Partners at BDO were paid more than their counterparts at bigger rival EY last year as the mid-tier accounting firm was boosted by a jump in demand for its audit, tax and advisory services.
BDO, the UK’s fifth-largest player, handed partners an average of £760,000 before tax in the year to June – higher than the £749,000 paid out by EY, one of the so-called Big Four audit firms.
This was up from an average of £518,000 paid to each BDO partner in 2020.
It comes after BDO was criticised by the accounting watchdog. More than half of audits inspected by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) did not meet its required standards.
The FRC also launched an investigation into BDO’s audits of a collapsed construction company in October.
BDO now audits more UK-listed companies than any other accounting firm. However, the company remains much smaller overall than its Big Four rivals, EY, KPMG, Deloitte and PwC, which all make at least three times as much revenue in Britain because they typically have the biggest clients.
Cost savings in areas such as business travel helped to boost BDO’s profits for the year, which jumped by nearly half to £203m, while revenues rose by more than a tenth to £731m.
Paul Eagland, BDO’s UK managing partner, said: “As the economy started to settle, post-Brexit and with the rollout of the vaccine programme, we experienced an increase in demand for our services.”
He added that the pay increase for partners was important to attract talent.
The firm, which furloughed 700 employees at the beginning of the pandemic, has also rewarded staff for their efforts during the crisis with the choice of either a bonus of one week’s pay in their September pay packet, or an extra week’s holiday.
Mr Eagland said: “The momentum generated by our 2019 merger with Moore Stephens was stopped in its tracks by the global pandemic in 2020. Like so many other businesses, we slowed down our growth ambitions to focus on the wellbeing of our people.”
BDO came under fire last year for refusing to repay the £4.1m it received through the furlough scheme. It ultimately reversed its position following public backlash.
