EY has reported record global revenues of $37.2bn (£28.6bn) for the financial year ended June 2020, although the 4.1% annual increase was only half of the previous year’s level of growth, underlining the global economic impact caused by Covid-19
The Big Four firm said it had seen growth across all services lines, geographies, key industries, and markets in FY20.
Its assurance line of service posted the largest share of revenue, growing 3.1% to $12.8bn. New audit engagements include Daiwa House Industry, Farmers Insurance Group, Jyske Bank, Kone, Nestlé, and Eastman Kodak.
Advisory was up 4.9% to hit $10.6bn, tax saw a 5.1% increase to $9.7bn, and transaction advisory services posted a 2.8% rise to $4bn.
Revenue also increased across all three EY geographic areas: the Americas was up 3.4%, Europe, Middle East, India and Africa (EMEIA) 3.4%, and Asia-Pacific 8.2%.
Among the top five markets, Japan led with double-digit growth of 10.8% and Greater China delivered another strong year. Elsewhere, Australia, Brazil, Korea and Norway delivered strong growth.
People
Overall, headcount increased by 5.3% to 298,965 people globally. EY said it continued its long-standing commitment to internships in FY20, despite the disruption from Covid-19, with half of the 15,000 internships taking place on a remote basis.
In FY20, 600 people were promoted to partner, with 39% of the promoted partners within assurance, 37% from emerging markets, and women representing 33%. An additional 462 new partners were directly admitted into EY member firms.
Carmine Di Sibio, EY global chairman and CEO, said: ‘The Covid-19 pandemic has affected people, businesses, and communities everywhere, creating new challenges for us all.
‘It is the determination and focus of EY people that enabled us to support EY clients around the world during this unprecedented time.
‘In a matter of weeks, we had nearly 300,000 EY people working remotely and supporting EY clients’ business continuity and resilience needs.
‘EY people also created a wide range of pandemic-related solutions for clients and provided pro-bono support to communities and governments.’
NextWave
EY confirmed it remains committed to its NextWave strategy, which saw two redefined service lines launched on 1 July.
Strategy and transactions has an expanded strategy consulting offering, integrating EY-Parthenon with the former transaction advisory services business and strategy capabilities moved from elsewhere in EY.
Secondly, the firm has redefined its former advisory service line, now called consulting. As part of this, EY is significantly accelerating the expansion of technology consulting services through organic hiring and acquisitions.
Di Sibio said: ‘While the last few months have been challenging for everyone, we have remained focused on our NextWave strategy, which we initiated last October and affirms our ambition to build long-term value for all stakeholders.
‘Now more than ever, we need to be absolutely focused on investing in EY people and services to help EY clients transform, innovate and address their most pressing issues for the long-term.’
The firm said it plans to invest $1.5bn in FY21 in audit quality, technology solutions, people and the wider EY ecosystem of strategic alliances. FY20 also saw 18 acquisitions in areas like cyber security, strategy, change management, design and technology, including SAP digital transformation.
Andy Baldwin, EY global managing partner – client service, said: ‘At a time when businesses are being challenged to evolve, we are focused on providing innovative, high-quality services and solutions to help EY clients reframe their future.
‘The large-scale investments we will make in FY21 will ultimately help EY clients succeed in this complex environment and bring further trust and confidence to the capital markets through high-quality audits.’
At Davos, EY pledged to become carbon-neutral by the end of calendar year 2020. Steve Varley, who stepped down as managing partner of the UK firm at the beginning of the year has been appointed to the new position of EY global vice chair — sustainability, with a focus on helping EY and its clients achieve their sustainability goals.
Sourced from Accountancy Daily