Over the past two decades, advisory services have shifted from a strategic priority to a core component of firm economics. The data shows that this change is not incremental.
Across all firms, advisory revenue has increased from 22.1% of total revenue in 2008 to 32.2% in 2025, reflecting a long-term rebalancing away from compliance-driven work.
But the more important story is how uneven that growth has become.
Larger firms are moving more aggressively into advisory, building infrastructure, specialization and client relationships that support expanded service offerings. Smaller firms, by contrast, are showing more variability, with some advancing while others are losing ground.
The result is a widening gap in how firms generate revenue and position themselves for future growth.
Advisory is no longer just a service line decision. It is increasingly tied to scale, talent strategy and long-term competitiveness.
The full IPA Insights report breaks this down across firm size segments, including where growth is accelerating, where it is slowing and what that means for firm strategy.
Pre-order the IPA Insights to access the full advisory dataset and analysis.
