Deloitte surpasses $50 billion in revenue for first time
Deloitte announced that its fiscal year 2021 revenues grew by 5.5% to reach $50.2 billion – making it the first Big Four accounting and consulting firm to breach the $50-billion revenue mark.
The previous 2020 fiscal year – mired by the pandemic downturn in its second half – was a challenging one for the Big Four, with Deloitte registering 3.9% growth to reach $47.6 billion in revenue – its lowest growth rate in five years.
Deloitte’s rivals fared worse in FY2020, with PwC registering 1.4% growth and $43 billion in revenue, EY seeing 2.3% growth and $37.2 billion in revenue, and KPMG even seeing a revenue growth decline of 1.8% to fall to $29.2 billion.
However, Deloitte’s results for FY2021 seem to indicate a rebound in fortunes.
In FY2020, four of Deloitte’s five service lines had increased or flat revenues, while audit and assurance saw a 3% decline. FY2021 saw revenue growth for all service lines, with audit and assurance posting a reassuring 6.1% increase.
Financial advisory grew the most (12.9%), spurred on by 1,200 distressed or Covid-19 related engagements. Risk advisory saw 5.6% growth as demand for cybersecurity-related services increased due to the pandemic.
The consulting segment, representing $20.8 billion in revenue, grew by 5% as demand for digital and technology consulting remained high.
The tax and legal segment saw the most modest growth, at 2.3%.
Government and public services client industry revenues saw the highest growth, owing to pandemic-driven response initiatives, followed by technology, media, and telecom (TMT). Financial services clients represented the largest portion of Deloitte revenue, at more than a quarter of overall fees ($13.3 billion).
The Americas region accounted for approximately half of global revenue, at $25.2 billion, though fees remained flat with a slight decrease of $100 million from 2020. The EMEA region grew by 11.3% to reach $16.7 billion, while Asia-Pacific grew 14% to reach $8.5 billion.
Deloitte says its workforce increase by 3.2% to reach a global headcount of 345,000.
“Events of this past year have had an unprecedented impact on the world and our organization. From the Covid-19 pandemic to more frequent, extreme climate events, and social upheavals, we are grateful that we've been able to continue to help clients and support our people as we all navigate through this challenging environment," said Punit Renjen, Deloitte Global CEO. "While the past year was difficult and defined by uncertainty, it has shown what can be achieved at speed and scale when businesses, governments, and society work together to tackle tough global challenges.”
