Revenues at Deloitte drop in the slump
PROFESSIONAL services group Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu saw its full-year global revenues drop five per cent to $26.1bn (£16bn) yesterday, as accountants worldwide feel the pinch from a dearth in major mergers and acquisitions.
Deloitte’s chief executive Jim Quigley said the performance of the group, one of the big four accountancy firms, was satisfactory given the “exceptionally difficult environment”.
He added that revenue for the year to 31 May grew by one per cent when currency variations were taken into account, but would not comment on Deloitte’s profitability.
Revenue at the group performed slightly better than that of rivals PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and Ernst & Young. Both saw a seven per cent slump in their global fees for the year, reporting $26.2bn and $21.4bn respectively.
The remaining accountancy major, KPMG, has yet to put out its financial results for the year.
Despite the downturn, Deloitte was paid £11.9bn in fees for its auditing of major accounts like General Motors (GM) – which came out of administration earlier this year – and Microsoft, which is weathering the financial crisis.
The fees are down 6.4 per cent year-on-year.
Deloitte also took a hit on its work advising big companies and governments on matters related to tax, with fees falling 5.5 per cent to $5.7bn.
Its management consulting arm managed to defy the crunch, however, reporting a two per cent rise in fees to $6.5bn.
The group added that it performed strongly in emerging markets, with its Asian, Latin American and Middle Eastern operations recording double-digit growth in their respective local currencies.