While there is some evidence of modest improvement in the economic environment, the market remains highly complex – with a range of powerful forces in play from regulatory change, increasingly sophisticated clients, globalisation and aggressive competition.

At our Board and various sub-committees, we have had a big focus over the last 12 months on the needs of our stakeholders. We have considered our responses to the Competition Commission, the European Commission, the tax avoidance debate, the wider public interest and general expectations of firms like ours.

We have spent many hours at our Board considering the execution challenges, both in the UK and across DTTL’s network of member firms, of the increased level of audit tendering that we are already seeing following the Financial Reporting Council’s rule changes. This is to ensure that we allocate the appropriate level of resources to each opportunity we pursue so that both current and prospective audit clients are offered real choice in the marketplace.

We continue to support UK PLC’s agenda on growing through international markets in the work we do with our clients and our involvement with key stakeholder initiatives. In addition to supporting the success of our clients, the growth in our fees from sources outside the UK represents valuable export earnings for the UK economy.

We have a strong belief that good governance and transparency contributes to the trust in, and ultimately the success of, our firm. Our Impact Report, our Audit Transparency Report and our Annual Stakeholder Forum are all part of our efforts to achieve this. However, we are never complacent so we welcome your feedback on how we can improve on any of our external reporting.

David Cruickshank
Chairman