BF Borgers dominates 2021 SEC client rankings

Having dominated the quarterly lists of new Securities and Exchange Commission audit engagements for much of 2021, BF Borgers topped the rankings for the whole year, even as the total number of overall new engagements — and client departures — rebounded from several years of declines.

The Lakewood, Colorado-based auditor brought on 39 new SEC clients and netted 25 (see “Net engagement leaders”). Top 10 Firm Grant Thornton came in second, onboarding 29 clients and netting 18, while Big Four firm Deloitte actually added more new clients, with 33, but netted 13.

The 550 new engagements signed in 2021 marked a departure from a declining trend: The number had dropped from 608 in 2017 to a lower of 505 in 2020. Client departures also rebounded — and for the first time far outpaced new clients, driven by an unusual exodus of 110 clients from Top 100 Firm Marcum, which was prohibited in late 2020 by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board from auditing clients in China for three years. (See “Client gains & losses.”)

M&A played less of a role in new engagements than it has in the past, though it was not entirely absent: Nine out of California-based Top 100 Firm Macias Gini & O’Connell’s 12 new clients came aboard from its January 2021 merger with Irvine, California-based Hall & Co., while Baker Tilly added four new clients thanks to its November merger with Boston’s Moody Famiglietti & Andronico.

New engagements by type of filer were mixed; BF Borgers took the lead among smaller reporting companies, while Grant Thornton and Deloitte traded first and second place between accelerated and large accelerated filers. Singapore based Audit Alliance brought on the most non-accelerated filers. (See “Audit leaders.”)

Deloitte topped all the league tables for new market capitalization audited, new assets audited, with engineering conglomerate General Electric, which accounted for $92.5 of the Big Four firm’s new market cap, $79.62 billion of its new assets, and $61.6 million in audit fees. To give a sense of GE’s contribution, Deloitte’s next-biggest client — clinical lab network Laboratory Corp. of America Holdings — added $19.69 billion in market cap, $13.98 billion in assets, and $3.7 million in audit fees. (See “New client leaders.”)

PwC came second in new market cap audited, with its largest single chunk -- $14.38 billion out of a total $26.01billion — coming from transportation and logistics company J.B. Hunt Transport Services.

Ernst & Young took second in new assets, with insurer American Equity Investment Life Holding accounting for the biggest chunk by far, with $71.39 billion out of total $109.18 billion.

Thanks to its large number of new engagements, Grant Thornton came second in new audit fees; most of its new clients’ fees were $2 million or below, but restaurant equipment maker Welbilt Inc. stood out with $4.69 million in fees.

Data for the rankings are provided by Audit Analytics, a premium online intelligence service delivering audit, regulatory and disclosure analysis. Reach them at (508) 476-7007, info@auditanalytics.com or www.auditanalytics.com.