Deloitte

The financial crisis and its aftermath have deeply eroded trust in the capital markets and rebuilding this confidence is fundamental to restoring economic growth, both here in the UK and globally.

Crucially for Deloitte, we need to make sure that the public and markets have confidence in the role of auditors.

This year, Deloitte became the largest auditor of the FTSE 250 with 69 clients from the index. As auditors, we do not take for granted the trust placed in us by companies, investors, regulators and the wider business community. Our fifth annual Audit Transparency Report sets out in detail our work to sustain that trust.

Since the financial crisis, a number of regulators around the world have considered audit reform. The European Commission has been exploring proposals for EU-wide change. In the UK, the Competition Commission is conducting an inquiry into competition in the audit market.

Deloitte is a pro-active participant in these discussions. We support reforms that could deliver improvement in audit quality, strengthen the independence of the auditor and audit committee, and foster competition in the audit market. But we have also challenged proposals that our experience suggests will have an adverse impact on audit quality. At a time of ongoing challenge for the global economy, it is vital that audit reform helps build confidence and restores economic growth.

Businesses locate and thrive in countries that provide the best conditions for their success. Those conditions include effective public policies and a robust regulatory environment.

Deloitte supports our clients, policymakers and regulators by sharing our insight and our experience across every business sector and area of the public sector. We help to inform their decisions and shape public policy and regulation that is business-friendly, fair and transparent.

Our Euro-crisis task force is helping clients plan for scenarios such as exits from the single currency, with activities including a webinar that attracted more than 600 participants. A flagship report with leading think tank Reform – the State of the State – analysed more than 500 public datasets to create a complete picture of UK Government in 2012. Produced every quarter, our CFO survey has become established in the media as a regular barometer of economic opinion. And our recent UK Futures report is just the start of a programme to help unlock a corporate-led return to economic growth.

But as well as our own research and insights, Deloitte informs policy through responses to consultations and inquiries by government, Parliament and regulators.

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  Leading on insights: Deloitte CFO Survey

  Our survey of CFO opinion has gained a reputation as a reliable and influential snapshot of business attitudes, providing insights which feed directly into the briefings for the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee.

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We know from client feedback that our ability to think creatively and offer smarter insight and quicker solutions is valuable. Market innovation is critical in helping our clients develop new areas of competitive advantage. This has been a particular focus of our firm over the past year, introducing new business solutions and making some important long-term investments.

Deloitte Analytics is helping our clients better understand and drive value and insight from the growing volume of data stored within their business. Analytics extends beyond the traditional business intelligence focus on historical analysis, to include the set of skills, technologies, and techniques required to re-focus on the future; helping predict future trends, opportunities and threats. Over the past year we have delivered analytics expertise to more than 40 clients across our major client industry groups enabling these clients to compete on insights. By FY15 we aim to be helping all of our major clients to apply these techniques to drive better decisions within their businesses.

“The Deloitte team made a real impact on our ability to prioritise what was critical, and move at pace. Together we have delivered an amazing experience for our customers, delivering several firsts in Diageo.”

Kirsty Dyson, Global Sales BRM, Diageo

Deloitte Digital is about designing and building new digital and multi-channel capabilities specific to a client’s business as well as providing a digital platform to offer new services to help our clients adapt and succeed in a convergent world. In particular, the focus is around the five disruptive forces of web, mobile, social media, cyber security and analytics. Since its launch in March 2012, Deloitte Digital has already worked with Diageo, Condé Nast International and Transport for London.

At a time of rapid change to the business environment, we’re also supporting our clients in assessing and reassessing their strategy and company structures to become more efficient.

The finance department in particular has to reflect the agility and needs of the wider business. Cost savings, revenue generation as well as innovation are at the top of the boardroom agenda. That’s why we established our Finance Transformation team, to help our clients deliver financial excellence and best practice efficiently and consistently through intelligent systems, processes and company culture.

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  A refreshing customer experience: Diageo

  Deloitte’s work on a web ordering platform and sales force optimisation has brought a consumer feel and ease of use for customers and distributors, providing a new digital channel for the world’s largest drinks company, Diageo.

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We continue to see a growing demand from our clients for support in their cross-border activities, both into the UK and out to international markets.

As a result, we have invested directly in the Middle East and Switzerland. This has driven business growth, talent exchange, and better client service and impact. We constantly draw on the global network of member firms, to combine our UK expertise with local knowledge, helping our clients navigate new markets, operating environments and regulations.

While supporting clients to expand into new markets, we are also promoting the opportunity for our international clients to enter the UK. The UK’s location, technology capabilities, and scale of business combined with the power of ‘Brand Britain’, are providing competitive advantage to the UK.

London in particular, has continued to be the destination of choice for many international companies seeking to list their businesses. We continue to work with companies from the CIS, Latin America, India and Africa with ambitions to bring their businesses to London. We have supported NMC Health on its London IPO, the first business from Abu Dhabi to list in London. We also worked with Polymetal and Polyus Gold, two of the leading global gold mining companies from the CIS, on their London premium listings and Polymetal is now a constituent of the FTSE 100. As a result, revenue from companies headquartered outside of the UK now represents approximately 33 per cent of our total revenue.

With increased globalisation comes the need for companies to send their best and brightest talent across borders. We are helping our clients to manage this process, and to understand their complex tax obligations and compliance responsibilities for international employees working in different jurisdictions.

This not only enables us to better serve our clients but also facilitates the expansion of the UK economy and provides valuable opportunities for our people to gain experience in international markets.

In the past year alone, over 280 of our people have been on international secondments to other member firms and we aim to increase this over the next year. In addition, 430 of our colleagues from global member firms came to the UK on secondment over the same period. This inward movement enables us to access the full breadth of Deloitte’s skills-base at a global level.

Growth across industries

The firm has contributed, through its direct activities, just over £1 in each £1,000 of UK economic output. Our total economic footprint now equals 49,190 UK jobs and £3.5 billion towards UK GDP. This represents an increase of over 21 per cent over the past two years, while the UK as a whole has grown by just 0.5 per cent over the same period.

Deloitte’s GDP contribution has increased by over 21 per cent over the past two years, while the UK as a whole has grown by just 0.5 per cent over the same period.

We have created 875 new highly skilled jobs over the last year, with a total increase of 6 per cent in net jobs in FY12, while the total number of employees in the UK has decreased by -0.2 per cent over the same period.

In addition to jobs and economic output, we make a significant contribution to tax revenues and the UK’s balance of payments by directly contributing £363m to the UK Exchequer, whilst collecting a further £453m on its behalf in FY12: up 10 per cent from £742m in FY11.

We believe we can continue to be a key source of UK competitive advantage and growth, aiming to increase our total economic contribution in the UK over the next three years at a greater rate than the growth in overall UK GDP, and by a minimum of 5 per cent annually.

From next financial year we will also put in place measures of our contribution to the Swiss economy through Deloitte AG.

Since backing the initial bid we’ve dedicated 750,000 hours of expertise as the Official Professional Services Provider to help make the Games happen and we are now focusing on realising the full potential of their legacy. Naturally, that means the sporting dividend and the transformation and operation of the Olympic Park and venues, but it also means capitalising on the success of hosting the London 2012 Games to promote the world-class skills and knowledge of British business, both domestically and internationally.

In addition, we are committed to creating a lasting impact on both the economy and wider society through our joint venture with leading employability services provider, Ingeus. Together, we are helping to bring people who previously lacked the skills, experience and confidence to enter the workforce into employment as leading provider of the 'Work Programme’, the Department for Work and Pension's flagship initiative to tackle long-term unemployment. See the “Commitment to sustainability” section to find out more about our work with Ingeus.

“Deloitte’s ability to adopt an innovative approach to delivery and provide creative solutions, whilst maintaining a sense of pragmatism, is second to none. They brought fresh ideas and analysis to complex problems and always left me with the strong feeling that everything is possible and nothing is ever unachievable. It has been an outstanding partnership.”

Jean Tomlin, HR Director, LOCOG

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