FY 22/23 Financial results

Strength of UK’s mid-market businesses boosts BDO revenues by 16%

BDO revenues near £1bn milestone
Another 500 new jobs created across the UK
Partners invest an additional £120m back into the business - BDO’s biggest additional annual investment in its 100-year history
People, quality and future high-growth services remain the focus for investment

BDO has posted a 16% increase in revenues to £935m for the financial year 2022/23, with significant growth across all three of its service lines of audit, tax and advisory.

Despite continued economic uncertainty in the UK, the strength of BDO’s core market of entrepreneurial mid-sized businesses, as well as the hard work and skills of its people, has led to another successful year for the firm. During the year, BDO took on a further 500 new people creating skilled jobs across the UK, building a business of nearly 7,500 people in 17 regional offices.

As part of planned investments, BDO directed £120m back into the business – the single biggest additional annual investment in the firm’s 100-year history – with people, technology, innovation and future high-growth services at the centre of the firm’s investment strategy.

BDO operating profits grew 5% to £198m. Average profit per equity partner (PEP) was down 6% to £609,000, reflecting both the additional investments and increased partner numbers.

Paul Eagland, Managing Partner at BDO LLP, said:

“At a time of economic uncertainty, individuals and businesses turn to trusted advisers to help guide them. Given our position in the market, I’m pleased to say that entrepreneurial mid-sized businesses continue to come to us for our expertise and support, which has in turn enabled us to post a positive set of financial results. The strength and resilience of mid-sized and entrepreneurial businesses continues to be a major driver of UK economic growth and job creation.

“Despite the challenging market conditions, our revenues have continued to grow and have trebled over the last ten years. With this growth we are investing to ensure BDO’s future is secure and sustainable.”

BUSINESS PERFORMANCE

All three areas of the business – audit, tax and advisory – saw significant growth over the last 12 months.

The audit business posted revenues of £400m, up 24% on the previous year. BDO’s sector understanding and its expertise in the AIM market all contributed to the rise in revenue. In addition, the dynamics of the audit market continue to create demand for our audit services and the pipeline for future work remains strong. The firm continues to audit the most, by number, AIM-listed and Main Market businesses in the UK.

The tax business generated revenues of £225m reporting growth of 13% with tax compliance, private client and risk advisory services remaining in high demand.

BDO’s advisory revenues grew by 8% to £310m, with the firm’s Digital Risk Advisory Services and Financial Services Advisory arms posting particularly strong growth.

INVESTMENT

Investment, in line with its five-year strategic plan, continues to be a major focus for BDO, with the firm investing an additional £200m into the business during the last two years and £120m in the last year.

BDO’s top priority is to continue to improve quality within the firm by investing in more skilled people, processes and technology. This year, the firm invested an additional £8m in the central audit quality team and recruited an additional 300 people in audit alone.

In total, BDO now employs 7,500 people (up from 7,000 last year) and promoted more than 3,000 in the last financial year. BDO also hired or promoted 61 new partners taking the partnership to 441, the largest it has ever been.

The firm recruited 650 school leavers and graduates in the financial year and entered into a new partnership with Teach First to help improve social mobility. This includes providing volunteer coaches for teachers, delivering workshops in classes and a charitable donation from the firm.

The decision to invest heavily in people will enable BDO to meet the increased demand for its services as well as focusing on wellbeing by spreading workloads across more people. The firm remains committed to being an agile working environment, in which people - with their teams - decide the best location from which to work depending on the task at hand, be it at home, in BDO offices or at client or audit sites.

Putting more resources into technology and innovation is also a key part of BDO’s approach to improving quality and efficiencies within the firm. A new Innovation & Digital Office is accelerating the development and usage of digital products and the adoption of AI and related technologies across the firm.

Another area of investment in the financial year has been in future high-growth services for the firm, specifically in ESG advisory and digital risk advisory, which will generate substantial growth in the years ahead. The firm’s ESG investments have also continued throughout the year, including the publication of its Net-Zero roadmap, which has been validated by the SBTi (Science-Based Targets Initiative).

BDO, its partners and employees contributed £350m to HMRC for business, VAT, employment and personal taxes based on the 2022/23 financial results.

ENDS

Note to editors

Accountancy and business advisory firm BDO LLP provides integrated advice and solutions to help businesses navigate a changing world.

The organisations we work with are Britain’s economic engine – ambitious, entrepreneurially-spirited and high-growth businesses that fuel the economy.

We understand the ambitions and the entrepreneurial mind-set of each of the businesses we work with. We have the right combination of global reach, integrity and expertise to help them succeed.

BDO LLP
BDO LLP operates in 17 offices across the UK, employing 7,500 people offering tax, audit and assurance, and a range of advisory services. BDO LLP is the UK member firm of the BDO international network.

BDO’s global network
The BDO global network provides business advisory services in 164 countries, with 111,300 people working out of 1,803 offices worldwide. It has revenues of $12.8bn.

Contacts

Elliott Grady
Director of Corporate Affairs
Elliott.x.grady@bdo.co.uk