Key Takeaways
Organic growth among the 100 largest U.S. accounting firms slowed to 7.0%, the slowest pace in five years
Growth hasn’t disappeared; it’s concentrating in firms that give clients a clear reason to choose them
For accounting firms to grow organically, they need to differentiate through:
- The Competitor-Swap Test (cutting claims any competitor could make)
- Using Client Input (asking clients “Why us, specifically?” and using their language in your marketing)
- Making Differentiation Visible (regularly audit your content and replace it with what sets you apart today)
In INSIDE Public Accounting’s 2026 survey of the 100 largest U.S. firms, organic growth—growth driven by sales and production versus mergers or acquisitions—fell to 7.0%, down from 7.8%. That marks its slowest pace in five years.
At first, that number might shock you. It might seem like bad news. Especially when you consider that total growth (which includes mergers and acquisitions) jumped to 12.8% (up from 10.4% last year).
But this slow growth number isn’t so much a decline as it is a reveal of something that’s been happening in the industry for some time.
During the pandemic, there was a sugar-high of growth in the accounting industry. PPP and ERC compliance work created a surge of demand that landed on a majority of firms. A 2022 Inovautus Consulting survey reported that 58% of firms at the time said COVID had a positive revenue impact for them.
This demand was a rising tide that lifted a lot of boats. Many firms were able to blend in with everybody else. They looked like they were growing, whether or not they were actually building a foundation for growth.
Until now.
As the tide has gone out, it has exposed which firms were building something durable and which were just riding the wave.
But not every firm is slowing when it comes to growth. The 10 fastest-growing firms in the IPA 100 averaged 15.6% on an organic basis, more than twice the average, which tells us organic growth hasn’t disappeared. It’s just concentrating in firms that give clients a clear reason to choose them.
But for everybody else, the reveal of slower growth across the industry has forced firms to answer a question they haven’t really had to answer for years: why should a client choose them over the firm down the street?
Why This Matters If You’re An Accounting Marketer
There are a few factors that make differentiation as a firm more critical now than it has been in the last decade.
PE produces growth, but not the organic kind. PE-backed firms in the IPA 100 grew 27% overall, nearly three times the rate of independent firms. But if you take out acquisitions, both groups grew organically at the same rate: 7%. That means that capital might buy scale, but whether you’re at a PE-backed or independent firm, differentiation is still key to drive organic growth.
AI exposes differentiation…or the lack thereof. Generic prompts produce generic content. Firms that have been reliant on AI for their positioning or messaging the past few years are seeing similar positioning and messaging pop up across the industry. AI might accelerate content production, but it also accelerates homogenous-sounding ideas and messaging that consumers are picking up on.
Marketing isn’t a light switch. Too many firms view marketing like this: you flip it on when you need leads and off when you don’t. But brand and marketing are more like an investment account. They compound over time, taking 12, 18, 24 months to see results. If you cut your brand and marketing spend when business slows, you don’t just pause those results; you forfeit the compounding effect they could have had.
For example, one article from your CEO might not pay lead gen dividends today. But 12 articles from your CEO? Now, you’re building a reputation for that person. You’re building credibility for them. They’re more likely to get speaking engagements and be invited into more industry conversations. Not only that, you can take those articles and package them into a book, which might have even further reach. Brand compounds over time.
These factors together make differentiation in brand critical for firms today.
The Solution — and 3 Tactical Ways to Execute It
Differentiation is not a one-time exercise. To be truly effective, it has to be an ongoing process. Here are three ways you can make it just that:
1. Run the competitor-swap test. Take any claim on your website or in your proposal templates, and ask one question: if a direct competitor put this exact claim or sentence on their site, would it still be true? If the answer is yes, it isn’t differentiation.
- How to run it: Pull every claim currently on your site, pitch decks, or proposal templates and run each through this test. Note what survives and build content around it. Consider rewriting the rest.
2. Don’t assume. Ask your clients. If you’re trying to answer the question “why should clients choose us”, your clearest and most accurate answer will always come straight from the source—your clients! Adding a single question into post-engagement review will give you the answer. And it might not be how you would have said it.
- How to run it: Ask your clients: “Why us, specifically?”. Compare the answers against your current marketing and find the gaps. Where they don’t match, rewrite according to how clients describe the value of your firm.
3. Make your differentiation visible. The moment you publish something to your website, it’s timestamped. It’s easy to leave claims on your site long after they’ve expired. A regular audit to monitor differentiation (not just SEO) keeps your website claims accurate and competitive.
- How to run it: Cross-check “who we serve” and “what we’re known for” against your actual client roster and case studies and remove any that no longer apply. Generic, outdated claims can be worse than making no claims at all, especially now that AI is generating much of that same language.
Consistently executing these things doesn’t just increase your differentiation; it retains your existing clients. The reason existing clients choose to stay and not move to a competitor is because you continue to convince them that you are different from everybody else. Differentiation is retention. And it has to be a part of your strategic plan for your firm.
The pandemic-era surge allowed firms to put off the hardest question in marketing, but that reprieve is over. The firms growing organically right now are the ones that can confidently say how they’re different from all the rest. Is that something your firm can say?
Wondering how differentiated your brand is? Download our free 2026 Remarkabrand Index for accounting firms.
