By almost every measure, British Columbia’s biggest accounting firms are getting bigger, according to data collected on Business in Vancouver’s Biggest Accounting Firms in B.C. list (page 10).
Revenue for the top accounting firms with data available grew an average of 7.6% last year.
Manning Elliott LLP (No. 8) recorded the largest revenue jump in 2019: up 22.6% from 2018. Of the top five, PwC Canada (No. 5) had the largest one-year growth, increasing 10.5% to $1.71 billion in 2019 from $1.55 billion in 2018. MNP LLP had the largest five-year revenue growth. It increased 48.4% to $886 million in 2019 from $597 million in 2015.
The revenue increase for the top accounting firms was accompanied by an increase in their B.C. employment and their number of accountants.
No company on the list reduced its B.C. employment over the past year, although staffing at three did not change. The five-year period in which MNP’s revenue grew nearly 50% included B.C. employment growth of 40.4% as staff numbers increased to 1,007 in 2019 from 717 in 2015. The company’s B.C. employment grew an additional 17.4% in 2020 compared with 2019.
Grant Thornton LLP (No. 6) recorded the largest one-year growth in B.C. employment. Its number of staff increased 21% to 559 in 2020 from 462 in 2019.
Deloitte LLP (No. 3) was the only company in the top five to experience a revenue decline in last year, falling 1.8% to $2.46 billion in 2019 from $2.5 billion in 2018.
Despite Deloitte’s revenue decline, its number of local accountants and B.C. staff has increased. Accountants employed at Deloitte rose 8% to 202 in 2020 up from 187 in 2019. The company’s B.C. staff increased 5.7% to 951 in 2020 from 900 in 2019.
PwC Canada was the only company in the top five to experience a five-year B.C. employment decline, dropping 15% to 809 in 2020 from 952 in 2016.
From 2015 to 2019, PwC’s B.C. employment fell 15.6%, while its revenue grew 32.5% from $1.29 billion in 2015.
Overall, the number of local accountants and B.C. staff at the province’s top accounting firms has increased since 2016.
The average number of local accountants employed at the companies grew 34.2% to 298 in 2020 from 222 in 2016. During the same period, the median number of accountants at the top 20 firms nearly doubled, increasing 91.5% to 192.5 in 2020 up from 100.5 in 2016.
The average number of B.C. staff employed by the biggest accounting firms grew 28.9% to 400 in 2020 from 310.3 in 2016.
The median number of B.C. staff increased 73.1% to 228.5 in 2020 from 132 in 2016.
This suggests that smaller accounting firms lower on the list increased their number of B.C. staff and local accountants more than larger firms higher on the list.
