Profit was up 7% to £64.6m for year end 31 August 2023, from £60.2m, with growth across all services lines, driven by audit revenue which hit £137.9m, up from £115.2m with an impressive 20% rise in fees.

The UK firm saw the bonus pot increase by 16% and it outperformed other members of the global network which reported growth of 13% on revenues of €2.8bn (£2.4bn).

There was also strong growth in the business advisory, restructuring and consultancy arm with revenue of £103m, up 14% from £90.4m, while tax work generated £59.6m in fees, up from £53.6m and accounting fees were £32.7m, against £28.6m in FY22.

Profit for the financial year available for partners was £61.5m, equivalent to partner pay of £361,000.The highest paid member of the board earned £800,000, comparable with FY22.

Ahead of the formation of the Forvis Mazars global network on 1 June 2024, Mazars has made significant investments in its people and business operations.

The firm increased spending on staff by 23%, to £189.3m, reflecting both the growth of the team by 18% to 3,273, up from 2,782, and the bonus pot for all staff increased by 16%.

The central audit quality and IT team grew by 40% in terms of staff numbers as Mazars ‘invested to deliver quality alongside strong growth for the audit service line overall’.

The firm is auditor of four FTSE 250 companies and 52 financial services public interest entities (PIEs), making Mazars the fifth largest auditor of PIEs in the UK when measured by fee income.

Mazars CEO, Phil Verity, said: ‘Despite a less buoyant economy in the past year and a competitive marketplace, our strategy to invest in talent has enabled our business to deliver double digit growth this year.

‘I am very proud to see the strength of our firm’s development as we enter a very exciting time ahead of the creation of our new global network with Forvis. We will be able to provide our clients with an expanded and highly competitive offering providing truly global reach.’ 

Over the year, recruitment took place at all levels, including the appointment of 13 new partners, eight of whom were promoted internally, bringing the partnership to 170. In terms of diversity, 28% of partners are women at 48 and 8% are minority ethnic at 13.

A record 421 trainees were hired while 83 students took on work experience through Access Accountancy, as well as 10,000 Able Interns and 10,000 Black Interns programmes.

A key area of investment has been the innovation team, with staff numbers more than doubled and the creation of a dedicated artificial intelligence team for the first time. The wider team experiments, designs prototypes and develops solutions for teams and clients, while the AI team is developing solutions that ‘harness the potential of machine learning while retaining a close focus on risk management’, Mazars said.

This financial year also saw major investments in office facilities to create modern, sustainable and collaborative working spaces for team members. The two new offices in the City of London near Old Bailey [pictured above] and Edinburgh’s Capital Square premises both have strong environmental credentials, with the latter accredited with BREEAM’s ‘excellent’ standard.

Mazars deal with Forvis to grow US business | 16 Nov 2023