Meagre pickings outside big fifty
The latest research of accounting firms outside the big fifty shows at least half of all partners in are making a loss
A benchmarking survey by accountancy network
AVN of about 200
independent practices outside the top 50 biggest firms found that, although the
average practice earned about £77,000 for each partner, after adjusting for arms
length partner salary costs, the average partner actually made a loss.
Unlike the Big Four, the exception to the rule were some independent
practices where the profit per partner was more than £200,000.
Steve Pipe, AVN chairman, predicted the profession would become even more
polarised in 2008 ‘with some partners being able to afford their first Ferrari,
most partners making losses, and some partners even needing to start selling the
Big Issue to make ends meet’.
He also warned that UK practitioners risked losing their clients to
professionals based in India. Pipe expected clients would start trying to drive
down the cost of annual accounting services.
Further reading:
KPMG revenues top £1.6bn with bonuses of £100m
Deloitte delivers record 15.5% global growth