Deloitte Netherlands shows stable revenue growth

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"Over the past year, geopolitical tensions, challenging economic developments, rapid digital transformation (including generative AI), and developments in ESG and regulatory matters have dominated the landscape. These factors have influenced our clients' investment decisions and made the consultative market more challenging," said Hans Honig, CEO of Deloitte Netherlands. "Despite these circumstances, we have successfully adhered to our ambitious strategy. We have continued to invest significantly in digitalization, sustainability, and our talent. For example, this year, we opened the Deloitte University EMEA in Paris, where our employees can undertake a wide array of training programs, underscoring our commitment to development and internationalization."

Review our learning culture

Last year, we started an investigation into the sharing of answers for mandatory learning activities and our learning culture. Honig: “This affects our integrity. Of course, we want to complete this investigation as soon as possible, but we prioritize careful conduct over speed. This forms the necessary basis for a different learning culture. Based on the initial insights, initiatives have been launched to improve our learning culture. By facing past facts, we learn, grow, and improve.” The ongoing investigation is closely monitored by the Supervisory Board (RvC) and our regulators, the AFM and the PCAOB.

Generative AI

We are seeing a significant increase in clients enquiries about the use of AI, there is a growing need for innovative and reliable solutions. We have established AI competence centres to support customers in strategic transformations with Generative AI. In addition, AI plays a crucial role in our own transformation. With our 'Headstart' Gen-AI programme, we promote responsible AI use within our organisation, while ensuring privacy, information security and quality.

Sustainability and ESG initiatives

"We were one of the first major Dutch organisations to publish a fully European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS)-compliant report, with assurance from our external auditor. We are proud of this milestone that confirms our commitment to sustainability," said Hans Honig. We see a growing focus on ESG and CSRD regulations among our clients, both in Audit and advisory. We also help regulators clarify guidelines and develop standards. Our integrated approach and multidisciplinary teams ensure sustainability expertise throughout our organisation.

Internationalisation

An important step in realising our strategic agenda is the global change in our structure, which modernises, and simplifies the way we collectively approach the market. We organise ourselves globally into four business units: 'Audit & Assurance', 'Tax & Legal', 'Strategy, Risk & Transactions Advisory' and 'Technology & Transformation'. This enables us to serve our clients even better worldwide.

Revenue

In financial year 2023/2024, Deloitte Netherlands achieved a revenue of €1,394 billion. The ongoing investigation into our learning culture has required significant investments in time and resources, which is visible in our financial performance. Also, the challenging market conditions have impacted the revenue of both Consulting and Financial Advisory. There has been solid growth in Audit and Assurance, Risk Advisory and Tax & Legal. All this resulted in modest overall revenue growth of 2.5% compared to the previous financial year. A significant cost reduction programme enabled us to keep our profit stable at €175 million operating profit (before tax and interest).

Financial year 2023/2024 Deloitte Netherlands at a glance

• Composition of the Board of directors. In 2023/2024, the composition of the Board of directors changed after Rob Bergmans decided to step down. In February 2024, Harvey Christophers took over the role of Chief Quality & People Officer (CQPO). Due to his retirement, he resigned on 1 August. A process is underway to appoint a successor to this role.
• In the past financial year, we achieved a client satisfaction score of 8.7, compared to 8.5 last year. This positive feedback confirms Deloitte as a reliable partner for complex social issues, transformations and major audits.
• The average number of employees for the 2023/2024 financial year is 8,195. The number of female partners within Deloitte has increased from 22% to 24% this financial year. The number of women in leadership roles has risen to 33%, up from 26% in the previous financial year.
• This year, Deloitte University EMEA, our international campus, opened in Paris. This sustainable campus in the Val d'Europe region is available to Deloitte employees in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The campus can welcome about 500 employees daily, equating to about 20,000 employees who attend training each year.
• Sustainability. We further reduced CO2 emissions from housing and mobility (cars and air travel) by 47.6% compared to FY19 emissions. Currently, more than 60% of our fleet consists of fully electric vehicles, with the ultimate goal of reaching 100% by December 2025. Emissions from international travel decreased by 61.7% compared to FY19. This is in line with our target for FY25 (50% per FTE).
• Success of our strategic focus on social themes. We continue to focus on major social themes, often in collaboration with partners and customers, such as:
  • Ministry of Defence and NATO: Deloitte has helped them to prepare for a changing threat landscape and scale up the national defence organisation to protect values, equal rights and freedom. We have also optimised the digital and operational readiness of the defence force.
  • 'Future of' themes: Collaborations have been set up focused on specific societal challenges. One of the initiatives is the launch of the Energy Transition Monitor, which provides a comprehensive overview of the progress of the energy transition in the Netherlands.
• We achieve our impact mainly through our work for and with clients. In addition, we are committed to social impact through the Deloitte Impact Foundation. Where we use our expertise to make a difference in education, employment, sustainability and an inclusive society. We work with NGOs on social initiatives and encourage Deloitte employees to start their own projects. Last financial year, we contributed more than 30,000 hours pro bono to these projects. Some examples of this are:
  • National Money Exam, an annual programme that we have developed in collaboration with Nibud and Zwijssen. With this programme, children between the ages of 10 and 12 learn how to deal with money to better prepare them for secondary school.
  • Financial Health Check, together with our partners (NIBUD, Leiden University and Tilburg University) we provide annual insight into the financial health of Dutch households. We have developed a methodology to measure financial health and score Dutch households on a financial health scale. With 5,000 households participating in the survey, we provide a snapshot of the current situation and monitor the development of financial health in the Netherlands.