Business performance

High quality demands, digital solutions and shifting conditions due to legal changes – in a complex environment, BDO increased revenue by 6 percent year-on-year to CHF 247.1 million in the 2021 financial year.

Audit

Audit enjoyed renewed positive development, with revenue up 10.2 percent to CHF 84.6 million. The pandemic, continuing strong price pressure and a shortage of qualified workers made for a difficult market environment. The satisfying growth could not have been expected against this background. The need for investments and new solutions remains high as demand for innovative capabilities, quality and quality assurance grows. In 2021, BDO once again succeeded in responding to changing market needs and in meeting the continuing high expectations for audit and advisory services.

Business Solutions

Business Solutions generated revenue of CHF 74.6 million in the financial year 2021, an increase of 1.1 percent. Digital advances are also shaping the fiduciary industry. BDO clients benefit from new, digital solutions and simplified processes. The pandemic year 2021 stoked demand for advisory services around the topics of hardship measures, short-time work compensation and Covid-19 credits. In a complex environment, the need for expertise and specialist knowledge is growing - and so too is future demand for the advisory skills of fiduciary professionals.

Tax & Legal

Tax & Legal recorded a 0.8 percent increase in revenue to CHF 28.7 million in 2021. BDO once again actively supported clients in the past year as they adapted to legal changes and prepared for shifting conditions. For example, BDO advised and supported companies in implementing the Federal Act on Tax Reform and AHV Financing (TRAF). BDO also assisted clients in implementing the new requirements arising from the revised withholding tax ordinance. In addition, BDO sought to inform stakeholders of upcoming revisions of company law, inheritance law and the Data Protection Act, all of which will enter into force in 2023.

Financial Services

Thanks to booming stock markets, the financial industry looks back on a good year even though negative interest rates and rising costs added up to a persistently tough environment. Financial Services, as a provider of audit and advisory services, performed strongly in this environment and increased revenue by 10.6 percent to CHF 19.5 million. These excellent results were driven by large audit engagements, opportunities in the area of fintech and blockchain, new regulation such as the Financial Institutions Act, and the trend towards more sustainable financial products and services.

Other services

(Real Estate, Abacus/IT, Corporate Finance, miscellaneous advisory services)

In what remained a dynamic M&A market, the advisory volume increased, building further on the strong year 2020. Abacus was not quite able to match the level of the high-growth prior year, while Real Estate also fell slightly short of its prior-year performance.