Deloitte

Deloitte Profile & Stats

Part of the global professional services organisation Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, Deloitte is the second-biggest accountancy firm in both the UK and rest of the world. With approximately 165,000 staff at work across 140 countries, Deloitte specialises in audit, tax, consulting and financial advisory services through its member firms.
 

Deloitte was founded in 1845 by the eponymous William Welch Deloitte; he is considered by many to be the father of the accountancy profession, developing the profitable business of managing bankruptcies. His grandfather, Count de Loitte, had fled France at the time of the French Revolution to avoid becoming victim to the guillotine. So born in London, William Deloitte started in finance early, becoming an assistant to the Official Assignee at the Bankruptcy Court, and founding his own office by the time he was 25.

Carving its way through the UK market, with a niche in the rapidly expanding railway industry, the firm was appointed by The Great Western Railway Company as the first-ever independent auditor, in 1849. During the 1850s and 1860s, William Deloitte developed a system for keeping railway accounts that protects investors from mismanagement of funds. So successful was this practice, that it was subsequently adopted as the industry standard. Not stopping there, Deloitte also created a similar system for the hotel industry that proved just as successful. Over the years, Deloitte’s firm has gone through a number of mergers, the most recent of which in 1989, when Deloitte Haskins & Sells merged with Touche Ross, to form Deloitte & Touche. Finally, in 2003, the firm was re-branded as Deloitte.

Today, Deloitte is the only Big Four firm with a sports business group. This group's full-time specialists provide advice on business and commercial issues to sports clubs, leagues and competitions, major events, governing bodies, government, financiers and investors. However, Deloitte’s mainstay practices are its traditional audit and tax departments, and also the more profitable corporate finance and consulting divisions. Providing specific advice to a range of sectors – from financial services, technology, media and telecommunications, to consumer business and travel and tourism – Deloitte offers a range of services to its clients:

• Audit and Enterprise risk services – Traditional accounting and auditing, enterprise risk management, information security and privacy, data quality/integrity, and IT control assurance.

• Consulting – The firm offers assistance to clients in the areas of enterprise applications, technology integration, strategy and operations, human capital, and short-term outsourcing.

• Financial Advisory – Deloitte provides corporate finance services to clients, including dispute, personal and commercial bankruptcy, forensics, and valuation.

• International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) – This is a 'principles based' set of standards, in that they establish broad rules as well as dictating specific treatments. Deloitte has taken this standard to all levels of business.

• Tax – The firm advises clients on how to increase their net asset value, undertake the transfer pricing and international tax activities of multinational companies, minimise their tax liabilities, implement tax computer systems, and provides advisory of tax implications of various business decisions.

In additional to these areas, Deloitte offers a range of services it calls market insights. Designed to help organisations stay ahead of the game, it provides information on trends and markets, emerging competitors, and advice on rapidly shifting technological and regulatory changes. Combining commentary on hot topics in the market, international tax and business guides, and podcasts, Deloitte is able to produce research and intelligence that delivers solutions to the strategic challenges facing the UK businesses.