World Survey 2014
International Accounting Bulletin
W
network TGS Global, which is ranked as
the 20th largest with fee income of $157.8m
in the year to 31 December 2013, Shinewing CPA a Chinese international network
ranked at number 19, with revenues of
$161m. Among associations the new addition was Key Will Group, a Chinese-led, but
London-based, association.
hile a meteoroid breaking up
and falling from the sky in Russia and the US National Security
Agency reading our text messages might be the most memorable news
moments of 2013, the accounting market is
more likely to remember headlines of largescale accounting firm M&A deals and mandatory rotation becoming a more and more
real remedy for the concentration levels in
the audit market.
Following last year’s decent performance – 6% overall market growth – many
accounting networks and associations
looked actively towards future strategy and
ways to grow in 2013. For many this has
meant M&A, adding member firms and
finding strategic alliances. Despite the surge
in activity, International Accounting Bulletin surveyed networks and associations –
50 in total – reported an average growth of
only 3%, to a combined $169.7bn.
Changes at the top
Deloitte has, for the second time in the past
three years, claimed the title of largest global accountancy network, reporting global
revenues of $32.4bn in the year to 31 May
2013, up 3.5% year on year. In second place
PwC reported global revenues of US$32.1bn
in the year to 30 June 2013.
Deloitte and PwC have been neck and
neck in the past few years, with Deloitte
drawing ahead of PwC for the first time ever,
by just $9m, in 2010. Deloitte’s lead was
short-lived as in 2011 and 2012 PwC yet
again claimed the global number one spot.
It’s likely the tight race to become number one will continue as PwC announced
in October a merger agreement with global
consultancy Booz & Company, which was
fully approved by Booz & Company partners in December and is currently pending
regulatory approval. The deal is likely to
add 3,000 staff and more than $1bn in advisory revenues to the firm, which potentially
will allow it to take over the top spot from
Deloitte yet again.
PwC vice-chairman Richard CollierKeywood says organic growth has been
challenging for the firm in the past year
due to the economic environment its clients
have been subject to for the past three to
Even growth
It was not only the overall growth that
stood at 3% – both networks and associations reported 3% average growth. For
networks this was a decrease from the 6%
growth figure last year and can mainly be
attributed to challenges surrounding organic growth in audit and tax.
Associations’ revenues were flat in 2012
and the 3% growth in 2013 can be attributed to new members being added, especially
from developing markets, and M&A activity among existing members.
The IAB 2014 World Survey ranking
includes 25 networks and 25 associations,
with three new additions to the ranking:
■■ Revenue vs. Growth
$bn
200
Revenue (left axis)
%
Growth
20
15
150
10
5
100
0
50
-5
0
03
20
04
20
05
20
06
20
07
20
08
20
09
20
10
20
11
20
12
20
13
20
-10
Source: International Accounting Bulletin
www.InternationalAccountingBulletin.com
Survey
four years. Collier-Keywood says: “This
has played a major role in Europe and
I would also point to the slowdown in
growth last year in many of the emerging
markets that have their own difficulties.
Emerging market really didn’t grow so well
last year. I think these were the main reasons for challenges in organic growth for us
in the past year.”
Third-ranked EY and fourth KPMG both
kept their market position and reported 6%
and 2% global growth respectively
EY global managing partner – client
service Carmine Di Sibio says the firm’s
growth in the past year, which was almost
entirely organic, is in line with the firm’s
Vision 2020 strategy and its aim to increase
global revenues to $50bn in the next six
years. He says this means the firm will have
to grow by more than 10% on average each
year, which he thinks will be achieved by a
combination of organic and M&A growth.
Di Sibio also tells IAB that the firm will
continue its work towards a highly integrated global practice, which in his opinion sets the fir