The Bristol office of accountancy and business advisory firm BDO LLP has announced significant growth in its Global Outsourcing team, which grew by 27% in the last year and has doubled in size to a team of more than 30 over the last three years.
The team, which was set up five years ago, assists multi-national companies minimise the complexities and risk of in-country accounting and local compliance. The team provides a full suite of services, including direct and indirect tax compliance, bookkeeping, management reporting and payroll and employee benefits, utilising local experts in the countries where their clients operate.
The service is managed by the team in Bristol who work closely with BDO’s international network of more than 1,200 offices in over 140 countries.
Duncan Ashman, Partner, heads up the Global Outsourcing division at BDO in Bristol. He is confident that the business is likely to grow even faster as the global economic recovery gathers pace. He said: “The service has grown particularly strongly in North America and in California’s Silicon Valley on the back of referrals from our international network and word of mouth endorsement. We are delighted with the impressive growth that we have experienced to date and we have a number of exciting new business opportunities in the pipeline.
“We have expanded the team as new clients have come on board and existing clients develop their international footprint further in emerging markets. There have been some major wins in recent years including listed businesses within the telecoms, high tech and pharmaceutical sectors. We have ambitious plans for further growth and are expecting to double in size over the next three years.”
The outsourcing service suits companies going through rapid change that need help without the expense and inflexibility of going down traditional routes.
Duncan continued: “Outsourcing continues to be a very valuable tool, allowing businesses to manage the risk and logistics of global expansion with local expertise across a wide range of issues. We have tended to focus on fluid and fast moving sectors where businesses are looking for something a bit different. Firms are looking for an alternative to the traditional solutions with a flexible partner to suit their international expansion plans.
“We have developed computer software and systems that can be accessed by clients, which coordinate and present information from offices across the globe in a consistent way. The UK’s central location in international time zones is another major advantage; it means we can liaise with both the US and Asian markets in working hours. We have built a really strong team in Bristol and will look to expand as even more customers come on board.”
BDO runs an award-winning School Leaver Programme and is keen to receive applications or enquiries from school leavers and graduates who have an interest in a career in accounting or project management and being part of a successful local team delivering services to international businesses.
