Record results for BDO

BDO Stoy Hayward is set become the first mid-tier firm to break the #200m fee income barrier after a year fuelled by growth in corporate finance and business recovery services, writes Adriana Zea.

The record figure for the year to 31 March 2001, a rise of 26% over the prior year, makes the mid-tier firm the biggest outside the Big Five, knocking rival Grant Thornton out of top position.

But Grant Thornton, whose fees totalled #164m in the year to June 2000, has not yet come to the end of its comparative accounting period.

BDO’s figures, which will be officially revealed over the next week, show that most of its growth came in its business recovery and corporate finance services, an unusual economic phenomenon according to managing partner Simon Bevan.

He told Accountancy Age: ‘We have a lot of business clients who are merging, buying, floating, and other corporate finance activities and the business recovery team is also busier.’

Bevan added: ‘We see this as proof that the rescue culture is working and there’s good quality turnaround work. The rescue culture has meant that a lot of businesses come to us before it’s too late.’

The mid-tier firm, based in Baker Street, London, also saw an increase in its core audit and tax businesses well above gross domestic product and inflation growth.

Partners culled at BDO Stoy Hayward www.accountancyage.com/Practice/1120432