Research

The Bookkeeping and Accounting Services Market Report 2026 (NAICS 5412)

The Ledgerism Editorial Team
By The Ledgerism Editorial Team · The Ledgerism Brief Editorial Team produces original, methodology-disclosed accounting and tax research—data trackers, databases, and reference guides built to be the most-cited source in the field. Every figure is verified against primary sources including FASB, the IRS, the PCAOB, NASBA, the AICPA, and state boards of accountancy.
Published Jul 2, 2026
The Bookkeeping and Accounting Services Market Report 2026 (NAICS 5412)

A data profile of the U.S. accounting, tax preparation, bookkeeping, and payroll services market (NAICS 5412) and the bookkeeping workforce, built from primary federal sources. This report focuses on the services market and bookkeeping specifically; it complements a separate State of Accounting profession report.

Latest full-year industry revenue reflects tax year 2022 (U.S. Census Bureau Service Annual Survey, released 2024). Establishment and firm counts reflect 2021 (Statistics of U.S. Businesses, sourced from 2021 County Business Patterns). Wage data reflect May 2024 (BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, drawing on the OEWS program). Projections cover 2024 to 2034.

Executive summary

Key findings

  1. NAICS 5412 employer-firm revenue reached $198.869 billion in 2022, up from $171.470 billion in 2020, a two-year run of roughly 7.7 percent annualized growth (Census Service Annual Survey, 2022, Table 4).
  2. Offices of CPAs (541211) generated $132.248 billion in 2022 revenue, other accounting services (541219) $29.644 billion, payroll services (541214) $27.589 billion, and tax preparation services (541213) $9.388 billion (Census SAS, 2022, Table 2).
  3. The four subsector revenue figures sum exactly to the published $198.869 billion industry total, confirming internal consistency of the 2022 SAS estimates (Census SAS, 2022).
  4. Taxation product lines (planning, individual, and corporate preparation) totaled $63.690 billion in 2022, 32.0 percent of employer-firm revenue and the single largest service category (Census SAS, 2022, Table 4).
  5. Assurance and related services produced $42.371 billion in 2022, 21.3 percent of employer-firm revenue (Census SAS, 2022, Table 4).
  6. Payroll services as a product line produced $28.977 billion in 2022, 14.6 percent of employer-firm revenue (Census SAS, 2022, Table 4).
  7. Dedicated bookkeeping, compilation, billing, and collection services produced $9.210 billion in 2022, up from $8.368 billion in 2021 (Census SAS, 2022, Table 4).
  8. The industry had 120,379 firms and 139,959 establishments in 2021 (Census SUSB, 2021).
  9. NAICS 5412 employed 1,174,118 workers with $83.634 billion in annual payroll in 2021, an average of about $71,232 per employee (Census SUSB, 2021).
  10. Offices of CPAs (541211) accounted for 535,309 of the industry’s 1,174,118 jobs in 2021, or 45.6 percent (Census SUSB, 2021).
  11. The 487 largest firms (500-plus employees), just 0.4 percent of firms, held 56.1 percent of industry payroll in 2021 (Census SUSB, 2021).
  12. Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks (43-3031) held about 1.6 million jobs in 2024, with a median annual wage of $49,210 in May 2024; the lowest 10 percent earned under $34,600 and the top 10 percent over $72,660 (BLS OOH, May 2024).
  13. Employment of bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks is projected to fall 6 percent from 2024 to 2034, yet about 170,000 openings are projected each year on average, driven by replacement needs (BLS Employment Projections, 2024-2034).
  14. Accountants and auditors (13-2011) held about 1.6 million jobs in 2024 with a median annual wage of $81,680 in May 2024, and employment is projected to grow 5 percent from 2024 to 2034 with about 124,200 openings per year (BLS OOH and Employment Projections, May 2024, 2024-2034).
  15. In the AICPA 2023 MAP survey of more than 1,100 firms, 30 percent outsourced domestically, 25 percent offshored, 14 percent planned to start domestic outsourcing, and 12 percent planned to begin offshoring (AICPA National MAP Survey, 2023, via Journal of Accountancy, Nov 2024).

Market size and revenue (Census Service Annual Survey)

The Service Annual Survey (SAS) is the authoritative federal source for annual industry revenue in NAICS 5412. The latest published full-year estimates cover 2022 and were released in 2024. SAS estimates cover employer firms and are published in millions of dollars. The Quarterly Services Survey publishes only at the broad professional, scientific, and technical services sector level, not at the NAICS 5412 subsector level, so it is not used here for industry sizing.

NAICS 5412 employer-firm revenue rose from $171.470 billion in 2020 to $184.675 billion in 2021 to $198.869 billion in 2022 (Census SAS, 2022, Table 4). The 2021-to-2022 increase was 7.7 percent.

Revenue by subsector, 2022 (employer firms)

NAICS Subsector 2022 revenue ($M) 2021 revenue ($M) Share of 2022 total
541211 Offices of Certified Public Accountants 132,248 122,350 66.5%
541219 Other Accounting Services (incl. bookkeeping) 29,644 26,976 14.9%
541214 Payroll Services 27,589 26,729 13.9%
541213 Tax Preparation Services 9,388 8,620 4.7%
5412 Industry total 198,869 184,675 100%

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Service Annual Survey, 2022, Table 2 (revenue by tax status, employer firms). All four subsectors report identical figures for “all establishments” and “establishments subject to federal income tax,” indicating negligible tax-exempt revenue in this industry.

Revenue by product line, 2022 (NAICS 5412, employer firms)

Product line 2022 revenue ($M) Share of industry
Taxation preparation and representation, corporate and other clients 30,600 15.4%
Payroll services 28,977 14.6%
Taxation preparation and representation, individuals and unincorporated 25,331 12.7%
Management consulting services 23,391 11.8%
Assurance and related services 42,371 21.3%
All other operating revenue 20,137 10.1%
General accounting services 11,093 5.6%
Bookkeeping, compilation, billing, and collection services 9,210 4.6%
Taxation planning and consulting services 7,759 3.9%
Industry total 198,869 100%

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Service Annual Survey, 2022, Table 4 (estimated sources of revenue for employer firms). Note: this is product-line revenue reported by all NAICS 5412 firms, not revenue by subsector. Bookkeeping is a small share of industry revenue because most bookkeeping-type work is delivered by nonemployer sole proprietors and by clerks embedded inside CPA and other firms, and priced below assurance and tax work.

Firms, establishments, and firm size (Census SUSB)

The Statistics of U.S. Businesses (SUSB) program is the authoritative source for counts of firms and establishments by industry and enterprise employment size. The 2021 SUSB tables were released December 21, 2023, and are sourced from the 2021 County Business Patterns. SUSB counts only establishments with paid employees; it excludes nonemployer sole proprietors, of which bookkeeping and tax preparation have many.

NAICS 5412 by subsector, 2021

NAICS Subsector Firms Establishments Employment Annual payroll ($000) Avg. employees per firm
541211 Offices of CPAs 51,839 55,346 535,309 49,494,404 10.3
541219 Other Accounting Services 44,726 45,775 237,275 12,468,446 5.3
541214 Payroll Services 4,434 5,545 247,224 18,929,024 55.8
541213 Tax Preparation Services 19,491 33,293 154,310 2,742,556 7.9
5412 Industry total 120,379 139,959 1,174,118 83,634,430 9.8

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Statistics of U.S. Businesses, 2021. Note: subsector employment for tax preparation (154,310) and other subsectors carries Census noise flags (H, J) indicating higher relative standard error; the CPA and payroll figures carry the lowest-noise flag (G).

NAICS 5412 by firm employment size, 2021

Enterprise size Firms Establishments Employment Annual payroll ($000)
Fewer than 5 employees 88,724 88,810 139,223 6,511,472
5 to 9 18,359 18,472 117,818 5,653,680
10 to 19 7,650 8,082 99,280 5,641,512
20 to 99 4,328 6,219 157,878 10,424,033
100 to 499 831 2,357 122,210 8,447,228
500 or more 487 16,019 537,709 46,956,505
Total 120,379 139,959 1,174,118 83,634,430

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Statistics of U.S. Businesses, 2021. The industry is barbell-shaped: a very large base of micro-firms and a small number of very large enterprises that dominate payroll.

Employment and wages (BLS)

Two occupations anchor the industry’s workforce: bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks (SOC 43-3031) and accountants and auditors (SOC 13-2011). BLS blocks automated retrieval of individual OEWS occupation pages; the figures below are drawn from the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, which publishes OEWS-derived May 2024 wages and 2024 employment levels.

Occupation (SOC) Employment, 2024 Median annual wage, May 2024 Projected change, 2024-2034 Annual openings, 2024-2034
Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks (43-3031) ~1.6 million $49,210 -6% ~170,000
Accountants and auditors (13-2011) ~1.6 million $81,680 +5% ~124,200

Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook (Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks; Accountants and Auditors), median wages May 2024; BLS Employment Projections, 2024-2034. For clerks, the lowest 10 percent earned less than $34,600 and the highest 10 percent more than $72,660 in May 2024.

The divergence is the central labor-market story. BLS attributes the projected decline in bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks to software automation of routine posting, calculating, and verifying tasks, even as demand for higher-skill accountants and auditors grows with a complex tax and regulatory environment. The large annual-openings figure for clerks (about 170,000) reflects replacement needs from workers exiting the occupation, not net growth.

Outsourcing and offshoring

The industry’s labor supply pressures have pushed firms toward domestic outsourcing and offshoring. In the AICPA 2023 National Management of an Accounting Practice (MAP) survey of more than 1,100 firms, 30 percent reported outsourcing work domestically, 25 percent reported offshoring, 14 percent planned to begin domestic outsourcing, and 12 percent planned to begin offshoring (AICPA MAP Survey, 2023, reported by the Journal of Accountancy, November 2024). India and the Philippines are the most cited offshore destinations in industry commentary, though country-level volume for U.S. accounting work is not captured in federal statistics.

Supply-side context: U.S. bachelor’s degrees in accounting fell 7.8 percent to 47,067 in the 2021-2022 academic year, and master’s degrees fell about 6 percent to 18,238, per the AICPA Trends report released October 2023 (AICPA, via CFO.com). A widely repeated press figure that “more than 300,000 accountants and auditors left the profession” between roughly 2019 and 2022 is a derived comparison of workforce levels rather than a single official BLS release, and is flagged here as Tier-3 and not independently verified in this report.

Original synthesis: derived insights

Insight 1: Revenue-per-employee gap reveals the value hierarchy inside NAICS 5412

Dividing each subsector’s 2022 SAS employer-firm revenue by its 2021 SUSB employment yields an approximate revenue-per-worker measure. Offices of CPAs generated about $247,000 per employee, other accounting services (which houses much bookkeeping) about $125,000, payroll services about $112,000, and tax preparation about $61,000.

Insight 2: Bookkeeping is a large occupation but a small revenue line

Bookkeeping as a distinct billable service was $9.210 billion in 2022, only 4.6 percent of NAICS 5412 employer-firm revenue (SAS, 2022). Yet bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks numbered about 1.6 million jobs in 2024 (BLS). The contrast shows that bookkeeping labor is largely embedded, performed by clerks inside CPA firms, corporate finance departments outside NAICS 5412, and by nonemployer sole proprietors, rather than sold as a standalone premium service.

Insight 3: Firm-size concentration index for NAICS 5412

Firms with 500 or more employees were 0.4 percent of NAICS 5412 firms in 2021 (487 of 120,379) but controlled 56.1 percent of industry payroll ($46.957 billion of $83.634 billion). Firms with fewer than 20 employees were 95.3 percent of firms but held 30.3 percent of employment.

Charts to create

  1. Stacked area, “NAICS 5412 employer-firm revenue by subsector, 2020-2022.” Data: SAS Table 2 subsector revenue for 2020, 2021, 2022. Insight: CPA offices drive two-thirds of industry revenue and its growth. Citation-worthy because it shows the concentration of value in assurance and tax rather than bookkeeping.
  2. Horizontal bar, “Where NAICS 5412 revenue comes from, 2022 product lines.” Data: SAS Table 4 product lines. Insight: taxation (32.0 percent) and assurance (21.3 percent) dominate; bookkeeping is 4.6 percent. Useful for reporters framing bookkeeping as commoditized.
  3. Diverging bars, “Projected 2024-2034 employment change: clerks vs accountants.” Data: BLS EP (-6 percent vs +5 percent). Insight: automation splits the profession. Highly quotable.
  4. Pyramid or barbell chart, “NAICS 5412 firm size distribution, 2021.” Data: SUSB firm counts and payroll by size band. Insight: 95 percent micro-firms vs 0.4 percent giants holding 56 percent of payroll.
  5. Dot plot, “Revenue per employee by subsector, 2022.” Data: derived Insight 1. Insight: CPA offices earn roughly 4x the per-worker revenue of tax prep.

Methodology

Source selection prioritized Tier-1 U.S. federal primary data: the Census Bureau Service Annual Survey (SAS) for revenue, the Census Statistics of U.S. Businesses (SUSB, sourced from County Business Patterns) for firm and establishment counts and firm-size distribution, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics (Occupational Outlook Handbook, which publishes OEWS-derived wages, and Employment Projections) for employment and wages. Tier-2 sources (AICPA MAP and Trends surveys, reported via the Journal of Accountancy and CFO.com) were used only for outsourcing, offshoring, and the education pipeline, where no federal series exists.

Inclusion rule: every statistic carries an explicit year or reference period and a named source. Revenue is reported for employer firms in millions of dollars as published by SAS. Firm and employment counts are 2021 SUSB. Wages are May 2024 medians from the BLS OOH.

Exclusion rule: figures that could not be traced to a primary or clearly-sourced secondary release were excluded or flagged. The frequently cited “137,100 establishments, 1.30 million workers, $252.3 billion revenue” summary that appears in commercial data aggregators was not adopted because its exact reference year and methodology could not be verified against a federal release; the $252 billion figure also appears to blend employer and nonemployer activity or use a later projection.

Conflict handling: where the SAS subsector revenues were checked against the published industry total, they summed exactly ($198.869 billion), so no reconciliation was needed. Where SAS revenue (2022) and SUSB employment (2021) were combined for derived ratios, the year mismatch and program-scope differences are disclosed.

Derived figures: revenue-per-employee, product-line and subsector shares, and firm-size concentration were computed directly from the cited federal tables using simple division; formulas and inputs are shown with each insight.

Data limitations: SAS is the latest full-year revenue source (2022); 2023 and 2024 results under the new Annual Integrated Economic Survey had not been released as of mid-2026. The Quarterly Services Survey does not publish at the NAICS 5412 subsector level. SUSB excludes nonemployer sole proprietors, which understates the number of very small bookkeeping and tax-prep operators. BLS blocks automated access to individual OEWS occupation pages, so the exact May 2024 or May 2025 national mean wage for SOC 43-3031 could not be retrieved for this report; median wages from the OOH are used instead. Date of last update: 2026-06-29.

Source quality ranking

Tier 1 (primary, government):
– U.S. Census Bureau, Service Annual Survey, 2022 (industry and product-line revenue).
– U.S. Census Bureau, Statistics of U.S. Businesses, 2021 (firms, establishments, employment, payroll, firm size), sourced from 2021 County Business Patterns.
– U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, May 2024 (median wages, employment levels).
– U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections, 2024-2034.
– U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS program (underlying wage data referenced via OOH).

Tier 2 (credible industry-body research):
– AICPA National Management of an Accounting Practice (MAP) Survey, 2023 (outsourcing and offshoring), as reported by the Journal of Accountancy.
– AICPA Trends report, 2023 (accounting degree completions), as reported by CFO.com.
– Journal of Accountancy (professional publication of the AICPA).

Tier 3 / excluded:
– Commercial aggregator summary figures for NAICS 5412 revenue and establishment counts (unverifiable reference year and methodology) were excluded.
– The “300,000-plus accountants left the profession” press figure is flagged as a derived, non-official comparison and not used as a load-bearing statistic.

Citation format

Journalist-friendly additions

Most quotable statistics

Data limitations

Federal revenue data lag: 2022 is the latest full-year SAS release. SUSB excludes nonemployer sole proprietors, understating small bookkeeping operators. The bookkeeping occupation spans all industries, so its headcount is not confined to NAICS 5412. Some subsector employment figures carry elevated Census noise flags. Offshore volumes are not measured by any federal series.

Downloadable dataset, recommended fields

metric_name, naics_code, subsector_or_product_line, value, unit, year_or_period, geography, source_program, source_table, noise_flag, notes

Press summary (about 150 words)

The U.S. accounting, tax preparation, bookkeeping, and payroll services industry (NAICS 5412) generated $198.869 billion in employer-firm revenue in 2022, up 7.7 percent from 2021, according to the Census Bureau Service Annual Survey. Offices of CPAs produced two-thirds of that total. Dedicated bookkeeping services were only 4.6 percent of industry revenue, underscoring that bookkeeping is largely embedded labor rather than a premium standalone service. The industry counted 120,379 firms and 139,959 establishments in 2021, employing about 1.17 million people, per Census SUSB data. The workforce is splitting: BLS projects a 6 percent decline in bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks from 2024 to 2034 as software automates routine tasks, while accountants and auditors grow 5 percent. Facing a talent shortage, one in four firms in the AICPA 2023 MAP survey now offshore work, and 30 percent outsource domestically.

Suggested headlines

  1. Bookkeeping Is 1.6 Million Jobs but Only 4.6 Percent of Accounting Industry Revenue
  2. The $199 Billion Accounting Services Market, Broken Down by the Numbers
  3. Why 0.4 Percent of Accounting Firms Control More Than Half the Payroll
  4. Bookkeeping Clerk Jobs Are Shrinking While Accountant Jobs Grow: The Automation Split
  5. One in Four Accounting Firms Now Offshores Work, AICPA Survey Finds

FAQs

  1. How big is the U.S. bookkeeping and accounting services market? NAICS 5412 employer firms generated $198.869 billion in revenue in 2022 (Census SAS, 2022).
  2. How much of that is CPA firms? Offices of CPAs (541211) generated $132.248 billion, or 66.5 percent, in 2022 (Census SAS, 2022).
  3. How much revenue is pure bookkeeping? Bookkeeping, compilation, billing, and collection services were $9.210 billion in 2022, 4.6 percent of employer-firm revenue (Census SAS, 2022).
  4. How many accounting and bookkeeping firms are there? 120,379 firms operating 139,959 establishments with paid employees in 2021 (Census SUSB, 2021).
  5. How many people work in the industry? 1,174,118 employees in NAICS 5412 in 2021 (Census SUSB, 2021).
  6. How many bookkeeping clerks are there nationwide? About 1.6 million bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks in 2024 across all industries (BLS OOH, 2024).
  7. What do bookkeeping clerks earn? A median of $49,210 per year in May 2024 (BLS OOH, May 2024).
  8. What do accountants and auditors earn? A median of $81,680 per year in May 2024 (BLS OOH, May 2024).
  9. Is bookkeeping a growing career? No. BLS projects a 6 percent decline in bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks from 2024 to 2034, though about 170,000 openings per year come from replacement (BLS EP).
  10. How common is offshoring in accounting? In the AICPA 2023 MAP survey of 1,100-plus firms, 25 percent offshored and 30 percent outsourced domestically (AICPA MAP, 2023).

Sources

  1. U.S. Census Bureau, Service Annual Survey, Latest Data (NAICS-basis): 2022. https://www.census.gov/data/tables/2022/econ/services/sas-naics.html
  2. U.S. Census Bureau, Statistics of U.S. Businesses (SUSB), 2021 Annual Data Tables by Establishment Industry (U.S. and states, 6-digit NAICS). https://www.census.gov/data/tables/2021/econ/susb/2021-susb-annual.html
  3. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/office-and-administrative-support/bookkeeping-accounting-and-auditing-clerks.htm
  4. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Accountants and Auditors. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/business-and-financial/accountants-and-auditors.htm
  5. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections, 2024-2034. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/ecopro.pdf
  6. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks (43-3031). https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes433031.htm
  7. U.S. Census Bureau, Quarterly Selected Services Estimates, First Quarter 2026 (sector-level context). https://www.census.gov/services/qss/qss-current.pdf
  8. AICPA National Management of an Accounting Practice (MAP) Survey, 2023, via Journal of Accountancy, “Offshoring for CPA firms: The hows and whys,” November 2024. https://www.journalofaccountancy.com/issues/2024/nov/offshoring-for-cpa-firms-the-hows-and-whys/
  9. AICPA Trends report 2023, via CFO.com, “U.S. Accounting Graduates Fall Nearly 8%.” https://www.cfo.com/news/us-accounting-graduates-bachelors-degree-AICPA-CPA-exam-candidates/696932/

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