The annual benchmarking data for their accountancy firm members has been released by The Corporate Finance Network who has itself welcomed four more accountancy firms to their network in the past 12 months.
Key findings are:
- For the second year running, like-for-like corporate finance fees have increased by 36% per firm on average, after a 19.9% increase last year across 200 deals led by 21 firms across The Corporate Finance Network
- Corporate finance service lines continue to support growing firms, as results show that they have increased headcount by a further 8% on last year
- 80% of firms are still experiencing an increase in the demand for sell-side services, including exit planning advice and disposals
- Expected fees from the current pipeline as at the start of this year are already 98% of next year’s fee target
Kirsty McGregor, founder and Chairman of The Corporate Finance Network commented “In contrast to the mid-market and larger corporate finance deal sector, transactional activity has continued to increase for our member firms who work in the owner-managed business market.
“Business owners are becoming more tired and losing motivation to continue running their companies after the past few years’ pressures in most sectors do not appear to be easing yet. Inevitably, they are now deciding to retire and approach our firms looking to sell.
“I’m delighted that our support, tools and resources are continuing to provide our member firms with a highly valued and profitable service line in their accounting practices, supporting growth across the firm.
“Our campaign to increase the number of business owners recognising that acquisition could form part of their growth strategy has been successful and we intend to continue championing that route into next year.
“We have also secured an exclusive contract to rollout the pilot for the Innovate UK Innovation Loans Financial Advice scheme and those first pieces of work are now beginning with founders.
“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.
“Our solution is to focus on training and developing more junior team members and to use technology to its best effect. We work alongside Capitalise for our funding assignments and credit score insights plus we will begin to offer a centralised resource over the next few months to originate deals. “
For more information about The Corporate Finance Network, email info@thecfn.org.uk
