Irish
Big 4 accounting firms scoop 75% of Irish fee income; Russell Brennan Keane only regional practice in Top 10
By Finfacts Team
Oct 2, 2007, 16:06

Finance Magazine in its annual accountancy survey, says that Ireland’s top accountancy firms have enjoyed another successful year, with many firms posting growth figure sin excess of 15 per cent. However, the overall growth rate of the top 20 firms is 19.6 per cent for the year, making a small gain on last year’s growth of 17.9 per cent, and remaining behind the growth rates seen in 2005, when fee income grew by over 20 per cent.

Profitability

The magazine says that all of the accountancy firms polled for its annual performance survey recorded strong growth figures for the year, with overall fee income for the firms growing by 19.6 per cent, from €976.3 million in last year’s poll to almost €1.2 billion in this year’s survey. Once again this year, the Big 4 accounted for the lion’s share of fee income, and they maintained their market share from last year. In 2006, they claimed 73.5 per cent of the market share, and this year, that rose marginally to 75.2 per cent. The average growth in fee income of the Big 4 this year stood at almost 18 per cent, which was an increase on last year, and this recovery put them right in line with the average of the top 20 firms.

Once again, Deloitte is the third placed firm with €143.6 million in fee income earned, and again finished ahead of Ernst & Young (€138 million in fee income) to round of the placings for the Big 4. The Big 4 firm that recorded the fastest growth this year was once again KPMG, with fee income growth of 27.4 percent. It far outpaced its closest rival of the Big 4, E&Y, who recorded growth of almost 18per cent. Deloitte also enjoyed robust growth of 15 per cent, while PwC had an all-Ireland growth rate of 11 per cent in the last year.

BDO Simpson Xavier once again was ‘best of the rest’, retaining its fifth place ranking. The firm recorded a solid rate of growth this year, with an all-Ireland fee income of €72 million. Once again, a series of mergers caused the most movement among the mid-tier companies, although most firms experienced growth in fee income in the last year. Grant Thornton saw its fee income leap from €30 million last year to €50 million this year, thanks in no small way to its acquisition of RSM Robson Rhodes, who was itself a feature on the list of top 20 firms before its deal with Grant Thornton. The firm remains in sixth position on the poll, but as a result of its acquisition has closed the gap significantly on fifth placed BDO Simpson Xavier.

One regional practice in Top 10

“We are particularly proud of these results as they endorse the ambitious growth and development targets that we have set ourselves, particularly over the last year.  Our growth can be attributed mainly to existing clients referring us to friends and peers. We aim to provide a quality based partnership with our clients and the many referrals from existing clients is a wonderful affirmation from them that we are succeeding in giving them the quality service.” said Liam Rattigan, Chief Executive of Russell Brennan Keane. With an increased client base, fee income has increased from €13 million to €16.5 million.