Mazars’ international expansion is reflected in the geographic spread of its revenue sources, with more than a third of the firm’s fee income now coming from outside of Europe, enhanced by the signing of an agreement with five firms in north America in 2019 and rapid growth in China.

Fee income hit €1.77bn, up €166m on €1.60bn in 2017/18, driven by growth in core markets, while the partner profitability share pool was €331m. The largest markets performed well, with the US growing by 11.8%, Germany up 11.6%, Netherlands 10.4%, UK 8.4% and Switzerland 25.7%.

On a regional basis, Mazars’ largest market is Europe, accounting for two thirds of total fees, with revenue up 8.1% at €1.16bn [2018: €1.07bn].

The biggest growth area was Asia Pacific with revenue up 22.6% at €263m [€214m] driven by the group’s Chinese business and a merger in Australia which benefited the network.  In China, the firm has around 4,000 staff and over 30 offices, and reported 19% growth in revenues last year. 

 North America is the third largest market, accounting for €206m [2018: €184m] with 12% growth.

The mandatory European rotation legislation is starting to have some positive impacts along with the UK’s audit reform, Mazars said. This has seen the UK firm win some major listed audit business, including the audit for the UK business of global insurer AIG and Goldman Sachs’ European business.

Audit and accounting comprised 63% of total revenues with advisory, including tax services, accounting for 37% of fee income for year end 31 August 2019. Over the year, audit business grew 8.5%, while the network saw a substantial hike in revenue from more peripheral income streams with legal services up 34.9% and consulting up 24.2%.

 ‘This is the highest level of organic growth recorded by Mazars since 2011/2012. This outstanding performance comes from a combination of the high level of expertise and strong commitment of our teams to deliver to our clients a seamless global experience,’ said Hervé Hélias, CEO and chairman of Mazars Group.

The network strengthened its north American presence in 2019 setting up the Mazars North America Alliance in July, an agreement between Mazars and five leading firms in the US and Canada – BKD, Dixon Hughes Goodman, Moss Adams, Plante Moran (US) and MNP (Canada). This brought together 16,000 professional staff across the region under the Mazars brand.

Commenting on the firm’s growth strategy, Hélias said: ‘Four years ago, we set an ambitious strategic plan called Next-20. Our expansion into China to reach critical size in this vast market and the development of a strong and competitive offer in North America ranked among our top priorities, alongside a smooth transition in our governance with a well-planned succession of Philippe Castagnac in his role as chairman of the Group. Our goal in 2020 is to reach €2bn in revenues, and I feel confident that we will achieve this.’

The firm is also investing in training, technological innovation, integrating artificial intelligence, machine learning and comprehensive data analysis in the audit and advisory services. In 2019, 92% of staff took part in education programmes.

Mazars has 40,400 professional staff and 318 offices across 91 countries.