- Revenue of the 25 largest firms rises by 8.1%
- Deloitte in second place in the industry ranking for the first time
- RSM and BDO each with half a billion euros in revenue
- New Lünendonk Ranking 2026 available
Frankfurt am Main, July 16, 2026 — The German market for auditing and tax advisory services (WP) continues its growth undeterred despite the recession: after an increase of 7.6% in 2024, market volume rose by 6.1% in 2025 to 22.6 billion euros. The 25 WP firms with the highest revenue increased by an average of 8.1% in fiscal year 2025 (2024: 10.7%). Growth is thus normalizing after the post-COVID years, but remains at a solid level and well above overall economic development. The Big Four – PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), KPMG, Ernst & Young (EY) and Deloitte – grew by an average of 5.0% (2024: 5.4%), although individual developments differ: while PwC recorded growth of 8.5%, EY’s was low at 2.4%. Within the Next Six group, Forvis Mazars and RSM Ebner Stolz in particular provided the strongest momentum, each with 11.2%.
These are initial results of the Lünendonk Survey 2026 “Auditing and Tax Advisory in Germany”, which will be published in August 2026. The Top 25 ranking is available for download at www.luenendonk.de.
Deloitte in second place for the first time
In fiscal year 2025, PwC achieves revenue in Germany of 3,261.1 million euros, recording growth of 8.5%. The market leader consolidates its top position, which it has held since the first edition of the industry ranking in 2006.
The most striking change concerns the other positions: after decades of catching up, Deloitte reaches second place for the first time. Deloitte shares this position with KPMG, as both generated revenue of 2,705.0 million euros in 2025. EY ranks fourth with 2,656.6 million euros. With revenue of 11.3 billion euros, the Big Four dominate the German audit market – their market share is 50.1%. They serve this market together with 3,057 other WP firms (as of 2026-01-01, source: WPK, Berlin).
The top is closing in
With 2,705.0 million euros each, Deloitte (+4.8%) and KPMG (+4.2%) jointly take second place in 2025 – a remarkable neck-and-neck race, although KPMG’s revenue is estimated, as the WP firm only communicates total output. Despite positive revenue growth (+2.4%), EY slips to fourth place.
“The revenues of Deloitte, KPMG and EY are all within a narrow revenue corridor,” says Lünendonk Managing Director Jörg Hossenfelder. “A minimal difference in growth can lead to another shift in the coming years.” Globally, Deloitte remains the largest WP firm with revenue of 70.5 billion US dollars (2024: US$67.2 bn – 2023: US$64.9 bn).
Next Six: Stable field with strong growth momentum
The Next Six – consisting of RSM Ebner Stolz, BDO, Rödl, Forvis Mazars, Baker Tilly and Grant Thornton – again increased significantly in 2025, with an average rise of 8.8% to a total of 2.4 billion euros (2024: €2.2 bn). This group is once again growing more dynamically than the Big Four. RSM Ebner Stolz and Forvis Mazars lead the field with revenue growth of 11.2% each. “It is remarkable that the Next Six have been growing above average for years, while the Big Four are losing momentum,” says Hossenfelder. “Among other things, this group is characterized by a consistent One Country – One Firm approach.”
RSM and BDO exceed the 500 million euro mark for the first time
In fiscal year 2025, RSM Ebner Stolz achieved double-digit growth of 11.2% with revenue of 530.8 million euros. This secures the company fifth place in the German market once again and extends its lead. BDO also exceeds the 500 million euro mark for the first time, achieving above-average growth of 10.2% with 508.3 million euros. Only 22.5 million euros separate the two firms.
With 443.0 million euros (+6.2%), Rödl takes seventh place and thus remains stable in the chasing pack. The multidisciplinary firm from Nuremberg is the only company on the list responsible for international business. With revenue growth of 11.2%, Forvis Mazars, together with RSM Ebner Stolz, posts the strongest revenue increase within the Next Six. The Hamburg-based WP firm ranks eighth with 372.0 million euros. Positions nine and ten are also close: Baker Tilly holds ninth place with 268.1 million euros (+7.0%). Grant Thornton, with 267.3 million euros (+6.9%), rounds off both the Next Six and the Top 10. Only 0.8 million euros separate the Düsseldorf-based WP firms from ninth place.
dhpg and Bansbach with strong growth
dhpg is growing well above average for the third year in a row: after an increase of 14.3% in 2025, the Bonn-based WP firm achieves revenue of 157.0 million euros. ETL also records above-average growth with 101.4 million euros (+10.1%) and remains in twelfth place. PKF Fasselt climbs from 14th to 13th with 94.9 million euros (+8.2%). With growth of 1.5%, Dornbach achieves revenue of 92.9 million euros and ranks 14th, followed by Nexia with 75.4 million euros and an increase of 12.7%. LKC follows with a small gap at 73.1 million euros (+6.3%); the revenue increase is partly attributable to acquisitions of firms. Since 2026, LKC has been part of the atania group.
Bansbach moves up two places and achieves 72.7 million euros (17.3%). Despite an increase of 12.2%, Curacon slips down one place and ranks 18th with revenue of 70.0 million euros. Möhrle Happ Luther also loses one position and ranks 19th with 68.0 million euros (9.1%). Sonntag und Partner is included in the list for the first time with revenue of 61.2 million euros after the company met the inclusion criteria in 2025.
Moore BRL achieves 21st place with 60.6 million euros (+3.8%) and continues its stable growth trajectory. In 22nd place is Solidaris with 55.5 million euros, followed by Falk (53.0 million euros). As a new entrant, kbht NEXT stands out: the firm, formed in 2025 from the merger of kbht and dhmp, ranks 24th with 49.3 million euros. RWT rounds off the Lünendonk Ranking with 46.0 million euros.
Private equity in the audit and tax advisory market
Not only the economic situation influences the industry’s business; regulatory developments are also increasingly coming into focus. To date, private equity (PE) investors have taken a special route regarding third-party ownership: they have indirectly invested in German firms via foreign WP firms. Hossenfelder comments: “After the German Bundestag clarified the ban on third-party ownership for tax advisory firms in mid-June 2026 with the tax advisory reform, PEs are reviewing their involvement. This is because the law makes it clear that indirect investments by financial investors in German tax advisory firms are not readily possible via foreign audit firms either.” The new regulation is intended to prevent circumvention structures and safeguard the independence of advisory services.
Inclusion criteria for the ranking
The annually published Lünendonk Ranking is a ranking of the 25 WP firms in Germany with the highest domestic revenue. Due to the heterogeneous provider landscape, it is subject to the following inclusion criteria: More than 60% of revenue results from auditing, tax advisory services (excluding tax returns and bookkeeping), corporate finance and/or legal advisory services. Of this, at least 15% must be attributable to auditing (pure statutory audit, excluding audit-related advisory services). In addition, only independently organized WP firms are considered – networks and alliances are listed separately.
Lünendonk Ranking at a glance
For reasons of comparability, the WP firms are listed in the Lünendonk Ranking by domestic revenue. Since some firms such as PwC or KPMG only report total output, estimates were made in a few places. These are marked accordingly.
Reference
The detailed Lünendonk Survey 2026 “Auditing and Tax Advisory in Germany” is based on a survey of the 25 leading and 44 other medium-sized and smaller WP firms on structures, strategies, planning and challenges. In addition, twelve networks and alliances were included. The Survey will be published in August 2026 and will be available at www.luenendonk.de at a price of 2,500 euros (plus VAT).
Downloads
