BDO ANNOUNCES MERGER UNDER BDO BRAND NAME WITH GRANT THORNTON CAPE TOWN AND PORT ELIZABETH OFFICES

BDO South Africa have today announced that the Cape Town and Port Elizabeth offices of Grant Thornton will be merging with BDO with effect from 1 March 2018. The merger will consolidate the BDO and Grant Thornton Cape Town offices under the BDO brand, and BDO will again be represented in Port Elizabeth.

The merged firm will offer 413 professional staff, including 35 partners and directors, across both Cape Town and Port Elizabeth, bringing the South African BDO firm’s total staff complement to just over 1,000 employees. Services offered include the full spectrum of professional services, including audit, business services and advisory, tax, corporate finance, cyber lab, HR advisory, internal audit and forensics, legal services, risk and tech advisory services.

BDO South Africa CEO, Mark Stewart, says “This is an exciting development that will have a significant impact on the future growth and sustainability of BDO in South Africa”.

“The demand for in-depth expertise is increasing, with technical and industry advice in high demand. Critical to this merger is our ability to scale up and to leverage the opportunities created by the changes in the auditing profession, including the introduction of mandatory audit firm rotation. BDO will now be in a far stronger position to take advantage of opportunities in the market and to provide the market with a significant alternative to the competition. Many of the partners and staff now joining us are former BDO partners and staff and, as such, bring with them their BDO history and values. We believe that this will strongly complement and strengthen the culture of our existing offices, and the firm as a whole”.

The merger is a key part of BDO’s business strategy, both in South Africa and globally. GT Cape Town’s decision to join the BDO network is based on their belief that the direction the BDO network is taking will help them achieve their strategic ambitions to also grow their practice. Both firms believe there are opportunities to be leveraged from mandatory audit firm rotation, which comes into effect in 2023. The merged entity, joining forces with BDO’s existing presence in Durban, Johannesburg and Pretoria, will be in a far stronger position to take advantage of the new audit environment and growth opportunities in the market, and to provide the market with a solid alternative to the competition.”