The expert spoke about the stagnation of the accounting outsourcing market in 2025

The growth of the accounting and human resources outsourcing market practically stopped in 2025, increasing by only 10%, which corresponds to the inflation rate. As Alexander Khomik, Director of Sales and Marketing at the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, told Izvestia on February 5, business had been cutting budgets and postponing projects for most of the year, and demand began to revive only in the second half of the year amid preparations for the 2026 tax changes.

The total revenue of the 30 largest market players reached 26.9 billion rubles, with 80% of this volume concentrated in 10 leading companies.

"Customers are looking for additional back-office optimization opportunities, and interest in digital tools is growing: CAD, automatic document recognition, and artificial intelligence," Khomik said.

Profit, but: in seven years, only gold and deposits have generated income above inflation

What is the reason for this and what can you earn in 2026?

Market participants call the past year one of the most difficult. The decision-making cycle for new contracts has doubled or tripled, with clients massively postponing or abandoning projects perceived as optional. At the same time, against the background of increasing regulatory complexity, there has been an increased interest in accounting services as a way to reduce risks and errors.

Additional factors pushing businesses towards outsourcing are the shortage of qualified personnel and the growing demands on personal data security. The forecast for 2026 remains cautious: Smart Ranking analysts expect the market to grow by 10-15%, with limited customer solvency still being the main barrier.

Mikhail Golovnin, Director of the Institute of Economics (IE) of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said on February 3 that regulating mortgage interest rates could make lending more affordable for Russian residents. The expert added that the policy of subsidizing rates in certain groups of regions of the Russian Federation can also be implemented at the federal level. He also noted that the possibilities of the budgets of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation are limited by regional preferential programs and do not allow them to be subsidized.

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