BDO turnover leaps 27% after PKF merger
Annual report first to reflect PKF merger
LATEST ANNUAL RESULTS show BDO’s turnover has risen 27%, taking its fee income to £384m in the year to July 2014.
Operating profits jumped 42% to £78m in the first results to fully reflect the merger with PKF in April 2013.
The last separate revenue figures for the two firms were published in the 2012 Accountancy Age Top 50 +50 Survey; with £281.5m and £103.3m in revenues for BDO and PKF respectively.
All three of the firm’s primary service lines posted sizeable growth figures, with audit business increasing 19% to £128m, tax growing 21% to £99m and its advisory business growing 39% to £157m.
In addition to the boost the merger provided, managing partner Simon Michaels attributed the audit growth to its success with AIM-listed companies, and the mid-market.
The organic element of the tax growth is attributable to specialist areas, such as private client, M&A and international corporate work for both domestic and global clients, Michaels said.
Similarly in advisory, increased work on complex forensic projects, transaction services and M&A helped boost figures, with the firm now acting for a third of FTSE 100 businesses in an advisory capacity.
However, Michaels warned figures next year are unlikely to be as elevated, despite a relatively trouble-free merger.
“We ensured our merger with PKF was a success and that it did not distract us from providing the level of service that our clients expect,” he told Accountancy Age. “All our people have strived to ensure that the high quality work that we offer our clients has continued.”
On the mechanics of overseeing the merger, Michaels said fostering a conducive and welcoming culture for the PKF was “very much the focus”.
“It was key to make space for everyone to service their clients,” Michaels said. “We co-located everybody across the seven cities both firms had presence in within 100 days of the merger. We integrated our systems in the same time period and rebranded from day one – contacting our clients in advance of it and so we’ve managed to maintain service levels the whole way and client retention has been excellent.”