BDO revenues jump 16% to £935m in FY23

BDO has posted a 16% increase in revenues to £935m for FY23, with significant growth across all three of its service lines of audit, tax and advisory.

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.

The firm’s 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.

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, thanks to BDO’s understanding and its expertise in the AIM market.  

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

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, 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 said its 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 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.  

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. 

Paul Eagland, managing partner at BDO LLP, said: “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.”