BDO International to Take Advantage of New EU Regulations

New European regulations which state that listed companies should change their auditors every 10 years will open up the market beyond the "Big Four" accountancy firms.

Legislation to shake-up the accountancy market, which could be steered through parliament by December, proposes that companies put audit work out to tender, with the option to stick with the existing auditor for a further decade.

The reforms are intended to reduce the concentration of work unconditionally retained by the likes PwC, KPMG, Deloitte and EY.

Martin van Roekel, chief executive of accountancy giant BDO International, told IBTimes UK the new regulations will help an ongoing drive to win tenders for roles auditing bigger companies.

"We see an increased awareness in the market of the global capabilities of BDO. We are invited more often to participate in tenders for larger companies and we have seen a number of successes, winning those tender procedures," he said.

"We expect the new EU legislation will mean we are invited even more often."

The proposals means firms in the FTSE 100, for instance, will have to meet certain criteria when putting work out to tender, such as ensuring that an audit committee agrees to an extension, or that the company appoints a second auditor to provide a joint audit.

"With regards to possible mandatory retendering and rotation, the market is opening up more and more for other players, and that is offering a growing number of interesting opportunities for the BDO network. It is expected to have a positive growth on the BDO network for years to come," he said.

BDO reported in its annual results that its revenues rose 7.3% to $6.45bn (£3.9bn, €4.7bn) for the year ending on the 30 September.

The company saw growth in the Asia Pacific region, the Americas and the EMEA markets.

Business was expected to grow strongly in Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia, said Roekel.

"If we look at the more traditional emerging markets, without any doubt Asia is still important to BDO. We have been able to experience growth in China and if I look at other areas for Asian areas including Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia, we see substantial growth in the next few years with promising economic developments. And for sure let us not forget India," he said.

Similarly, from the US, Puerto Rico and Bolivia contributed to 6.62% growth overall. Revenues in the Caribbean increased by 26% - the fastest-growing of all the sub regions - while in Latin America, their revenues grew by more than 11%.

"If we talk more about emerging markets, the African economies are performing relatively well and showing positive growth and we suspect substantial growth there. Latin American region is good too," he added.