More and more accountants are choosing to start their own practices rather than working for other companies, according to latest figures.
The last seven years have seen a 59 per cent increase in the number of members licensed to operate their own businesses, according to data from the Association of Accounting Technicians. This includes a huge 755% rise in members aged below 34 years from 2018. Membership in this group has grown from 119 to 1,018, and the AAT believes that its membership of licensed accountants will be over 8,000 by 2030.
Entrepreneurial Spirit
Isla Billett, the AAT’s product director for membership, commercial and charity, has said that entrepreneurial individuals, especially women, were choosing to move away from accounting technician roles within chartered accountancy practices and choosing instead to get license to qualify them to give commercial advice. Of all AAT licensed members in 2025, 56% were women.
Ms Billett said many of these people were looking for the career potential, flexibility and autonomy offered by starting their own practices, like https://www.randall-payne.co.uk/services/accountancy/evesham-accountants/. It mirrors a wider trend experienced since the Covid pandemic of many more new businesses being launched. Company registrations hit a record high of 900,000 in 2023 and recorded a quarterly peak of 244,717 new incorporated companies in January to March of 2024. So the AAT numbers are reflective of the trend of people launching new businesses after the pandemic.
More Challenging Times
New businesses are now facing a tough economic climate, however, and the number of newly incorporated businesses actually went down in the last quarter of 2024. This was the first fall in 12 years. Insolvency rates are also consistently high, as they have been since 2023, leaving many clients opting to use established Evesham accountants and other businesses.
More established accountancy businesses are finding their services are more important than ever in the current climate, with other companies and traders requesting invaluable advice regarding everything from tax rules to the strategic ambitions of a business in the future.