Grant Thornton UK CEO Dave Dunckley has described the firm’s financial performance for FY2017/18 as ‘disappointing’, after a fall in revenue to £491m year-on-year.
Profits per partner also dropped year-on-year from £407,000 to £373,000.
The firm’s audit revenue only grew by £2m, as did its tax service line, to £157m and £109m respectively. Meanwhile, its ‘Advisory – Other’ service line dropped by £23m which was due to the conclusion of a long-standing project.
Despite areas of flat growth and an overall drop in revenue, the firm’s Corporate Finance Advisory and Transaction Advisory Services had record years, with combined revenues up 30% up year-on-year.
Dunckley, who was only appointed as CEO last month, admitted it had been a difficult year for the firm which saw its previous COE Sacha Ramonovitch appraisal leaked to various media sources and her subsequent resignation.
In the firm’s annual report Dunckley, commented: “There is no escaping the fact that it has been a tough year for Grant Thornton. The decision by an individual to disclose confidential and private information about the firm, and about our former CEO Sacha Romanovitch, was unprofessional and disappointing.
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By GlobalData“I want to make it clear that Grant Thornton UK condemns such actions and take the opportunity to apologise to Sacha and thank her for her leadership.”
Explaining some of the reasons for the drop in revenue, Dunckley said: “This was a combination of significant work coming to an end and not being replaced, the exiting of work no longer core to our business and the disappointing take-up of new propositions – in particular the ongoing cost of our investment and withdrawal of Geniac, our platform to support back office functions for small businesses.”
Grant Thornton was listed as being the UK’s fifth largest firm in the International Accounting Bulletin’s 2017 UK country survey however that is likely set to change over the next couple of years following the merger between BDO UK and Moore Stephens UK.
