LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ernst & Young today announced combined worldwide revenues of US$21.4 billion for the fiscal year ended 30 June 2009 (FY09). Year-over-year revenues on a comparable basis decreased a modest 0.2% in local currency.
“I’m extremely proud of how our people adapted to this challenging year, and how they’ve worked so well with our clients to help them through these difficult times,” said James S. Turley, Global Chairman and CEO of Ernst & Young. “Flat revenues certainly don’t tell the whole story of this year, as we continued our investments in people and in building our markets, while helping our clients with the unusual and difficult issues they faced. FY09 will be remembered more for these activities than for top-line results.”
Across Ernst & Young’s five geographic areas, Japan had the largest growth at 7.5%, reflecting the first full-year results of the more than 1,000 people who joined from accountancy firm Misuzu. This was followed by the Europe, Middle East, India and Africa (EMEIA) area, which grew 1.8%. Oceania, the Far East and Americas areas decreased 0.4%, 2.7% and 3.2% respectively.
“Despite the downturn, we see opportunities in many of our geographic markets,” said John Ferraro, Global Chief Operating Officer of Ernst & Young. “In fact, last fiscal year, we stepped up our geographic investments by over US$100 million, investing a total of more than US$350 million. A majority of this investment went to emerging markets, demonstrating our continued commitment to this important segment. Several of the emerging markets achieved strong growth, including the Middle East (18.6%), India (13.1%) and Brazil (8.0%).”
In an environment where many businesses faced challenging economic times, all of our service lines were impacted by pricing pressure and fee reductions. Our Assurance Services were able to offset most of this by market-share gains, reporting a revenue decline of 0.7%. Transaction Advisory Services reported a 6.9% decrease in a challenging global climate that saw M&A volume fall by up to 50% in some markets and drop overall to its lowest level in five years. Demand for global tax services remained constant as businesses restructured supply chains, capitalized on fiscal stimulus measures and responded to increased tax enforcement, resulting in a 1.8% increase in Tax Services. There was sustained demand for services related to both risk management and performance improvement, resulting in 1.5% growth for Advisory Services.
“We’re confident that our strategy of investing in the downturn, and delivering high-quality services to our clients as they face significant financial pressures, is the right strategy for long-term success,” concluded Turley. “Beyond the sizeable increase in investments we made in geographic markets, we continued our investment in people, both by keeping our overall headcount flat and by investing in learning, mobility and our inclusiveness agenda. This benefits our people and our clients, and is expected of a leader in our profession in these times.”
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Selected information
In line with our globalization efforts to harmonize policies across member firms, revenues for 2009 and 2008 related to member firm billings to other member firms have been eliminated from the financial information presented here. This financial information represents combined not consolidated revenues, and includes expenses billed to clients. Headcount numbers reflect personnel as of 30 June of the fiscal year.
Ernst & Young revenues by area – US$ millions
| FY09 | FY08 | % Change | |||||||||||||
| US$ | Local Currency | ||||||||||||||
| Americas | $8,647 | $9,152 | -5.5% | -3.2% | |||||||||||
| EMEIA | 9,636 | 10,667 | -9.7 | 1.8 | |||||||||||
| Far East | 1,144 | 1,216 | -5.9 | -2.7 | |||||||||||
| Oceania | 817 | 972 | -15.9 | -0.4 | |||||||||||
| Japan | 1,196 | 994 | 20.3 | 7.5 | |||||||||||
| Total | $21,440 | $23,001 | -6.8% | -0.2% | |||||||||||
Ernst & Young revenues by service line – US$ millions
| FY09 | FY08 | % Change | |||||||||||||
| US$ | Local Currency | ||||||||||||||
| Assurance | $10,141 | $10,826 | -6.3% | -0.7% | |||||||||||
| Tax | 5,822 | 6,142 | -5.2 | 1.8 | |||||||||||
| Advisory | 3,589 | 3,817 | -6.0 | 1.5 | |||||||||||
| TAS | 1,888 | 2,216 | -14.8 | -6.9 | |||||||||||
| Total | $21,440 | $23,001 | -6.8% | -0.2% | |||||||||||
Ernst & Young people by area
| FY09 | FY08 | % Change | |||||||||
| Americas | 41,487 | 43,426 | -4.5% | ||||||||
| EMEIA | 68,732 | 68,041 | 1.0 | ||||||||
| Far East | 19,761 | 19,196 | 2.9 | ||||||||
| Oceania | 7,090 | 7,276 | -2.6 | ||||||||
| Japan | 7,371 | 6,575 | 12.1 | ||||||||
| Total | 144,441 | 144,514 | -0.1% | ||||||||
Ernst & Young people by service line
| FY09 | FY08 | % Change | |||||||||
| Assurance | 60,938 | 61,065 | -0.2% | ||||||||
| Tax | 18,276 | 18,651 | -2.0 | ||||||||
| Advisory | 27,446 | 26,859 | 2.2 | ||||||||
| TAS | 7,876 | 7,978 | -1.3 | ||||||||
| Practice support | 29,905 | 29,961 | -0.2 | ||||||||
| Total | 144,441 | 144,514 | -0.1% | ||||||||
About Ernst & Young
Ernst & Young is a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services. Worldwide, our 144,000 people are united by our shared values and an unwavering commitment to quality. We make a difference by helping our people, our clients and our wider communities achieve their potential.
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Ernst & Young refers to the global organization of member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients. This news release has been issued by EYGM Limited, a member of the global Ernst & Young organization that also does not provide any services to clients.
Contacts
Ernst & Young Global Media Relations
Will White
+44 (0)20 7951 3264 / +44 (0)7771 555 247
wwhite@uk.ey.com