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Accountants Confront
Competitive Pressures
Fee income for leading accountancy firms has generally stabilised over the
past year, though firms outside the Big Four have to scrap over a smaller cake.
CHRIS SPARKS reports on what managing partners are saying about
current trading and the prospects for the coming year
Ireland’s top accountancy firms stabilised
their fee income in 2011 after falls of
10% in 2010 and 5% in 2008-09. The
market is dominated by four firms –
PwC, KPMG, Deloitte and Ernst &
Young – with these multinational giants
accounting for around 80% of the total
fee income generated by the Top 20
accountancy practices in Ireland. While
all the leading players and the mid-size
and smaller firms face pricing pressure
from clients, generally there is optimism
that 2012 will deliver a better outcome
than last year.
According to Terence O’Rourke,
managing partner of KPMG, technology,
food, drink, agriculture and renewables
are among the sectors showing resilience
and even good growth in cases. “The
private and family-owned businesses we
work with have also shown remarkable
resilience and are driven to come out of
this recession stronger and in better
shape,” says O’Rourke. “In 2011, there
was a strong level of demand for what we
do, in what was a really tough year for
Irish business. I expect this demand will
continue in 2012.”
O’Rourke adds that KPMG clients are
looking for support in reducing costs and
getting a real handle on opportunities,
especially in exploiting export markets or
in areas where they need to restructure or
refinance their business. “We are also
beginning to see projects emerging from
the high-growth BRIC markets that over
time may convert into a significant
revenue stream.”
O’Rourke describes the current state of
the accountancy market as very competitive.
“There is a reasonable level of tender
activity across all services, as clients rightly
shop around for value for money. In almost
all assignments, clients have a genuine
choice in terms of who to appoint.” And he
is upbeat about the prospects for young
people entering the profession. “We are
hiring graduates and experienced
professionals because for the right people
there are genuine opportu-nities to
support our clients. They are looking to do
things quicker, better, more costeffectively,
and they need help in doing so.”
Brendan Jennings, the newly appointed
managing partner of Deloitte, believes
that there are opportunities for growth in
Brendan Jennings, Deloitte:“We do
more work for less”