BDO Offers New Playbook as Firms Reconsider Partnership Model

EY was poised to be the accounting industry trendsetter as the first firm to splice its consulting business into a standalone company since a wave of restructurings in the early 2000s.

Instead BDO USA P.A., the sixth-largest US accounting firm, is the one blazing a new path for other big players in the industry to consider.

BDO converted its partnership to a professional services corporation on July 1. More than just a name change, the new legal structure could bring a lower tax burden, equity incentives for employees, and streamline governance for a firm that counts more than 800 partners ...