Advice is a growing business for B.C.’s largest accounting firms.
Based on staffing figures provided by the biggest companies, the total number of advisory staff has increased 23% over the past year alone.
Deloitte & Touche LLP, MNP LLP and Ernst and Young LLP were among the largest firms with growing advisory staff in the past year.
Mackenzie Kyle, regional managing partner for advisory services at MNP, said many accounting companies are trying to capitalize on the opportunities to expand their range of services to complement accounting and tax-related services.
MNP has been aggressively expanding its expertise and geographic reach over the past three years by merging with a dozen different firms across the country. Nearly half have been advisory-focused mergers, although its three Lower Mainland mergers were primarily accounting practices. In April, it merged with Vancouver’s Chang Lee LLP; last November, it merged with Richmond’s Doug Wootton CA; and in January 2010, it closed the merger with HLB Cinnamon Jang Willoughby.
While mergers bring in new clients, Kyle noted that the expanded range of services from those mergers has also contributed to the firm’s organic growth, “because we now can provide clients with more services.”
Despite the growth in advisory services, audit and tax services remain the bread-and-butter business for B.C.’s largest accounting firms. On average 70% of the staff from the top 23 firms are accounting-focused.
However, the number of accountants at the largest firms has remained relatively flat over the past few years.
Total accounting staff of the largest 23 has hovered around 4,000 for the past three years.
Hiring at some firms has dropped since the recession, but any decline in staff could also be due to professionals taking advantage of private-sector opportunities as the economy improves.
Roopa Dave, manager of talent attraction at KPMG, said that while many new chartered accountants (CAs) grow within the firm, some choose to leave public practice.
“There are tonnes of opportunities outside of the accounting firms if you have your CA. They fill the finance groups of a lot of companies out there.”