David Sproul, Senior Partner and Chief Executive, Deloitte

David Sproul, Senior Partner and Chief Executive, Deloitte

We are likely to see Sproul leading Deloitte in even more growth this year as well as making changes to embrace technology and the changing role of the accountant

Bio

Sproul graduated in Accounting from the University of Hertfordshire in 1981.

His past career includes the role of COO of Anderson until 2002 before moving to Deloitte, where he has remained since then.

He joined the Big Four firm as a Managing Partner in Consulting and Advisory Services. Following that, he spent two years as Managing Partner for Talent, and was actually the first talent leader for Deloitte UK, laying the foundations for its talent approach today.

In 2006, Sproul became Managing Director Tax, UK and EMEA, where he developed the firm’s EMEA tax practice, sitting on the Boards of the Global Tax Executive and European Countries.

Before moving to his current role, Sproul spent a year working on One Deloitte Leadership, where he shaped Deloitte’s growth strategy, and specifically extended Deloitte’s real estate services through the merger with Drivers Jonas.

Since 2011, Sproul has been Senior Partner and Chief Executive at Deloitte. He began by heading up Deloitte UK, and in June last year moved to Deloitte North West Europe.

Why did he make the power list?

Sproul is third on the Accountancy Age Financial Power List 2018. His impact on Deloitte, and Deloitte’s impact on the economy, is set to continue on an upward trajectory this year following a revenue rise of 11.2% last year. It seems that increasing concerns over cyber security, upcoming regulation, and the impact of Brexit drove up demand elsewhere.

Deloitte are striving to snatch some of the financial advisory market. The firm is also aiming to increase its presence in the technology and creative consulting space, after recently announcing its partnership with Apple as well as buying creative agency, Acne.

Sproul also highlighted how the firm is on the lookout to hire digital design and big data analytics experts.

Deloitte

Deloitte came second in the Accountancy Age Top 50 + 50 rankings 2017. It is a UK-incorporated multinational professional services network.

It is described as one of the Big Four accounting organisations and the largest professional services network in the world due to its revenue and number of employees. It provides audit, tax, consulting, enterprise risk, and financial advisory services to more than 263,000 professionals around the world.

In 2017, the company earned a record $38.8 billion USD in revenue. In the UK, it boasts the largest number of FTSE 250 companies as clients.

 

Check out who else make the top five on our power list this year. You can also view the rankings from 2016 and 2017.

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