MICHAEL COSTELLO

BDO Ireland

BDO has over 625 partners and staff, generating c.€72m in revenues across offices in Dublin, Limerick, Cork and Belfast. Michael Costello, an audit expert, has been Managing Partner since June 2014.

ACTIVITY We work with clients across a broad range of industry sectors, some of which have been adversely impacted by Covid-19. We have also been working with companies to provide guidance on how to avail of government supports, and advising them on their immediate response and longer-term strategy. We have also seen an increase in activity in our customs and international trade services, largely in response to Brexit. We launched a new venture called Declaron, a customs clearance solution for Irish businesses, a partnership with Fexco.

REMOTE WORKING Communication at all levels has played an important role since the pandemic began. The firm has rolled out and enhanced a range of collaboration tools such as Yammer, Float and MS Whiteboard to maintain a sense of connectivity with each other. We also virtually launched our new ReThink strategy back in October, which received a significant level of engagement and the implementation of which is well underway.

SERVICES From an audit perspective, we adopt a paperless approach that is supported by an integrated software toolkit which complies with international standards on auditing. Right across our business, we have established client portals using the Microsoft Team space to ensure clear communication and maintaining control of team responsibilities.

BUSINESS SUPPORTS The deployment of some loan supports needs to be examined, where the level of complexity for business has resulted in a lower than expected draw-down of those supports. We also need to ensure that those businesses in the worst-affected sectors are sufficiently supported through the next period of transitioning. Past experience tells us that the cycle of business failures usually starts 24 months after an economic shock. Therefore we can probably expect some restructuring and insolvency activity within that time period.

ENTERPRISE We have worked with clients to complete the required paperwork in order to avail of the e-commerce business development supports. We then work with clients to map out opportunities in the year ahead and how they can reposition themselves post lockdown.