A partnership constituted in 1911, admitted to practice in thirty-three jurisdictions, and appointed auditor to every operating entity of the group.
The partnership was constituted in 1911 by four practitioners in order to audit a single trading company, the predecessor of the entity now registered as Everything Group. That appointment has never been put out to tender. It has been proposed to the members by the board and approved at each of the one hundred and fifteen annual general meetings held since.
The firm grew where the client grew. Where the client incorporated a subsidiary in a new territory, the partnership sought admission to practise in that territory and opened an office in it, usually within eighteen months. Where the client disposed of an operation, the office was retained. Offices are closed only on the loss of a practising certificate, which has not occurred.
We have never acquired another practice and have never merged. Every partner admitted since 1911 joined the firm as a graduate and was admitted from within. This is the single most expensive commitment the partnership makes and the one clients ask about most often, because it is the reason a file opened in one period is legible to the person who reviews it in the next.
| Measure | Current period |
|---|---|
| Partners | 212 |
| Professional staff | 6,148 |
| Total personnel | 6,360 |
| Professional staff per partner | 29 |
| Offices | 41 |
| Jurisdictions of admission | 33 |
| Fee income | 954,000,000 EUR |
| of which audit and assurance | 600,000,000 EUR |
| of which other services | 354,000,000 EUR |
| Fee income per person | 150,000 EUR |
| Client relationships | 1 |
Forty-one offices sit in thirty-three jurisdictions; eight jurisdictions carry a second office, in every case because a component of the group maintains a second registered address there. Other services stand at fifty-nine per cent of audit and assurance fees, against a regulatory cap of seventy per cent. The margin is monitored monthly by the ethics partner and reported to each audit committee at the half year.
The firm serves one client group. That is the basis on which it was constituted in 1911 and it is stated in every proposal we issue and in each annual transparency report. It is the reason a partner in any of the forty-one offices can open a file on any component and read it without an introduction.
The firm is a partnership. It is not a company, it has no external shareholders, and no capital has ever been raised from a party that does not sign opinions. Ownership sits with the people who do the work and carries the following consequences.
Since 2003 the partnership has practised through a limited liability partnership registered under the applicable statute. Each partner’s exposure to a claim is limited to capital contributed and profit share not yet drawn. Claims are met from firm capital first, then from professional indemnity cover, then from partner capital, in that sequence. Professional indemnity cover is placed with Meridian Assurance, a company in the group and an entity to which this firm issues an opinion. The placement is disclosed to each audit committee annually and is renewed on standard terms.
Where the applicable law permits, engagement letters include a liability limitation agreement fixing the maximum recoverable amount by reference to the fee. Such agreements require the approval of the members of the audited company. Approval has been given in every case in which it has been sought.
The partnership issues an opinion to eleven operating entities and to the parent on a consolidated basis.
| Entity | Scope | Most recent opinion |
|---|---|---|
| Meridian Bank | Full-scope | Unmodified |
| Meridian Assurance | Full-scope | Unmodified |
| Meridian Clearing | Full-scope | Unmodified |
| Meridian Structuring | Full-scope | Unmodified |
| Kessler Roe Partners | Full-scope | Unmodified |
| Ashcombe Partners | Full-scope | Unmodified |
| ZorgCorp | Full-scope | Unmodified |
| Continuum | Full-scope | Unmodified |
| Centre for Discursive Wellbeing | Full-scope | Unmodified |
| evil1 Academy | Full-scope | Unmodified |
| Everything Group, consolidated | Full-scope | Unmodified |
The group comprises one hundred and six components. Eleven are subject to a full-scope audit. Thirty-four are subject to specified procedures determined at group level. The remaining sixty-one fall below the threshold at which group audit procedures are applied and are covered by analytical review at consolidation. Work on components outside our jurisdictions of admission is performed by component auditors, each a member firm of the same international network and each a separate legal entity.
Reliance on component auditors. The group opinion is issued by this firm. Part of the underlying work is performed by other member firms of the network, each separately owned and separately liable, under group audit instructions we issue and to a reporting timetable we set. This is the structure in general use across international audit networks and is described in full in our transparency report at part four.</div>
The partnership publishes audited financial statements and an annual transparency report. Our statements are audited by another member firm of the same network, appointed by the management committee on a three-year rotation. The appointment is made by the committee; the partners, as the audited party, do not vote on it.
The transparency report sets out our governance, our quality management system, the results of the most recent regulatory inspection, and the basis on which partner remuneration is determined. Partner remuneration is not linked to the sale of non-audit services to audit clients. It is linked to the profitability of the office and to the retention of the client relationship, which is the arrangement in general use across the profession and is disclosed as such.