BDO AT A GLANCE
OUR CLIENTS
Our business is built on, and sustained by, the long-term relationships we build with our clients. Our primary aim is to give them exceptional client service.
As more and more are discovering, we can deliver breadth and depth of expertise to the highest standards - with senior-led teams delivering service quality and value. As a result, we've been winning the majority of our pitches - attracting new clients in our target mid and larger corporate markets while our own clients remain remarkably loyal. Our Strategy 'one firm, clients first' commits us all to exceptional service delivery. We aim to ensure that clients know and feel they are special to us.
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OUR PEOPLE
Exceptional service is delivered by exceptional people. We aim to attract and retain outstanding individuals, giving them the skills they need to excel; and empowerment in return for exceptional service.
We aim to give our clients more senior time than competitors - and we're well placed to do this because we have a high proportion of partners relative to staff. We develop and empower all our people to deliver proactive, personal and accessible service that's not hampered by bureaucracy or overburdened with process. To this end we've been investing in a new learning management system to transform the way we develop our talented people.
Last year, to underpin our competitiveness as markets contracted, we made the decision to undertake a redundancy programme. At the year end, we had just under 3000 partners and staff.
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OUR RESPONSIBILITIES
We believe it's important to be a responsible and well managed business; and we continue to improve our corporate responsibility programme.
In Business in the Community's 2009 CR Index we maintained our Silver rating with an improved score.
Everyone in the firm has a chance to make a personal difference. We offer each individual six paid days a year for voluntary work, and the scheme has attracted growing support. Last year 495 staff and partners took part: a participation rate of over 15 per cent.
Our overall Carbon Dioxide emissions (see Environment section) rose 6 per cent as a result of a full year's occupation in our new offices in London, but we cut emissions from buildings outside London by 19 per cent. We've identified a number of measures to improve this.
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OUR PERFORMANCE
Our solid financial results in more challenging market conditions reflected a tail off in transactional and other one-off assignments and our decision to continue investing in profitable growth.
National turnover, including our Northern Ireland firm, was down by just 5 per cent to £335.1m. Operating margins and underlying profitability were maintained, albeit with a modest reduction in profits to £58.7m (from £65m), which was largely as a result of one-off reorganisation costs.
Audit and Tax: We were named 2008 Audit Team of the Year and 2008 Tax Team of the Year by Accountancy Age; and we also won the LexisNexis Taxation award for 2009 Best High Net Worth Team.
Business Restructuring: We increased our number of partners by a third and redeployed staff from across the firm as revenue rose almost 50 per cent.
Corporate Finance: Awarded Accountancy Age 2008 Corporate Finance Deal of the Year.
Forensic Services: We continued to grow this business, winning further high-profile assignments and benefiting from growth in regulatory investigations, cost control concerns and professional negligence cases.
Investment Management: We saw an increase in revenues, we integrated Wolanski Checkley Fisher's actuarial business and launched a new specialist brand, Fitzwilliam Asset Management.
National sector teams reinforce our service teams, bringing together specialist expertise in a number of sectors including financial services, manufacturing, the public sector, real estate and construction, retail, and technology, media and telecoms (TMT).
More on Our performance and Our figures
OUR ORGANISATION
We are an award-winning UK Member Firm of BDO, the world's fifth largest accountancy network, which has more than 1,000 offices in over 100 countries.
Our UK business is a limited liability partnership operating from 14 offices nationwide:
- Birmingham
- Bristol
- Cambridge
- Chelmsford
- Epsom
- Gatwick
- Glasgow
- Hatfield
- Leeds
- London
- Manchester
- Northern Ireland*
- Reading
- Southampton
* Our Northern Ireland firm is operated by a separate partnership under a licence agreement.