BDO and Moore Stephens have signed contracts on their merger, cementing the new firm as a fifth company capable of taking on complex tax, audit and advisory work outside of the Big Four.
The merger, which first became public last month, will make BDO the third biggest auditor of listed companies overall.
It relates to the London, Birmingham, Reading, Bristol and Watford offices of Moore Stephens, and will see a joint company focusing on sectors including financial services, insurance and shipping.
It comes as a critical time for the audit sector following the Competitions and Markets Authority study into the audit market and Kingman review of the Financial Reporting Council.
RSM was also announced yesterday as the new auditor for Patisserie Valerie Holdings, indicating an appetite for awarding more business to firms outside of the Big Four.
More than 5,000 people across the UK will deliver a gross annual revenue of £590m following completion of the BDO-Moore Stephens merger. The firm will remain part of BDO globally, which announced revenue growth of 10 per cent earlier this month to a combined fee income of US$9bn.
Paul Eagland, Managing Partner, BDO, said:“Our shared ambition is to create a fully-integrated firm which leads in serving what we call the UK ‘economic engine’ – the country’s entrepreneurially-spirited businesses. As a combined firm, we also create a stronger challenger at the top-end of the audit market by offering greater scalability; however our continued focus on quality will preside above all else.”
Simon Gallagher, Managing Partner, Moore Stephens LLP, said: “I am immensely proud of Moore Stephens, which has delivered double digit growth for several consecutive years. Joining forces with BDO will allow us to continue this growth trajectory, enabling us to deliver the ever-increasing range and depth of solutions requested by clients.”