EY reports fastest growth since 2008, but share of assurance services in overall revenues drops

EY has reported annual revenues of US$28.7bn in the year to 30 June 2015, up 4.7% year-on-year and up 11.6% in local currency terms, but the contribution of assurance services to global revenues drops under 40%.

While in US dollars FY15 growth was slower than in FY14 (6%), in local currency term the global network said it recorded its fastest growth since 2008, up 11.6% against 6.8% in FY14.

Revenue by service lines (source: EY):

Analysis
FY15 marks a clear drop in the importance of assurance services in global revenue for the Big Four network. Indeed in the year to 30 June 2015 assurance services accounted for 39.6% of the organisation's global revenues when it accounted for 41.2% of its revenues in FY14 and 47% in 2009.

Revenue by areas (source: EY):



Despite uneven global economic conditions EY managed growth in all its geographies. In the developed markets growth was led by the US which grew by 12.5% to US$11.2bn, its largest increase in 10 years.

In emerging economies, India led the network's growth with a 19.7% increase in revenue. "Other strong regions included ASEAN (12.9%), Africa (11.3%), Mexico and Central America (17.3%) and Middle East and North Africa (14.7%)," EY said in a release.

"While short-term forecasts may be bearish on some emerging markets, we are seeing strong growth in these regions," EY's global chairman and CEO Mark Weinberger said. "In fact, we are confident in the long-term potential of these economies and continue to expect that 30% of our revenue will come from emerging markets by 2020."

In FY15 EY promoted 753 partners and 618 directly admited partners, 33% of which were from emerging markets and 31% of women, according to EY.