BDO turnover rockets 21%
Fee income climbs 21% to make BDO the UK's fastest growing top ten accounting firm
Fee income climbs 21% to make BDO the UK's fastest growing top ten accounting firm
BDO Stoy Hayward delivered a 21% increase in turnover to £227.7m for the year
ended 30 June 2005, making it the UK’s fastest growing top ten accounting firm.
The only mid-tier firm with a FTSE100 audit (PartyGaming) revealed that it
has recorded double-digit growth across all areas of its business and is winning
increasing amounts of work from the Big Four.
BDO has won over 20 public company audits, including the audits of four
FTSE350 companies, to make it the leading mid-tier auditor in the FTSE350.
‘Companies are recognising our service quality and that there is strength and
depth outside the Big Four,’ BDO managing partner Jeremy Newman said.
Unlike the Big Four firms, where a boom in assurance work drove revenue
growth, BDO’s fee income increases came from other areas. Corporate advisory
services fees increased by 26% to £75m and investment management increased by
25% to £13m. Tax revenue increased by 22% to £68m and business assurance
services grew by 15% to £71m.
Newman said that because the bulk of BDO’s clients traded on AIM, where IFRS
was only due for implementation in 2007, assurance was not at the levels
experienced by the Big Four.
‘Our growth has been driven by competing with the Big Four and winning more
work. We are doing more with mid-to-large corporates and that is bound to
continue,’ Newman said.
Sarbanes-Oxley did play a role in driving growth at the firm as companies
were forced to go outside the Big Four to avoid conflicts of interest. In
addition to this, Newman said BDO was benefiting from its US arm, BDO Siedman,
which had become the largest net winner of SEC audits over the last two years.
‘We have started to reap the benefits of companies audited by BDO Seidman
with UK operations. It is a trickle but will become more,’ Newman said.
However, although Newman was optimistic about the firm’s prospects for the
current financial year, he warned that growth was unlikely to reach the same
levels.
‘The PartyGaming float and a few big M&A transactions are unlikely to be
repeated, so while we are still anticipating further growth it will not be at
the same levels,’ He said.