Assurance up 4.5%; tax and advisory down.
via BDO Seidman:
Chicago/Brussels – BDO Global Coordination B.V. has announced world-wide revenues for the BDO International network, the world’s fifth largest accounting and consulting network, for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2009. Global revenue (including the exclusive members of Member Firms’ Alliances) amounted to $5.026 billion (U.S.), a decrease of 2.3 percent from last year. However, this represents an increase of 1.7 percent in euro compared to last year and an increase of 4.5 percent when excluding the effect of all currency movements.
Revenues from assurance services grew by 4.5 percent and now account for some 60% of total combined fee income; revenues from tax fell by 3.9% and now account for 19% of total combined fee income; and revenues from advisory services – most affected by the global economic crisis – fell by 10% and now account for 20% of total combined fee income. Both staff and office numbers increased in 2009. Total staff increased from 44,002 in 2008 to 46,035 and offices grew from 1,095 to 1,138 during the year.
“Our revenues have been affected by difficult market conditions – particularly in the economies of our largest member firms – and the significant reduction in transaction-based activity. Our results have also been affected by currency movements and, in particular, the weakening of many currencies against the US dollar and the euro. We are therefore extremely pleased that overall revenues in euro have grown and that there is only a modest reduction in overall fees when expressed in US dollars,” said Jeremy Newman, CEO of BDO International. “It is particularly pleasing that at a time when many other accounting networks are showing a decline in fee income that our underlying revenues, excluding the effect of currency movements, have increased by almost 5 percent.”
Since the end of its financial year, BDO has announced the addition of another 5 countries to its network, through the admission of new firms in East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda) and the Eastern Caribbean (St Lucia and St Vincent). Thus, at the start of 2010 the BDO network will have member firms in 115 countries.
BDO International is a world wide network of public accounting firms, called BDO Member Firms. Each BDO Member Firm is an independent legal entity in its own country. The network is coordinated by BDO Global Coordination B.V., incorporated in The Netherlands with its statutory seat in Eindhoven (trade register registration number 33205251) and with an office at Boulevard de la Woluwe 60, 1200 Brussels, Belgium, where the International Executive Office is located. BDO is the brand name for the BDO International network and for each of the BDO Member Firms. The combined fee income of all the BDO Member Firms was $5.03 billion in 2009. The global network has 1,138 offices in 110 countries and more than 46,000 people provide advisory services throughout the world.
