The annual benchmarking data of their accountancy firm members has been released by The Corporate Finance Network.
Key findings are:
- Corporate finance fees are up year on year, 19.9% per firm on average
- Member firms have an average of 72 chargeable staff per firm, an increase of 3% on last year
- 92% of firms are still experiencing an increase in the demand for sell-side services, including exit planning advice and disposals; but only 50% are seeing a growing appetite from potential purchasers
- Expected fees from the current pipeline as at the start of this year are already 102% of next year’s fee targets
Kirsty McGregor, Chairman of The Corporate Finance Network commented “I am not surprised at these statistics at all given I have witnessed how busy our firms have continued to be over the past twelve months.
“I’m delighted that our support, tools and resources are continuing to provide them with a highly valued and profitable service line in their accounting practices. This year we intend to encourage more of our members’ clients’ business owners to consider acquisition as a means of growth, so that we can create a greater pool of potential purchasers for our clients who wish to exit.
“However, the biggest challenge remains that of the work exceeding the available capacity, as the accounting profession continues to battle with the skills gap in the post-qualified levels of human resource.
“Therefore, we are looking forward to launching our field team in the next year, which we hope will resolve some of the short-term pressures and provide a market of experienced dealmakers which our member firms can access when they are at full capacity.”
For more information about The Corporate Finance Network, email info@thecfn.org.uk
