Dublin 6 October 2015: EY, the professional services firm providing assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services, has reported fee income growth of 14.3% to €190million for FY15, up from €166million in the previous year, with all service lines reporting double digit growth. Globally, the firm reported revenues of US$28.7bn for the same period – representing an 11.6% increase over the previous financial year in local-currency terms. The UK posted 8% growth to £2.010bn for the same period.
Over the last three years, EY has grown more than 13.5% per annum, significantly faster than any of its ‘Big 4’ rivals. Based on the latest transparency reports EY is positioned third in the Republic of Ireland with the second largest audit and assurance business.
Mike McKerr, Country Managing Partner, EY Ireland commented: “Posting more than 33% growth in the last 2 years is a great achievement and even more pleasing that it’s all been organic growth creating 164 much needed new jobs last year alone in the Republic of Ireland. Our Global Vision 2020 strategy has enabled us to successfully focus on our growth and people agendas creating real momentum both inside and outside the organisation. It has helped us attract, retain and motivate our people allowing us to deliver exceptional client service, strengthening our client relationships, and capturing market share”.
Business Performance
EY Ireland grew all four of its service lines. Collectively it’s Audit and other Assurance services reported growth of 15.6% to €131.7million in FY15, which now position EY’s Assurance practice as the second largest in Ireland. The firm has seen robust growth in its core audit services in addition to strong demand for broader assurance services, including Data Analytics and Fraud Investigation and Dispute Services (FIDS), which grew more than 40% in FY15 reflecting the changing demands in the market.
Mike commented: “We had several fantastic audit wins in FY15 which reflects the significant investment made globally and locally to innovate our audit service through the use of analytical tools. Regulatory change will continue to alter the audit market for some years to come and we believe innovation and data analytics solutions will be in increasing demand. In response to this, one of our new partners appointed in FY15, Eoin O’Reilly, specialises in this area”.
Growth across EY’s Tax practice of 10.7% to €33.4million, is attributable to the global increase in enforcement and compliance together with significant changes in tax policy at home and abroad. In line with the firms growth strategy, they recently made a number of senior appointments within the tax practice including; Sarah Connellan, Partner who joined the Human Capital team, Colin Smith, Corporate Tax and Audrey Lydon, Director who will focus on Family Businesses. “We will continue to invest in our tax practice over the next few years as tax is of particular importance to our entrepreneurs and multinationals alike,” said Mike,
A number of factors are driving growth in the firms TAS practice including a welcome return of confidence to Irish business. This is driving the number and size of corporate transactions. There is also an increase in demand for Fund Raising and Transaction Support services in addition to Valuation and Business Modelling (VBM), appointing partner Simon MacAllister to lead the VBM team. Restructuring work is changing to assist clients consider the resilience of their operating models to prepare them for the next stage of the economic cycle.
Within the Advisory team, change continues to be a key focus for EY clients, driven by both the need to control costs and remain competitive, but also to ignite growth and penetrate new markets. The Performance Improvement (PI) division of Advisory, led by Frank O’Dea, continues to grow due to an increase in demand for business transformation, process improvement and IT change management services. The PI team alone now employ almost 130 people working across public and private sector clients, “improving key business functions to achieve significant and sustainable improvement in enterprise-level performance,” said Mike.
Eoin MacManus, Head of Financial Services EY Ireland commented: “Our business which services the Financial Services industry had another strong year of growth. Investment in digital capability and new partners in strategy and operations, cybersecurity, IT, risk and compliance will continue to drive growth in financial services in 2016”. EY appointed three new partners, to its financial services division, Helen Kerr made an Assurance partner in our growing Retail Banking sector, James Maher an Advisory partner in our Risk and Regulatory Insurance Practice and Colin Ryan, a consulting partner in our Performance Improvement sector specialising in Digital, Technology and Customer Experience.
Investing in people
“Our success is about much more than financial results.” says Mike. “It is also about our people who enable us to deliver exceptional client service”. In the last 12 months alone EY’s headcount has increased by 14.9% (FY15) and across the island of Ireland they employ 1728 people which includes our recent intake of 210 graduates. This is fuelling strong growth across all of its services lines.
EY has a leading people culture and have a transformational approach to developing talent. The firm continues to accelerate investment across the organisation and intend to acquire additional new office space over the coming months to cater for their growing numbers. For the second year running, EY has appointed seven new partners – testament to the strong business growth they experienced. In addition they have either promoted or progressed 36% of their people this year.
EY Ireland was recently named as Employer of the Year at the Glen Workplace Equality Index Awards, beating IBM, Accenture, Deutche Bank and Microsoft to top place. “To say we are thrilled and proud to be named Employer of the Year is truly an understatement. We believe that a strong commitment to diversity and inclusiveness is not only important for our people, but is also good business in an increasingly competitive world”, said Mike
Mike concluded: “We believe that by maintaining this momentum we will continue to retain and attract the best talent to serve our clients. Our global strength combined with deep local connections across our five offices continues to give us significant competitive advantage. The ability to collaborate and mobilise people internationally has given us something tangibly different in helping our multinational and entrepreneurial clients expand across borders”.
