Thames Valley and south: EY reports UK revenue growth of £2.41b

EY has increased its UK revenue by 2.7% in the financial year ending June 30, 2018, from £2.35 billion to £2.41b with a five-year compound annual growth rate of 7%.

EY grew its business to more than 14,500 people across 23 offices in the UK, and a network of 150 countries and 260,000 people around the world. This investment helped EY to serve 23,000 UK clients, both large and small, supporting economic growth across the country.

Across the UK service lines, tax grew by 7.3%, advisory grew by 3.8% and transaction advisory services was up by 1.5%. Assurance fell slightly by 1.7% while audit grew by 4%. Financial services, the UK’s largest sector, grew by more than 7% this year.

In the Thames Valley and south, EY’s regional practice of over 600 people grew in line with the wider UK business. EY’s Thames Valley and south practice covers two offices in Reading and Southampton. 

Highlights from the Thames Valley and south:

• Investment in regional leadership team with four new partners/associate partners based in Reading, including Paul Etherington and Mike Philp to focus on the firm’s mid-market offering.
• Dave Hales appointed office managing partner in Southampton, taking over the role from Geraint Davies.
• EY’s Thames Valley report drives the debate on the region’s future growth – it says the region needs a stronger voice and calls for business leaders to come together and provide joined-up thinking on the region’s priorities.
• Recruited 52 graduates and 39 apprentices on EY’s Business Apprenticeship Programme, offering young people an alternative to university.
• 10 students spent three weeks’ paid work experience at EY over the summer developing core employability skills and working towards a Chartered Management Institute (CMI) qualification, as part of EY Foundation’s Smart Futures programme.
• EY announced a strategic collaboration with Henley Business School to offer apprenticeship programmes to UK businesses – the first of its kind to help companies to upskill their workforce.

Richard Baker, managing partner at EY in the Thames Valley and south: “Our results reflect the momentum we’re seeing in the market and the continued economic success of the Thames Valley and south, underpinning our confidence in the investment we are making to drive growth for our clients and for our business.

“As part of our commitment to ensure the economic prosperity of the region, we launched our report earlier this year – The Thames Valley: a framework for growth – which examines the importance of an integrated and collaborative growth plan for the region. We hope this acts as a catalyst for business leaders to come together and provide joined-up thinking on the region’s priorities. 

“Our people are also passionate about the region in which they live and work in – as a result, many of our people have taken part in local charity initiatives, such as Byte Night in Reading raising money for Action for Children and volunteering at Ufton Court who work with disadvantaged children. We also support young people through EY Foundation’s Smart Futures programme and our new collaboration with Henley Business School, offering young people apprenticeships as an alternative to university.”

Dave Hales, office managing partner at EY in Southampton: “I was thrilled to take on this role to lead EY’s Southampton practice at what is an exciting time for the region and our business, with a renewed focus on the regional mid-market sector. We have seen sustained growth for our Southampton office with some notable wins. Through a continued strong collaboration between our Reading and Southampton offices – which creates our 600-strong Thames Valley and south business – we will continue to support the region’s business community and economy and expect to see continued growth in our practice which allows us to continue to recruit locally.”

Increasing emphasis on social impact

In addition to serving clients, EY believes it has a responsibility to make a broader contribution to society. EY is proud that the EY Foundation goes from strength to strength, with over 230 UK companies now involved in helping improve the prospects for young people, up 78% from last year. EY’s own staff have contributed over 44,000 hours of their time to the EY Foundation in the last 12 months. In addition, EY’s commitment to reduce plastic waste by 7.7m items across the country will see both the Reading and Southampton offices replace all disposable cups and plastic cutlery with compostable or reusable equivalents over the next few months.

This year EY further adapted its recruitment process for graduates and school leavers to boost diversity among new recruits. This follows the move in 2015 to remove academic entry requirements, after which EY saw a 10% increase in joiners from state schools and a 7% increase in people who were the first in their family to go to university. As part of the changes for this year, EY removed the conventional ‘one-to-one’ final interview, typically held at the end of a recruitment process. Instead, the process will conclude with an assessment event, providing a more rounded view of each candidate.

Continued investment in audit quality

EY recognises the need to continue to invest significantly in its business and people to improve audit quality and is committed to doing that. While standards need to improve across the profession, it is important to note that EY has not been fined by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) for audit work completed in the last five years, nor have any of its partners been sanctioned in respect to that period.

Steve Varley, EY’s UK chairman says: “We remain focused on the quality of our audit work and we also welcome the recently announced study by the Competition and Markets Authority. This study, together with Sir John Kingman’s review and the FRC’s work on corporate reporting, presents a golden opportunity to examine the role of audit and to reinforce the focus of auditors and company directors on audit quality.”