Deloitte & Touche Acquires BDO to Bulk Up in Australia

We hear that the rumored acquision of BDO by Deloitte has just been completed. Deloitte lags behind the leader PricewaterhouseCoopers and Ernst & Young / KPMG in number of employees in Australia. Deloitte Growth Solutions purchases only the Melbourne office of BDO for an undisclosed sum, the other Australian offices of BDO are unaffected. This bolsters Deloitte's top line and number of employees enabling it to compete in an increasingly competitive marketplace where bench strength is a critical factor to secure client engagements. What is interesting to us is that now the Big Four are looking to the next-tier firms in order to increase their bulk. PwC is clearly the big fish in the tank, so look to the other three to start nibbling at offices/country partnerships and even whole firms. The next set of BDO Seidman, McGladrey Pullen, Grant Thornton etc. must be either eagerly watching the outcome of these moves or in semi-active negotiations themselves. Where this trends goes in terms of further consolidating the already tight industry and with regulators (both in UK and Japan) voicing concerns about Big Four and auditor concentration will just have to be seen. The Big Four have to walk a minor tightrope in making acquisitions versus keeping eager regulators at bay. Article provided by www.big4.com