BDO International

BDO

Type	Global network of independent member firms
Industry	Accounting Professional Services Tax Consulting
Founded	1963 (in 1973 European members took on current name)
Headquarters	Zaventem, Belgium (International Executive Office)
Key people	Martin van Roekel, CEO
Products	Professional Services
Revenue	$7.30 billion USD (2015)
Number of employees	64,303 (2015)
Website	www.bdo.global

BDO is an international network of public accounting, tax and advisory firms which perform professional services under the name of BDO. As of 2016, BDO has member firms in 154 countries, employs around 64,000 partners and staff in over 1,400 offices throughout the world, and is the fifth largest professional services network globally.

Global Fee income of all BDO Member Firms for the year ended 30 September 2015 totalled US$7.30 billion. In October 2015, BDO was announced as the winner of the Network of the Year award at the International Accounting Bulletin (IAB) Awards 2015.

Each BDO member firm is an independent legal entity in its own country. The network, originally formed in 1963 as Binder Seidman International by firms from Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, UK and US, is coordinated by BDO Global Coordination B.V., with an office in Zaventem, Belgium. The name BDO, first devised in 1973, is an abbreviation for Binder Dijker Otte & Co.^[1]

In early 2012, it was reported that BDO has been expanding in China rapidly. It has 7,500-8,000 staff in mainland China and Hong Kong, making it the second largest headcount after the U.S.A., where it employs 11,500. According to its global chairman, the Chinese headcount is likely to overtake in three to four years.^[2]

All BDO member firms changed their names to BDO in 2009. The rebrand across 110 countries took just over five months.^[3] The intention was to create global consistency, so that the BDO network could be presented as a single entity.

Canada

BDO Canada is one of Canada’s largest accounting services firms. Founded by James M. Dunwoody (affectionately known as "The Colonel" by BDO's employees) it opened its first location in the 1920s in Winnipeg, Manitoba. By the 1990s, Dunwoody and BDO Ward Mallette, a firm based out of Toronto, had merged. The union also consolidated the firm’s affiliation with BDO International, a global network of national accounting firms.

In 2007, BDO had 95 offices across Canada, with 1,200 professionals and over 300 partners. BDO’s services run from assurance, accounting and taxation services to financial advisory and corporate recovery. The company has merged a number of times, including a merger announced in October 2009 with the accounting firm of Hudson LLP.^[4]

From 1 January 2010 'Dunwoody' was dropped from the company name to coincide with a global rebrand which saw all of the BDO member firms change their names to BDO. The rebrand, which included design, messaging, all of the separate global websites, marketing collateral and trickle-down implementation across the 110 country network took just over five months.^[3] The intention was to create a global consistency, so that the BDO network could be presented as a single entity.

Chile

BDO Auditores & Consultores Ltda. is a Chilean company, member firm of the global network of BDO International.

BDO Chile is one of the BIG5, with 3 offices in Santiago, Viña del Mar and Temuco, and more than 300 partners and staff. Among others, they provide services such as Audit, IFRS, BSO (Outsourcing), Tax & Legal, and Advisory.

China

BDO China Shu Lun Pan CPAs (“Shu Lun Pan CPAs”) was founded by Dr. ShuLun Pan, pioneer of China’s Accounting profession, in Shanghai in 1927. It is one of the earliest and most influential accounting firms in China’s history.

Lixin Certified Tax Agents Co., Ltd. (“Lixin”), is the member firm of BDO International, with headquarters located in Shanghai (which include Hong Kong and Taiwan). It is a professional tax agents company under the "LIXIN" brand that provides tax-related services. Approved by State Administration for Industry and Commerce of the People’s Republic of China (SAIC) and Shanghai Certified Tax Agents Association, BDO Lixin Tax was established by six leading A-level tax agent corporations from across China. The name of the enterprise’s legal representative is Zilin Zou and the registered capital of enterprise is 50 million RMB. BDO Lixin Tax has already obtained AAAAA level, which is the highest standard, from the China Certified Tax Agents Association.

In Hong Kong, BDO McCabe Lo was merged with K.L. Lee & Partners in 2005 and Shu Lun Pan Horwath Hong Kong in 2009. In 2010, the businesses of BDO Limited and Grant Thornton Hong Kong were also merged.

Ireland

BDO Simpson Xavier is a partnership of chartered accountants in the Republic of Ireland formed by Anthuan Xavier and Dave Simpson in 1982. It is the Irish member firm of BDO International. With offices throughout Ireland, the firm offers auditing, consultancy and tax services to organisations in the private and public sectors.

BDO Simpson Xavier is the 5th largest accountancy firm in Ireland, with revenues of €62 million for the year ending 28 February 2006, and average revenue per partner of €1.5 million.

History

BDO Simpson Xavier head office in Dublin now has over 300 employees in a new building (Beaux-Lane House) just off Stephen's Green. This building was until recently shared CACI (Credit Agricole Creditor Insurance) and Michael Page.

The names 'Simpson Xavier' were dropped in November 2009, with the firm adopting the worldwide branding of BDO. The rebrand, which included design, messaging, all of the separate global websites, marketing collateral and trickle-down implementation across the 110 countries took just over five months.^[3] The intention was to create a global consistency, so that the BDO network could be presented as a single entity.

United Kingdom

BDO LLP is a partnership of chartered accountants in the United Kingdom.With offices throughout the UK, the firm offers auditing, consultancy and tax services to organisations in the private and public sectors.

BDO is the sixth-largest accountancy firm in the UK, with revenues of £395 million for the year ending March 2015.^[5]

History

The firm was founded in 1903 as Stoy and Co by Fred Stoy. In 1919, Jack Hayward joined the firm and it became Stoy Hayward and Co. A series of mergers with Finnie and Co in 1992 and the BDO Binder Hamlyn offices that did not join Arthur Andersen or Deloitte & Touche in 1994 created BDO Stoy Hayward, which became the UK member of BDO International.

The firm became a limited liability partnership in 2004.

The names 'Stoy Hayward' were dropped in October 2009, adopting the worldwide branding of BDO.^[6] The rebrand, which included design, messaging, all of the separate global websites, marketing collateral and trickle-down implementation across the 110 countries took just over five months.^[3] The intention was to create a global consistency, so that the BDO network could be presented as a single entity.

Awards

BDO is viewed as a major challenger to the 'Big Four' accountancy practices. It has done this by being vociferous in the lack of competition for accounting services in the large corporate market^[7] and by developing its own award winning 'successfully different' culture.

This has been publicly recognised by the following awards:

• 2006 Sunday Times '100 Best Companies to Work For'^[8]
• 2006 Global Firm of the Year - Accountancy Age, 2006^[9]

Criticism

BDO Stoy Hayward was criticised in their role as administrators for the collapsed Christmas hamper savings company Farepak.^[10] BDO Stoy Hayward used an 0870 non-geographic phone service (termed by some "premium rate") to provide information for victims of Farepak's collapse. The criticism was at least partially based on the mistaken belief that BDO Stoy Hayward were taking a share of the call revenue to pay for the administration; this incorrect belief was later corrected by The Observer.^[11]

Northern Rock

In September 2008, Andrew Caldwell, valuations partner at BDO Stoy Hayward, was appointed independent valuer for the stricken mortgage bank, Northern Rock plc.^[12] The UK government nationalised Northern Rock in February 2008, and the legislation effecting the nationalisation required an independent valuer to ascertain the value of the business at the point of nationalisation. The role is a controversial one, as the legislation specifies in some detail the basis of valuation, and shareholder action groups claim that the valuation basis has been designed to minimise the compensation due.^[13]

United States

References