Welcome to Deloitte’s inaugural Impact Report. While it’s important for us to reflect on our successes and the challenges we have faced over the past 12 months, we believe it is equally important to consider and report more broadly how Deloitte contributes on a wider stage, now and in the future. That’s why we’ve revised this annual statement to report on the impact Deloitte has on our clients, our people and wider society, recognising the challenging global economic conditions and the evolving regulatory environment.

We currently face a number of challenges in common with many other UK businesses and organisations.The global recovery that began in 2010 faltered last summer, hit by concerns about government debt in Europe and the US. A comprehensive solution to the euro crisis remains unproven and much of Europe is now experiencing recession. Emerging economies have been the main engine of world growth in recent years, but here too, activity has slowed in response to policy tightening. Corporates operating in developed markets are having to contend with elevated levels of financial volatility and macroeconomic uncertainty – and deal with sub-trend growth rates.

In addition to these challenges, the scrutiny professional services firms are under from regulators, politicians, investors, companies and other stakeholders is high and continues to gain in intensity following the financial crisis. In response to this, we believe an important part of our role is to be proactive in developing insights, engaging with policy makers, responding to issues and contributing to debates on the economy and other matters in the public interest. We will make progress in all these areas in the coming months.

The audit profession in particular has come under the microscope as a result of an ongoing Competition Commission inquiry into the statutory audit market for large companies, and audit reform proposals put forward by the European Commission. We recognise the responsibility that we bear to all our stakeholders in delivering high-quality and robust audits. Deloitte will continue to be a pro-active and constructive voice as the audit reform debates progress, and we remain committed to raising the bar on audit quality for the benefit of all stakeholders. Our commitment to enhance transparency and accountability remains absolute. We welcome the high level of engagement from our stakeholders on all matters of public policy. And we are keen to embrace changes that will help us increase the positive impact we deliver to our clients and, in turn, more broadly to the sustainable growth of the UK economy. 

We understand that clients, investors, regulators and the wider business community place their trust in us – a fact that we should never take for granted. Everyone, at every level, within the firm has a responsibility to sustain this trust. Starting with the tone at the top and the strength and vision of our leaders, we must embed and live the values that warrant and sustain this trust – integrity, respect, fairness, objectivity and accountability. As part of this, we appointed three Independent Non-Executives (INEs) to our Board in 2011. They also comprise our Public Interest Oversight Committee (PIOC), whose duties are to enhance stakeholder confidence in the public interest aspects of the firm’s decision-making, stakeholder dialogue and management of reputational risks.

We are enormously proud of the contribution that Deloitte makes to our clients, to the UK economy and to the wider community and we hope this report helps to bring some of this to life for you and the other readers of it. We would greatly appreciate your feedback as you read the report or you can send your thoughts to us directly at: ukdeloitteimpact@deloitte.co.uk.

David Cruickshank

Chairman