LinkedIn Outreach Benchmarks for Accounting (2026)

Key Takeaways

In accounting, the average LinkedIn connection acceptance rate is 29.5%. Replies to the connection note average 2.6%, and replies to a message after the connection is accepted average 12.0%. Those numbers come from 138,854 connection requests sent by 113 accounting accounts between May 2025 and April 2026. Against the cross-industry averages of 28.5%, 3.0% and 10.4%, accounting is above on acceptance and message replies and below on note replies.

Accounting vs. the platform average

Metric	Accounting	All industries	Difference	Rank
Connection acceptance	29.5%	28.5%	+1.0 pts	10th of 38
Connection-note reply	2.6%	3.0%	-0.4 pts	19th of 38
Message reply after acceptance	12.0%	10.4%	+1.6 pts	7th of 38

Across the 38 industries with at least 50 sending accounts, acceptance runs from 21.8% (telecommunications) to 36.5% (staffing & recruiting). Note replies run from 1.8% to 6.6%, and message replies from 7.2% to 18.9%.

What the numbers say about accounting outreach

Accounting is above average at both ends and ordinary in the middle. Acceptance of 29.5% ranks 10th of 38 and message replies of 12.0% rank 7th, both comfortably above the cross-industry figures. Note replies of 2.6% rank 19th, slightly under the 3.0% average.

End to end that produces about 3.5 replies per 100 recipients, the fourth best of the twenty industries with the largest samples, behind staffing and recruiting, events services and venture capital. It gets there without leading on anything, which is rarer in this dataset than leading on one measure and failing on another.

Real estate is its closest match in the set, and the pairing makes sense on the numbers rather than on the job description: both accept at close to or above average and both converse well above it, with the note doing little work in either. Across 113 accounts and 138,854 requests, accounting is one of the few sectors where a sequence that is merely competent at every step lands above the platform.

If your numbers sit below these

The dataset says where an account sits, not why. From what we see in campaigns, three gaps come up most often in this sector, and they point at different problems.

Message replies under 12.0%. This is the sector’s strongest measure at 7th of 38. Falling below it costs more than a shortfall anywhere else on this page, because the conversation is where accounting earns its above-average result.

Acceptance under 29.5%. The sector accepts at a point above platform. A number below the sector line usually reflects a list built from firm size and title without regard to whether the firm buys anything at that size.

Note replies under 2.6%. Below platform already, and the sector performs well regardless. This is the measure to leave alone if effort is limited.

Further reading: 

• Improving your LinkedIn Sales Navigator targeting
• Personalising the message request without tripping limits
• The LinkedIn message follow-up formula

Frequently asked questions

What is a good LinkedIn acceptance rate in accounting?

29.5% is the sector average, a point above the 28.5% cross-industry figure, ranking 10th of 38 reported industries. Above 31% is doing better than the sector.

Do accountants reply to LinkedIn messages?

At above-average rates. Accounting averages 12.0% message replies against a platform average of 10.4%, ranking 7th of 38 across 113 accounts and 138,854 requests.

How does accounting compare with other industries?

Acceptance ranks 10th of 38, message replies 7th and note replies 19th. End to end about 3.5 in 100 recipients reply to a follow-up, the fourth best of the twenty largest samples and ahead of the roughly 3.0 across all industries.

How this data was collected

Accounting is reported from 113 accounts and 138,854 connection requests sent between May 2025 and April 2026, drawn from the LinkedIn Outreach Benchmarks 2026 dataset of 13.2 million requests across 13,302 accounts. That report carries the full methodology, along with the breakdowns by sender seniority, company size and month that are not repeated here.

Two things to hold in mind while reading any of these figures. The industry is the sender’s, taken from their company profile, not the recipient’s. And only industries with at least 50 sending accounts are reported at all: below that, a single unusual account moves the average by several points, which is why some of the most extreme numbers in the full appendix are not published here.

Related industry benchmarks

• Real Estate, 28.4% acceptance and 11.8% message replies
• Marketing & Advertising, 29.4% acceptance and 10.6% message replies
• Information Technology & Services, 28.4% acceptance and 10.5% message replies
• All industry benchmarks

Grade your own outreach against these numbers

Enter your own acceptance and reply rates and grade your outreach against the accounting benchmark, plus see where you sit among all 38 reported industries. No signup.

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Data updated 19 August 2026. Refreshed quarterly against the source report.