Accounting skills increasingly in demand as vacancies at the Big Four jump year-on-year although consultancy takes hit as firms take ‘more selective approach’
At the Vacancysoft annual summit 2026, the government’s industrial strategy, and the effect it was having on jobs and the economy was analysed.
Professional vacancies across the UK financial sector rose by 13% in 2025, reaching 67,700 roles, with Deloitte hiring the most accountants.
James Chaplin, CEO at Vacancysoft said the accountancy sector ‘delivered solid growth’, rising by 15% year-on-year to just over 10,000 vacancies, representing 4.6% of total jobs at the Big Four.
Vacancies across the Big Four were up 16%, rising from 3,381, to 3,924 in the space of a year.
Deloitte emerged as the most active recruiter, posting 1,400 accountancy vacancies, an increase of 79% year on year, consistent with ‘renewed investment in advisory capability and large-scale transformation programmes’, reported the latest Finance Labour Market Trends report by Vacancysoft and Morgan McKinley, launched at the summit.
KPMG was ranked second, expanding hiring by 37%, rising from 769 vacancies in 2024, to 1,055 just a year later. The report said the firm’s increase ‘reflects its stabilisation following earlier restructuring and continued demand for specialist skills’.
EY saw a minimal increase in job postings, rising to 811 from 799 in 2024, a jump of just 1.5%.
The only Big Four firm to record a decline in active vacancies was PwC with a 36% year-on-year decline, dropping from 1,033 places to 657 in just one year, ‘indicating a more cautious recruitment posture after a period of elevated hiring’.
Across all firms, demand for core accountancy roles rose 14%, while the need for executive management doubled, which ‘reflected a shift toward senior oversight in a volatile market’, stated the report.
Executive management roles sat at 490 vacancies, from 245 the year previous, increasing their share from 3% to 5% of total vacancies, as firms ‘strengthened senior oversight amid ongoing transformation’.
With the continued rise of AI, IT hiring was up 40%, now representing 15% of accountancy vacancies, driven by ‘digitisation and automation initiatives’.
On the other hand, consulting roles declined, as firms ‘prioritised operational hires’. Consultant vacancies declined 13% to 750 advertised jobs, with their share falling from 10% to 8%, suggesting a ‘more selective approach to advisory hiring’.
Outside of the Big Four, number five firm BDO saw vacancies fall 29% to around 500 roles, PKF Francis Clark also saw a drop, of 19% down to 257 active vacancies.
Azets, Grant Thornton, RSM and TC Group all bucked this trend.
The biggest growth outside the Big Four was at private equity backed TC Group which saw a year-on-year increase of 43% with vacancies rising to 283, RSM saw a rise of 33% to 449 jobs from 338 the previous year, Azets recorded a 23% upturn from 373 to 460 jobs, and Grant Thornton said vacancies rose 8% from 281 to 306.
The report noted: ‘This signals a continued expansion among selected mid-tier firms’, and ‘overall, the data highlight a year characterised by uneven recovery and differentiated firm-level strategies across the accountancy market’.
With AI threatening the future of jobs in the professional services market, the general feeling at the summit was that it was too early to predict the true impact.
Chaplin said: ‘Job gains are often limited to a highly skilled number of engineers and researchers’, adding that major investment by the global AI giants is happening at pace. ‘The big question is whether the new industrial strategy can survive a change of government.’
The report also looked at vacancies across the wider financial services sector. Banking remained the dominant hiring engine, recording 41,100 vacancies, an 8% annual increase, accounting for 61% of total sector demand. Fintech vacancies increased by 29%, reflecting 24% of all vacancies in the sector.
Victoria Walmsley, managing director at Morgan McKinley said: ‘Hiring is no longer volume-driven, organisations are investing with greater precision in roles that support productivity, transformation and long-term competitiveness.
‘This shift reflects structural change rather than short-term volatility, with employers positioning now for the next growth cycle.’
At the annual summit, vacancies in both law and telecom were also assessed.
Overall, the telecoms sector was said to be ‘at best trending upwards’, with hiring across the sector reaching an ‘inflection point’, with growth rising by 6%, driven by sustained 5G investment.
With recent reports that the level of young NEETS (not in education, employment, or training) was reaching 1m, the position of young people within the telecom industry was discussed.
Murray West, head of telecoms at Fuel Recruitment, stressed that hiring young people had been ‘difficult’, with the average age of employees in telecoms being 43 years old.
The law sector also ‘entered 2025 from a position of strength’, according to research by recruitment partner, Henderson Scott.
‘Tax [law] performed well, with 608 vacancies posted representing a 19% increase from 2024,’ according to Henderson Scott.
‘Litigation by contrast experienced a significant contraction of 34%.’
However, the firm pointed to a more positive outlook this year: ‘An expanding litigation funding environment and emerging risks linked to widespread adoption of AI suggest the division may be positioned for recovery in 2026.’