BDO has seen a very positive financial growth in the most recent financial year. We follow our strategy to become a broader advisory business with very competent specialists founded on a solid audit and accounting platform.
Six per cent growth in the financial year 2017/18
BDO realised revenue of one billion Danish kroner in the financial year 2017/18 which equals a percentage growth of six per cent compared with the financial year 2016/17.
Comparing with our expectations in the last years’ reporting, our results for 2017/18 are most satisfactory.
It is encouraging that the strategy we have pursued in recent years now has materialised into such good results. We are certain that our business model and selected focus areas give us a robust and promising basis for acting out our ambitions in the years to come. It is also positive that the economic growth goes hand in hand with a constantly increasing client satisfaction, enhancement of an already high job satisfaction and a high management quality. The expectations for the future are that we will create a higher level of growth and consolidation in the coming financial year.
The best of two worlds
We are the advisory and accounting firm best represented locally in Denmark. Our presence with 31 Danish offices underlines our strategy to offer the best of two worlds by empathy and commitment. We are the advisory accountant who is close to you and uses insight and empathy to advise clients. We are also specialists with high competences and a strong global network which ensures presence in more than 160 countries. Thus, we can help our clients to be launched into the world.
The combination of advising regionally, nationally and globally gives BDO a strong and competitive starting point. At BDO it is not either or, it is always both and. This also assures our clients that they can always grow bigger together with BDO.
The ambitions are reflected in our mission: ”Through empathy BDO contributes to create development for our clients and the people behind”. And our vision shows the way: ”BDO is a leading advisory and accounting firm which through competences and empathy has the most satisfied clients.”
Digitalisation, specialisation and focus on special sectors make BDO future-proof
The focus areas relating to digitalisation, specialisation and the focus on special sectors was intensified further in the financial year 2017/18. The ability to advise goal-oriented is strengthened and the work with our focus areas is essential in relation to be a leading advisory and accounting house, which is the client’s natural choice.
To pursue the digital opportunities further we have in recent years invested in both competences and new technology. We target both external and internal initiatives, through a focused digitalisation process, towards realisation of digital potentials. To give the digitalisation process the best possible starting point, we have taken the cloud path, and the first step is a brand new IT system landscape which will enhance our prospects of offering our clients and staff new digital benefits and huge data security.
Our strategy to develop specialisation in our five business entities: Private Audit, Public Audit, Tax and VAT, Advisory and Corporate Finance has taken us to a new level within advisory and audit. We have succeeded in creating very many synergies across our business. Throughout the year it has been a strong motivation factor for our specialists to create overall solutions for the benefit our clients. The development of BDO Business Game is another example that we think digitalisation. The game is interactive and with accounting tasks it gives insight into how an accountant works. We have developed the game with realistic challenges, specific tasks and decision processes which the participants are to consider during the process. We have seen huge interest from the educational institutions for this form of gamification, and the game also increases the awareness level in relation to BDO among young people and in this way we strengthen our recruitment of trainees.
Invitation to the best in the market: Let’s make each other stronger
In an increasingly more complex advisory market it is more than ever before necessary to involve international knowhow and profound specialist knowledge in the client relation.
At BDO we desire to optimise our already strong market position through acquisition of advisory and accounting firms which match our high level of ambition. We are one of the market’s most attractive advisory and accounting firms to merge with. Mergers and acquisition always have and always will be a part of our special DNA. More than 40 successful acquisitions over the years is a proof hereof.
In our growth strategy lies both organic growth, cooperation, and acquisition of other advisory and accounting firms, and other specialised players in the market are also interesting to BDO.
BDO is, and will be going forward, in an active dialogue with other specialists in the advisory and accounting sector who can see the coherence in our business model with focus on being deeply rooted and showing a high degree of presence. We aim to speak with players in the market who will be a part of a strong, empathic and client-oriented culture, which involves focused business entities with specialised knowledge and an award-winning international network.
We have in recent years welcomed new colleagues in Kalundborg, Esbjerg and Roskilde. The success we have had realising acquisitions and subsequently creating coherence and synergy with new branches of BDO is among others a result of our respectful integration of new partners and business areas in our organisation.
High quality of management and ”Top-in-Class” on employee satisfaction
We measure employee satisfaction. Every second year we evaluate the quality of management, and every second year we feel the pulse of the employee satisfaction in our employee survey "Temperaturmålingen”.
The satisfaction among BDO’s employees has been steadily increasing over the last six years. Job satisfaction and loyalty are considerably higher than in the Danish labour market in general and a great deal higher than in businesses in related sectors. We are ”Top-in-Class”*, which is in the upper quartile of all eight measure points, and as much as 90 per cent of all employees at BDO are characterised as enthusiastic or core employees.
We are pleased every day creating a good workplace with high job satisfaction and thereby being able to retain and attract competent employees. The internal value work of ”Empathy creates development” is rooted in the BDO DNA, and it makes BDO a natural choice in the advisory market. The average length of employment for BDO’s employees is nine years which is also the proof of a high level of employee satisfaction.
Satisfied clients position BDO in the market
We use the internationally recognised client satisfaction measuring tool NPS, Net Promoter Score, which asks the question: ”How likely is it that you will recommend BDO to a friend or colleague?” to measure the degree of satisfaction of all client relations. In just two years, we have raised our Net Promoter Score considerably, which is very positive and a good indicator that our satisfied clients contribute to position BDO in the sector. The share of not satisfied clients has fallen and the share that unconditionally recommends BDO has gone up.
By means of our NPS measurements we obtain documentation that we continuously improve our client relations so that we continue to strengthen the cooperation at all stages. Thus, we create the foundation ensuring that our client satisfaction will also be at top in the sector in the coming financial year.
*Source: Ennova Employee Index 2017. “Top-in-Class” is the 25 per cent
best performing business with 300 to 2,000 employees.
BDO International increases its strength
BDO was again in 2018 elected the best accounting network in the world by ”International Accounting Bulletin” for a unique approach to rendering competent advisory services and for having demonstrated the most profitable growth strategy during the last 12 months.
BDO International revenue for the year was USD 8.99 bn which equals a 10.7 per cent growth.
As distinct from other big international accounting firms, local ownership and local management is the foundation of BDO’s international cooperation. It is our clear conviction that only through the local insight and empathy in relation to our clients’ businesses will the connection to international broadness and depth be successful.
The BDO organisation is headquartered in Brussels and 2017/18 was a good year worldwide as a significant growth was seen in results and geographical development. BDO is now presented in more than 160 countries with more than 80,000 employees. The reason for the growth is among others that several accounting firms worldwide have waken up to BDO International’s strengths and therefore have desired to be a part of the organisation.
We have seen during the year that a continuously increasing number of assignments are lifted by international specialists from our global organisation. BDO International gives us direct access to expert knowledge on local matters in other member firm countries, for the benefit of our clients.
The strong international BDO organisation means that Denmark can service our clients in international contexts at the same quality that we service our Danish clients as both quality standards, audit methods and tools are identical throughout the entire organisation. It gives confidence that no matter where in the world our clients are in contact with BDO, the experience will be that all BDOs are committed by BDO’s international vision that BDO stands for exceptionally good client service by exceptionally competent people.
Annual report in danish