BDO in Singapore and Indonesia to collaborate on management consulting

The management consulting divisions of BDO in Singapore and Indonesia have joined forces to pursue greater regional opportunities, as the network globally solidifies its position as the leading mid-tier accounting and advisory network with 2018 revenues of nearly $9 billion.

Global professional services network BDO, the world’s fifth largest audit, accounting and advisory network of its kind, has announced 2018 revenues of $8.99 billion for its financial year to the end of September – with overall growth of 10.7 percent and a 6.6 percent rise in Asia Pacific where the network counts member firms in 26 countries stretching from Afghanistan to French Polynesia.

Meanwhile, two of BDO’s Southeast Asian members – Singapore and Indonesia – together counting five locations, have signed a bilateral cooperation agreement to leverage mutual resources in the pursuit of regional management consulting opportunities, covering the service areas of family business advisory, human capital management and outsourcing, and e-Recruitment solutions.

“This is a good foundation in terms of bigger projects, knowledge transfer and training and makes clear our ambition for a joint team based in Jakarta to provide management consulting services across countries,” BDO Singapore Executive Director and Head of Management Consulting Roger Loo said of the agreement. “I firmly expect this collaboration to grow into a strong regional practice.”“This venture is in line with the BDO’s strategy around convergence and collaboration. It is better to leverage the expertise and strength of BDO firms in the region for the benefit of our clients”, added BDO Indonesia CEO Thano Tanubrata, a former Deloitte client manager in Australia who previously led BDO Indonesia’s Advisory division, including its management consulting practice.

In Indonesia, Tanubrata now oversees a staff of 750-plus professionals across all departments, with the 1979-founded firm joining the BDO network in 1992, while the Singapore branch has been a BDO International member since 1979 member and counts over 400 employees of its own. This year, on the back of an 8.4 percent growth in staff, BDO surpassed a total workforce of 80,000 worldwide. 

Although BDO has strengthened its position ahead of RSM and Grant Thornton at the top of the mid-tier table, Asia Pacific CEO Stephen Darley was keen to reiterate the point of seamless inter-member collaboration, with global competitors Baker Tilly, HBL and Crowe all rebranding this year in an effort to enhance unified operations; “This is a welcome initiative of our firms in Singapore and Indonesia in the realisation of BDO's strategic aims,” Darley said.

Meanwhile, BDO’s global CEO Keith Farlinger has stated that the network’s focus remains fixed on further strengthening its mid-tier status rather than chasing the likes of KPMG, PwC, Ernst & Young and Deloitte, the latter of which now pulls in revenues in excess of $43 billion; “We’re not looking to be as big as, or take a seat at the table with the Big Four,” he said. “We view our market as slightly different, and I think actually they view us as slightly different as well.”