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% whilst Audit grew by 4%. Financial Services, the UK’s largest sector, grew by more than 7% this year.
In the East, EY’s regional practice of 350 people grew in line with the wider UK business. EY’s East practice covers two offices in Cambridge and Luton.
Highlights from the East:
- Ranked as one of the ‘Best Companies to Work For’ in the East of England, by The Sunday Times in the first regional lists celebrating employee engagement.
- Across both offices, EY recruited 36 graduates and 28 apprentices on EY’s Business Apprenticeship Programme, offering young people an alternative to university.
- Investment in regional leadership team with Mandi Dosanjh appointed as an Assurance Partner based in Luton to expand the firm’s mid-market offering in the East.
- The EY Foundation’s Smart Futures programme supported 20 students from disadvantaged backgrounds across the East by offering paid work experience.
- The 12th year of the EY Charity Quiz, which has raised over £70,000 for Cancer Research and Arthur Rank Hospice since 2006.
Nick Gomer, Managing Partner at EY in the East: “To be named one of the ‘Best Companies to Work For in the East’, by The Sunday Times is a fantastic achievement and is recognition of the importance we place on the mental and physical wellbeing of our people.
“We have big ambitions for our regional practice after reporting growth in FY18, and we continue torecruit to meet the growing demands of our clients, with arenewed focus on the regional mid-market where we see the most opportunity for growth.”
Anup Sodhi, Office Managing Partner at EY in Luton: “Our results reflect the momentum we’re seeing in the market and the continued economic success of the region, underpinning our confidence in the investments we are making to drive growth for our clients and for our business.
“EY’s regional leadership team continues to expand as a result of this growth, with this year’s appointment of Mandi Dosanjh as a Partner in Luton who is focused on helping mid-market businesses take advantage of the latest technology developments to transform their accounting processes.”
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 Cambridge and Luton 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 market 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.”