Deloitte reports FY2020 revenues;  steps up climate commitments

New York, NY 15 September 2020—Deloitte today reported aggregate global revenue of US$47.6 billion for the fiscal year ending 31 May 2020 (FY2020), a 5.5 percent increase in local currency* and 3.9 percent increase in US dollars. In the first nine months of FY2020, prior to the effects of the pandemic and global slowdown, the aggregate growth rate was 8.9 percent in local currency and 7.5 percent in US dollars, with all Deloitte businesses and regions experiencing growth.

“FY2020 has been a tale of two halves. In the first part of the year, we were serving our clients, people, and communities as normal, then the COVID-19 pandemic struck, bringing with it a level of global disruption we’ve rarely seen in our 175-year history,” said Punit Renjen, Deloitte Global CEO. “Our number one priority has remained the health and safety of our people. From the beginning, we adopted a ‘people-first’ approach recognizing that we all needed flexibility and support to adjust to the new normal. Amidst a tragedy that has affected millions, we continue to focus on our professionals’ mental and physical wellbeing as well as addressing the pandemic’s profound impact on our clients and communities.”

Deloitte’s actions have been guided by our resilient leadership framework – Respond, Recover, and Thrive. Looking ahead to FY2021, Deloitte’s commitment to building a better future means preparing clients to navigate further disruption while we contribute to a society that is more sustainable and equitable for all.

Respond: As the pandemic spread worldwide precipitating a global lockdown, Deloitte prioritized safety and business continuity, while supporting communities in need

Supporting employees and clients

Almost overnight, we virtualized the business to prioritize employee safety and continuous business operations. We leveraged our expertise with flexible working solutions by adopting technologies that enabled seamless virtual collaboration, and we adjusted schedules to accommodate team member, client, and family obligations. We also accelerated the rollout of a personalized virtual learning platform, which enabled the rapid transition from in-person to online learning experiences. This new digital learning platform provides our professionals with access to skills training and the latest business and industry knowledge.

At the same time, Deloitte quickly mobilized to support clients in responding to the pandemic’s myriad challenges, providing guidance related to supply chain risks and disruption, workforce strategies, business continuity and financial management as well as technology and digital solutions.

Supporting communities

Activating the capabilities of our people across our global footprint, Deloitte took a multi-pronged approach to addressing the needs of communities impacted by the pandemic, contributing nearly US$20 million in donations and employee time. We provided in-kind donations of laptops and electronics for virtual learning to support millions of students globally as well as airline credits and personal protective equipment for health care workers.

Deloitte people also provided nearly 60,000 pro bono hours of their skills and expertise to communities in need. Such solutions included 3D-printed medical supplies in Spain, a crowdsourcing app to provide frontline workers with grocery deliveries in Canada, and an initiative to deliver 250,000 meals in India to those experiencing food scarcity during the lockdown.   

Recover: As the world reopens, Deloitte is helping clients develop a solid foundation for the post-COVID-19 future

The ongoing health and economic crises present challenges for businesses: from safeguarding workers to ensuring business continuity, financing, liquidity, and customer engagement to expanding digital capabilities. As the world reopens, Deloitte is guiding businesses through this journey and, continuing to deliver the quality, breadth and depth of services and expertise enabled by our multidisciplinary services model.

Business insights:

• Audit & Assurance responded quickly and effectively to the challenges posed by COVID-19 to ensure the continued delivery of consistent, high quality audits. This was enabled by Deloitte’s cloud-first technology strategy and innovative collaboration tools to transition seamlessly to virtual auditing around the globe. We are committed to maintaining our critical public interest role within the financial ecosystem, informing organizations and stakeholders with objective audits and disclosures. Assurance services continue to grow, helping clients to navigate the financial, regulatory, and operational realities of COVID-19. Audit & Assurance grew 2.6 percent.
• Consulting delivered technology-enabled targeted solutions to help clients respond to and recover quickly from challenges such as the virtual workplace, disrupted supply chains, and dramatically shifting customer needs. Enhanced by a broad ecosystem of alliances with industry leaders such as Adobe, Alibaba Cloud, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Dell Technologies, Google Cloud, IBM, Informatica, Oracle, Salesforce, SAP, ServiceNow, and Workday, Consulting expanded its footprint globally in digital, cloud transformation, AI and machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT), and intelligent automation. Deloitte’s Consulting practice continues to build for the future, making targeted acquisitions and developing new capabilities to empower clients across all sectors to recover and thrive in the post-COVID landscape. Consulting grew 7.1 percent.
• Financial Advisory mobilized our Distressed Market Offering, advising clients through the respond and recover phases of the pandemic and beyond, driving offensive and defensive M&A strategies to help clients emerge stronger from the crisis. The Forensic practice helped companies and governments build stakeholder trust and combat the trillions of dollars of damage wrought by fraud, economic waste, and financial crime. The Infrastructure & Capital Projects and Economics practices made a significant public impact by supporting governments’ responses to COVID-19, including green energy transformation, climate, and sustainability projects. Financial Advisory grew 3.0 percent.
• Risk Advisory supported clients through new risk management challenges in digital transformation, reputation management, customer engagement, and the supply chain. In response to an exponential increase in cyber threats emerging from the virtual workplace, the Cyber practice advised clients on potential threats, so that employees could work from home and collaborate safely online and businesses could transform and transact with confidence. As clients increasingly looked to guide their businesses towards a more sustainable future, we supported the transformation needed to meet new regulatory mandates. Looking forward, Risk Advisory remains committed to helping clients build trust, resilience, and security, building responsible businesses that can sustain and thrive in an increasingly unpredictable world. Risk Advisory grew 5.6 percent.

• Tax & Legal rapidly pivoted to help clients address the increased complexity and shifts in their businesses caused by the COVID-19 crisis. Demand accelerated for digital solutions, particularly cloud-based ERP systems, and for advice on how to organize and operate tax and legal departments. The significant challenge of adapting to remote working has increased demand for co-sourcing and outsourcing, as well as shifted buyer preferences to a smaller number of preferred service providers. Demand also increased for employment advisory assistance, as well as corporate and supply chain reorganization and rationalization. Looking ahead, as governments work to stabilize economies, Deloitte will support clients in navigating the various reliefs, credits, and incentives programs while helping them stay vigilant around ongoing major tax reform initiatives and unilateral measures such as digital services taxes. Tax & Legal grew 6.5 percent.

Thrive: Looking to the future, Deloitte is committed to creating a more equitable and just world in the wake of the pandemic

With the uncertainty of the COVID-19 crisis as well as other major societal challenges stemming from systemic racial injustice, social inequality, climate change, and economic disruption, the pathway to “thrive” is likely to be more arduous and lengthier than many originally envisioned. Creating a better normal will require re-establishing trust in the institutions and systems that form the basis of civil societies and delivering positive societal change.

Respect and inclusion

Deloitte is addressing systemic racism and injustice by redoubling our efforts to advance respect and inclusion. By deliberately focusing on everyday behaviors, we strive to maintain a culture where all of our people feel included and respected, and where diversity is embraced in all its forms. This commitment also includes working towards gender parity throughout the career lifecycle; advancing LGBT+ inclusion and allyship; and expanding mental health resources to support our people in normal and extraordinary times.

Climate change

Deloitte believes that urgent and immediate action is needed to reach the goals of the Paris Agreement. To expand our commitments, we developed two additional programs that seek to drive responsible climate choices within and beyond our organization. The two pillars of our climate strategy include:

First, through a global, strategic service offering, we will provide an expanded suite of professional services and insights to help clients respond and adapt to the challenge of climate change across their business value chain. We are developing the tools, models, and insights that will empower our clients to think and act differently: from the formulation of strategy to operational decision making to disclosure reporting requirements. We want to help our clients contribute to a better society and give them the right tools to avoid the high risks associated with inaction.

Second, through WorldClimate, we are committing to achieving net-zero emissions by 2030, “operating green,” and extending our impact beyond Deloitte. Through WorldClimate, we will focus on four elements:

• Net-zero by 2030: We commit to achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 for our own operations, ahead of the 2050 timeframe set by the Paris Agreement. Specific goals include reducing business travel; sourcing 100 percent renewable energy for our buildings; converting 100 percent of our fleet to hybrid and electric vehicles; and engaging with our major suppliers to adopt science-based targets. We will invest in market solutions for emissions we cannot eliminate.
• Operating green: We will align our climate policies, practices, and actions across our organization by designating a senior leader to be responsible for climate in each geography; prioritizing discussion of climate change on executive agendas; and embedding climate-smart considerations into decisions on office operations, real estate, and investments.
• Empowering individuals: By engaging and educating our employees on climate change impacts – decisions about what they consume, use, and buy – we will enable our people to make positive climate choices at home and at work, with the aim that they will thus amplify their learnings through their personal networks.
• Engaging ecosystems: We will collaborate with clients, alliance partners, NGOs, industry groups, suppliers, and others to address climate change at a systems and operations level.

“Mitigating the impacts of climate change is a monumental task. Yet, we know progress is possible if we act collectively,” says Renjen. “While it is essential that everyone – from governments to NGOs to individuals – act to protect our planet, we believe businesses, including Deloitte, can play a key role by addressing our own operations, innovating new solutions to old ways of doing business, and influencing and assisting others to act.”

WorldClass

In FY2020, Deloitte expanded the reach and impact of WorldClass, our global societal impact initiative. Through WorldClass, our people are giving their time – now virtually in most cases – to help develop job skills, improve educational outcomes, and expand opportunities with the goal of reaching 50 million people worldwide by 2030. This year, we invested US$265 million in local communities around the world. Through WorldClass initiatives, we reached 7.1 million individuals in FY2020 for a total of 11.7 million since launching the program three years ago.

WorldClass initiatives include the development of a scholarship program in Mexico in under-served areas to help teenagers earn a college education; a program in the UK to help bridge the digital skills gap in collaboration with Ada; and the RightStep initiative in the US to help students overcome the obstacles they face on their path to college readiness.

“At Deloitte, we’re committed to applying what we’ve learned—throughout our history and especially during the pandemic—to meet this moment and help our people, clients, and communities emerge from it even more resilient,” says Renjen. “We want to reimagine and create a better world—one where organizations are flexible and prepared for the next crisis; where people and technology bring out the best in each other; where alliances are built to solve problems; and where organizations are trusted.”

To learn more about Deloitte’s societal impact and FY2020 performance, please read our 2020 Global Impact Report.

*5.5% total revenue growth is based on continuing operations. Revenues from businesses sold in FY2019 have been excluded from FY2019 numbers, which have been adjusted from the figure published in September 2019. Without this adjustment, FY2020 total revenue growth, in local currency, is 4.7%. 

Note: All growth rates presented in this press release are in local currency terms unless otherwise specified.

About the Deloitte societal-impact commitment

Deloitte’s purpose, to make an impact that matters, compels us to act on the increasingly complex challenges society faces today. We are committed to responsible business practices, serving the public interest and working to create a better, more sustainable world for people, our clients and the planet.

Through WorldClass we aim to develop job skills, improve educational outcomes and expand opportunities for 50 million people worldwide by 2030. Our WorldClimate strategy sets out our approach to achieve net-zero emissions by 2030 and engage our professionals and collaborate with our clients to address the climate crisis. Our ALL IN diversity, equity and inclusion strategy supports a culture where all Deloitte people have equal opportunities to grow, develop and succeed.

Learn more about our commitments here.