The combined fee income has fallen for Ireland's top accountants for the first time in the survey's history. Firms are cutting costs through salary and staff cuts, and are redirecting their practices into other sectors such as auditing and corporate recovery and in response to their clients’ greater focus on the price of their services are finding a market more competitive on price than there has been in recent memory.

Aggressive price competition driven by the recession in the real economy is the main threat facing Ireland’s accountants according to managing partners in this year’s Managing Partners Forum. The threat of litigation also looms over the industry with the threat of singling out auditors as easy targets. The crisis also questions the future of the regulatory role for auditors and how their regulatory responsibilities may change

The total number employed in the top twenty firms has fallen by 8.6 per cent in the past year.