Grant Thornton International summed up 2018 with total revenues of USD 5.45bn (growth of 9.4%) and increase of staff by 6.3% to 52,686 people in 131 countries.

The company noted that this is the network’s highest rate of growth in six years.

“First and foremost, I would like to acknowledge the commitment, passion and determination of our people, which has helped the network to deliver such a fantastic result. Our success this year is the result of a deliberate strategic focus on our core mid-market client base, and our key strategic growth markets where we want to be successful. Being clear on where we need to develop our capabilities, and focusing on quality in those core markets, has underpinned this performance,” said Peter Bodin, CEO at Grant Thornton International Ltd.

He stressed that the investment in the network, its technology, and in the development of its people and future leaders will continue to ensure the network is ready to “deliver quality advice and support in a rapidly changing market”.

These are the results for year ending 30 September 2018 in summary, as provided by Grant Thornton International:

- Assurance services made up approximately 39% of total revenues (USD 2.1bn, +4.3%); Advisory services 35% (USD 1.92bn +10.4%). Tax services experienced the strongest growth, accounting for 22% of total revenue (USD 1.19bn +14.8%) reflecting the changing tax landscape. Other services accounted for 3% at USD 145m.

- Over 20% of the growth in 2018 has come from mergers and acquisitions - more in both volume and value than in the previous two years. In total, there were 24 deals from 10 firms with the Japanese merger being the largest and Canada LLP being the most active by number.

- The Americas remain the network’s largest market with revenues of USD 2.5bn (+5.7%), followed by Europe at USD 1.75bn (+7.7%). Particularly strong growth came from Africa (up 54.7%) and Asia Pacific (up 18.7%).

- The Grant Thornton network brought in seven new member firms – Austria, Cameroon, Dutch Caribbean, Lebanon, Malawi, Mongolia and South Africa.