Size really does matter

A spat has developed between rivals Grant Thornton and BDO Stoy Hayward over which can rightly claim to be the UK’s biggest non-Big Five accountancy firm.

The mid-tier supremacy war of words developed after BDO last week announced fee income of over £200m for the year to 31 March 2001.

The 16% growth, attributed to increases in corporate finance and business recovery work, has pushed Grant Thornton off sixth position in the Accountancy Age Top 50 league table.

For the year to June 2001, Grant Thornton is expected to announce a fee income of around £190m, an increase of 17%.

But David McDonnell, Grant Thornton’s UK managing partner, disputes the comparison between the two. He told Accountancy Age: ‘I don’t think it’s a correct comparison. We’re a single business and Stoy Hayward is an associated firm.

‘There’s no single business. There’s a need to distinguish between them. In terms of market share we’re much bigger.’

But BDO’s managing partner Simon Bevan dismissed the claims. He said: ‘I see relatively little difference between the way Grant Thornton run their business and the way we run ours.’

BDO breaks £200m barrier

www.accountancyage.com/Practice/1121857.