Deloitte’s digital team in Scotland triples in size 

Multinational professional services firm Deloitte has tripled the size of its digital team in Scotland and established specialist cyber and fintech divisions.

From an initial team of eight, Deloitte Digital is now 30-strong and is expected to double in size by 2021, the company said today as it announced its trading figures.

Technology and its associated sectors are set to remain key themes across Scotland and this is underpinned by the growth across Deloitte Digital, Fintech and Cyber teams in Scotland, the firm said in a statement.

The Digital team, led by Gareth Edwards and Debbi McLean, remains focused on how digital can simplify and augment human experiences without adding complexity to ensure technology clients use is additive to both them and their customers.

Meanwhile, as Edinburgh is set to become the data capital of Europe, both Fintech and Cyber have expanded. The Risk Analytics and Fintech team, led by Kent Mackenzie, now boasts a team of 22, while Cyber has grown to 14 after initially forming in 2018. 

James Turpie, Director of Cyber Risk, said: “Our drive is to continue attracting high calibre talent as well as investing in the future of the cyber profession through recruitment, training and development at all levels from graduate to the top.”

Steve Williams, senior partner for Deloitte in Scotland and Northern Ireland, said: “It’s been a hugely successful year for the firm in Scotland, as we have continued to expand and bolster our offering, particularly across the digital technologies sector. This is shown by the incredible growth of both Cyber and Deloitte Digital and speaks more widely to the vital role that these industries play across the region. In the coming year, our goal is to continue recruiting and developing these areas of the practice.”

Deloitte also continued its commitment to Scotland with 109 new people joining across offices in Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Glasgow. This includes both graduates and ‘BrightStart’ apprentices, Deloitte’s programme for school-leavers. 

Deloitte in the UK & Switzerland has increased its revenue by 10.9% in the year ended 31 May 2019, from £3.58bn in 2018 to £3.97 billion, as the firm continues to invest each of its businesses and its people.

Across business lines, Audit and Risk Advisory revenue grew by 8.1% to £1,110m (of which Audit & Assurance was £582m), Consulting increased 9.0% to £952m, Financial Advisory by 10.5% to £507m and Tax & Legal saw its revenue rise by 17.8% to £862m. Deloitte Switzerland saw growth of 10% to £538m.

In the year ended 31 May 2019, ‘distributable profit’ was £617m, up from £584m in the prior year. Distributable profit in the year ended 31 May 2019 has benefited from a one-off gain on the sale of an investment, lower provisioning charges and currency gains; without these, distributable profit would have been flat.

The firm’s total tax contribution was £1,057m in 2019. This comprised £638m of taxes collected on behalf of HMRC (VAT, PAYE and employee national insurance) and £419m of taxes borne by the firm (partner income taxes, national insurance, corporation tax and employer’s national insurance). 

Richard Houston, senior partner and chief executive, said: “Our clients and our own profession are facing a time of substantial change and challenge with slowing economic growth, ongoing political uncertainty in the UK and the impact of technological disruption. Over the past year, we have supported both the public sector and business through this volatile period, whether helping them manage the uncertainty of Brexit, large scale transformation, productivity improvements through digital technologies, or addressing critical risks such as cyber.

“Our 2019 results reflect the investment we have been making across our entire firm and, in particular, in audit quality and the processes that support it. This investment has helped us succeed in the market and improved the financial performance of our audit business.”