BDO Australia confirms cuts to clients and markets team

The accounting firm said it made a handful of redundancies in May in its clients and markets team, but added that it has since made several senior appointments to the team.

Editor’s note: This article first appeared in HR Leader’s sister brand, Accounting Times.

A post by professional services gossip Instagram account The Aussie Corporate stated that “BDO Australia has been tightening budgets and making several waves of quiet redundancies and restructures across multiple departments”.

It said the redundancies largely affected the clients and markets teams.

It added that “there is also a push toward offshoring, many onshore roles quietly disappearing to be replaced by staff from the Philippines”.

Accounting Times reached out to BDO Australia to confirm the veracity of the information, to which the mid-tier accounting firm said a small number of redundancies took place in May 2026 in the clients and markets division.

It also underscored that no roles were moved offshore or to any “alternative delivery modes”.

“BDO made some adjustments to the operating model in its clients and markets function back in May this year,” a spokesman told Accounting Times.

“The changes were designed to strengthen our capabilities and ensure our clients and markets function is positioned to respond to the evolving needs of the firm, our clients, and to ensure we deliver high-quality outcomes.”

The firm said this operating model was finalised in May, and redundancies are not an ongoing process.

It also said that since the redundancies took place, several significant new senior appointments have been made, including a new marketing lead, head of business development, and head of proposal strategy.

BDO Australia made several senior appointments across the firm this year. In September, the firm appointed former KPMG director Daniel Rae as a partner in the firm’s international trade and customs team in its Sydney office.

In August, it welcomed two new partners to its national project and infrastructure advisory practice in its Brisbane and Perth offices. While Scott Edwards was appointed to the firm’s Brisbane office as its new national project and infrastructure advisory partner, Jenelle Forrest was appointed to its Perth office in the same role.

Kylie Meaney joined BDO in July as an accounting advisory partner in the Brisbane office, as organisations face growing pressure from changing accounting standards, sustainability reporting obligations, major infrastructure investment, and heightened scrutiny of financial reporting.

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