply across markets.

Sources

References

  1. NASBA licensed-accountant data, reported via The CPA Journal, The Accounting Profession Is in Crisis, 2025. cpajournal.com
  2. AICPA and CIMA, 2025 Trends Report on the supply of accounting graduates and CPA candidates. aicpa-cima.com
  3. CFO Dive, US accounting degree graduates drop to roughly a 20-year low, 2025. cfodive.com
  4. US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Accountants and Auditors. bls.gov
  5. US Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy, 2025 Small Business Profiles. advocacy.sba.gov

Statistics are drawn from the cited third-party sources and were current at the time of writing (June 2026); figures are subject to revision by their publishers. This material is provided for general strategic discussion and is not accounting, taxation, legal, or investment advice.

The Conclusion

Who acts first

The firms that lead the next decade will not necessarily be the firms with the largest offices or the largest local teams. They will be the firms that build scalable operating models, unlock access to talent, and create capacity for growth before their competitors do.

The opportunity already exists. The only question is who acts first.

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