Deloitte UK reports 2023 financial results (2024)

Strong growth with continued investment in people and technology

• Revenue for the year ended 31 May 2023¹ increased by 14% to £5.6bn as buoyant markets in the first half of the year drove growth across both advisory and audit & assurance;
• Distributable operating profit increased by 6% to £756m. Average profit per equity partner remained broadly flat at £1.060m (2022: £1.058m);
• Significant investment in people – 6,800 new colleagues hired, 7,400 colleagues promoted – including 100 new partners - plus over £360m invested in reward and learning;
• Continued investment of £120m into technologies to improve quality, client service and hybrid working experience.

Richard Houston, Deloitte Senior Partner and CEO, said:

“Our people and partners have worked incredibly hard to deliver another strong year, amid a complex and changing economic landscape.

“Our performance in the first half of the year was strong and, despite some softening of growth in the second half, we saw significant demand across all our services and industry groups, particularly in Financial Services, Energy and Resources and Public Sector.

“We’ve made significant investments in our people with over £360m into reward, promotions and learning.

“Plus we’ve continued our long-term commitment to digital as an enabler of growth, with £120m invested in technologies to improve quality, client service and our hybrid working experience.

“Markets are expected to remain challenging and, like any responsible business, we have adjusted our plans in response. This month we announced a small number of targeted restructurings across our firm subject to consultation.

“Looking ahead, we have a strong pipeline, with continued demand for digital transformation alongside advice on tax, sustainability, climate and AI adoption.

“We remain confident that the breadth of our capabilities, coupled with our investments, will ensure we’re best placed to support clients with the increasing pace of change and complexity they face.”

Financial performance

A strong first half of the year fuelled growth across all our businesses, with revenue for the year ended 31 May 2023 increasing by 14% to £5.6bn. Growth in our advisory businesses slowed in the second half of the year, amid an increased caution among clients on spending and a slow-down in the M&A market. Overall, second half revenue growth was closer to 9%.

Our UK advisory businesses grew by 11%. Consulting saw robust growth, with strong performances by our Financial Services and Government and Public Services businesses. This included providing our market leading skills in ERP systems, data and digital transformation programmes as well as delivering complex change projects and working ever more closely with colleagues across EMEA to serve multi-country clients.

Risk Advisory continued to see demand from organisations addressing regulatory challenges and looking for advice on cyber security and resilience. Sustainable supply chain strategies also grew in focus as organisations sought to address risks, resilience and ESG within their wider networks. The business had a strong start to the year but experienced softening client demand in the second half.

Financial Advisory saw strong performance by our Forensic business, which supports clients exposed to risks from economic crimes. We also grew our specialist advisory businesses, providing valuation, business modelling and economic advisory services. Against the backdrop of a challenging M&A market in the second half of the year, we continued to grow our corporate turnaround business, working with companies experiencing strategic, operational and financial stress.

Tax & Legal recorded healthy growth, especially in areas such as legal entity management and commercial contract offerings, as well as through helping clients comply with new global tax legislation and supporting them in managing their post-pandemic workforces - from reward and incentives to immigration and employment law.

UK Audit & Assurance grew at 20%, with strong demand across all market sectors. In its second year of being a ring-fenced business, Audit & Assurance continued to invest in audit quality, people, training and skills. We were pleased to see that our most recent audit quality results from the Financial Reporting Council continued to reflect our commitment to these areas.

Our distributable operating profit² for the year ended 31 May 2023 increased 6% to £756m, from £711m for the prior year. Average profit per equity partner remained broadly flat at £1.060m (2022: £1.058m).

Our total UK tax contribution was £1.7bn in the year ended 31 May 2023 (2022: £1.5bn) and consisted of £1.1bn of taxes collected on behalf of HMRC (VAT, PAYE and employee national insurance) and £0.6bn of taxes in relation to members’ income taxes, national insurance, corporation tax and employer’s national insurance. The effective UK tax rate for equity partners was 50.4% (2022: 55.4%).

Investments in our people, technology and communities

In FY23 Deloitte in the UK hired over 6,800 new colleagues, including 2,767 graduates, apprentices and interns. 7,377 of our 27,000 people were promoted in FY23 – 100 of them to partner.

We invested over £310m in salary increases and bonus payments, as well as over £50m in learning and development, with our new European leadership centre in Paris (Deloitte University) due to open in 2024.

Our benefits package now includes fully funded Private Medical Insurance for all employees as well as improved policies around maternity, paternity, adoption and surrogacy, bereavement and menopause.

This comes in addition to our policy of providing our people with the choice to flex their working week between client site, the office and home, flexing bank holidays and working abroad where they have the right to do so.

We continue our commitment to the UK’s nations and regions, and are relocating our office space in the city centres of Belfast, Bristol, Edinburgh and Manchester to new, more sustainable offices that also support our people's wellbeing and hybrid ways of working. Deloitte’s 7,500 people based in 18 locations outside of London have generated more than £1bn in revenue – supporting business growth across the UK.

We have continued our investment in technologies to improve quality, client service and our hybrid working experience, with £120m invested in FY23 – technology is at the heart of future growth, both our own, as well as the clients we support.

Finally, we’ve made progress on our WorldClimate³ ambitions through a number of measures. This includes introducing a ‘sustainable delivery’ clause in client contracts, which commits us to working together to limit emissions from projects, and transforming our operations to meet our science-based net zero goals. So far we have cut operational greenhouse gas emissions by 76%, and business travel emissions by 69% for each full-time colleague since FY19, in line with our WorldClimate targets.

Alongside this we increased our investment in communities across the UK to over £10m, working with over 90 society partners through volunteering, fundraising, charitable donations and pro-bono projects, such as supporting charity digital leaders to build capacity and capability within their organisations.

Outlook

Richard Houston concluded:

“Looking ahead, the UK faces a challenging year, with ongoing cost of living concerns, slow economic growth, rising geopolitical tensions and the climate crisis.

“We’re in a unique position to provide the advice, support and insights necessary to help businesses in the UK navigate these immediate headwinds and consider longer term prospects for future inclusive growth.

“With over 27,000 people across all regions and nations, we are confident in our ability to make a positive impact on the economy and on the communities where we operate, investing in our people and the services needed to provide the skills and insights for organisations to transform, build resilience and find opportunities to power future growth.”

Financial metrics

Notes to editors

• ¹ All revenue numbers presented herein, unless otherwise noted, represent UK and Switzerland consolidated, and have been prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (‘IFRS’) and IFRS Interpretation Committee interpretations, as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board.
• ² Distributable operating profit differs from profit as reported in the firm’s Statutory Financial Statements as a consequence of, among other things, the treatment of member annuities, the firm’s defined benefit pension schemes and distributable capital profits. Average profit per member is based on distributable operating profit and was [£1,060,000] per equity partner in the year ended 31 May 2023 (2022: £1,058,000). In 2023, we also distributed a one-off capital profit of £38m on the sale of Deloitte Total Rewards and Benefits (DTRB) which averaged £53,000 per equity partner.
• ³ WorldClimate is our plan to reach net zero, embed responsible climate choices throughout our organisation and use our reach and influence to help others do the same.
• ⁴ Includes UK of £4,820m, and Other of £17m
• Deloitte’s Annual Review for the year ended 31 May 2023 has been published. This Review discusses the firm’s performance, alongside a wider review of the impact we have made for our people, clients and the communities we work in. Links have been provided to the firm’s Tax Impact Report, , Audit Transparency Report, ESG report and Financial Statements.