In 2020, 53% of firms reported sharing net revenue firmwide. In the 2025 IPA data, that number has declined to 49%.
The shift is not dramatic, but it is directional. It comes at a time when firms are navigating rising compensation costs, succession transitions and increased operational complexity. As the profession grows more sophisticated, firmwide visibility into one of its most fundamental metrics has modestly declined.
Net revenue is more than a top-line number. It reflects pricing discipline, realization, client mix and production capacity. When fewer than half of firms share this metric broadly, employees and emerging leaders are left to interpret firm performance indirectly through workload, bonus outcomes or anecdotal updates.
The data does not suggest that every firm must publish every financial detail. But it does highlight a leadership decision point. As organizations expand in size and add service lines, geographic reach and layers of management, clarity around performance can become harder to maintain.
This issue becomes more pronounced during succession planning. Leadership transitions rely on shared understanding of firm economics. When visibility into revenue trends is limited, generational transitions may depend more heavily on informal communication than structured reporting.
Compensation pressures add another dimension. IPA data continues to show upward movement in compensation across revenue bands. When pay expectations rise but financial context is limited, alignment becomes more difficult. Transparency does not eliminate tension, but it can reduce speculation.
The broader implication is strategic. Transparency is not an all-or-nothing proposition. It is a deliberate choice about which metrics drive alignment and which remain restricted. The decline from 53% to 49% suggests firms are not expanding financial visibility at the same pace as operational complexity.
In an environment where trust, retention and succession are increasingly interconnected, decisions about what to measure and what to share may carry greater weight than in prior decades.
