MGMT20144 - BDO Australia: Analyzing Structure, Forces & Decisions

This essay provides a comprehensive business analysis of BDO Australia, a global public accounting and consulting firm. It examines BDO's organizational structure, highlighting its hierarchical nature and the interdependence of its various units. The analysis identifies key internal and external environmental forces impacting BDO's operations, including political changes, economic fluctuations, societal demands, technological advancements, and increased competition. The essay also discusses the risks confronting BDO, such as cyber-attacks and economic instability, and the strategic decisions the firm is taking to enhance performance, including employee training programs and the addition of new financial partners. Furthermore, it emphasizes the crucial functions within the organization, such as HRM, finance, marketing, and research, that contribute to achieving BDO's strategic goals. Desklib offers a wealth of resources, including similar essays and past papers, to support students in their academic pursuits.

BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

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Contents
INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................................................1
Structure of BDO...............................................................................................................................2
Internal and External environmental forces that is impacting their business....................................2
Risks that currently confronts the business.......................................................................................4
Decisions that are taken by the firm to enhance their performance.................................................4
Functions within the business organisation that will assist in achieving its strategy.........................5
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES......................................................................................................................................6
INTRODUCTION
All across the globe, many kinds of changes are taking place in the operations of the
firms as many types of challenges are faced by the firms. It is crucial for the management to
take care of the risks that are posed to the firm in their future operations. Companies have a
defined structure that helps them in bringing smoothness to their work (Durocher, Bujaki &
Brouard, 2016). There are several internal and external environmental forces that are

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influencing the business of the organisations. In order to face the issues that are present in
front of the company management is taking many kinds of decisions so as to improve the
organisational performance. It is also essential that firm makes strategies for achieving their
strategies. BDO Australia is an international network of public accounting, consulting, tax
and business advisory firm that performs professional services under the same name. This
company has around 74000 workers working in 1500 offices in around 162 nations of the
world. It makes this company, fifth largest in the overall industry throughout the world. This
essay highlights the structure of BDO as well as the environmental forces that are affecting
the business of BDO. It also showcases the risks that are present in front of their business as
well as the decisions they are taking for enhancing the organisational performance. Various
functions that help in achieving the strategy are also illustrated in the report.
Structure of BDO
Every firm has their own structure (Jones, 2011). This structure is made according to
the type of work they are doing so as to bring efficiency in their work process. They have a
hierarchal structure from top to down while they have parallel structure between different
units. Every unit has a predefined role but are interdependent on each other. This helps them
in achieving their task in the given time frame. At the top most of the organisation there is
director and chairman of the board. Under them there are various executives and managers in
different cities. In these cities there are unit named natural resources, automotive, corporate
finance, cyber security, forensic services etc. Apart from this it is to be understood that
presently it is having 1340 workers working in around 10 offices. It is also having 168
business partners.
It is crucial for any company to understand the environment it is facing both internal
and external. This helps the company making their strategies for operation. For BDO there
are many forces that are impacting their business.
Internal and External environmental forces that is impacting their business
External forces
There are many political decisions that are changing in various parts of the world. This had
forced the accounting firms like BDO to rethink about their ways of doing business. The rules
and regulations related to the tax have changed especially after the formation of new
governments in a past decade (Horngren, Harrison, Oliver, Best, Fraser & Tan, 2012). To
manage their operation and of their clients is a difficult task.

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Even after the fact that Australia is a developed nation and having higher GDP, it is affected
by economic crisis that is going on in various parts of the world (AFRĂSINEI &
GEORGESCU, 2015). Since BDO is totally having business based on the finance and hence
any changes in the economic condition has a direct impact on the operations of the firm. A
more customised planning is required for both company and their clients.
There are huge amount of changes that are taking place in the society and hence it has
become crucial for the firms to fulfil the demands of their clients (Azim, 2013). More people
are coming under the tax range and larger numbers of smaller firms are demanding for
consultancy regarding their financial status. This has provided higher growth opportunities
for BDO.
Technologies related to accounting and finance has changed. It has become crucial for the
firms to make sure that they have installed best of accounting software. This will help them in
providing better experience to their customers and clients. Company needs to adopt these
technologies and upgrade it continuously so as to remain in the competition.
The competition in the industry has risen at very fast speed this has made it difficult for the
firms to ensure their long term growth (Nwogugu, 2011). In order to make sure that they
tackle competition easily they need to have effective strategies for their different operations.
Internal forces
The demands of the workers have increased especially in Australia (Xu, et al., 2013). This
has made it difficult for the companies to maintain healthy employee relations by fulfilling
their demands in the increasing competition. Recruitment of overseas employees in Australia
has become difficult. This has also created the diversity problem at BDO. It is a serious issue
as fulfilling personalised demands of each and every employee is difficult for every company.
Without giving importance to these factors a higher level of growth cannot be expected. The
most important demand that they need to fulfil is regarding the increasing salary demand of
the workers within Australia (Xu, et al., 2011).
It is also necessary that company prepares their staffs for their future endeavours. Providing
them training as per the individual’s requirement is a difficult task and hence company has to
implement performance analysis system so as to understand the requirements of the each and
every employee (Handley-Schachler, Al-Abiyad & Al-Hadad, 2012).

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Company is thinking about reducing the cost of overall operations. This can be a difficult task
as making cost cuts always results in some or the other type of dissatisfaction. It can be costly
affair for this consulting firm as the employees are their biggest assets.
Since this firm is highly associated with the financial affairs and hence it has become very
essential for the firm to make sure that they have a good ethical laws. This will help in
safeguarding the interests of the stakeholders. Corporate governance has been a critical issue
for BDO Australia.
Risks that currently confronts the business
There are several types of risk that are directly or indirectly affecting the business of
the firms (Azim, 2013). They need to understand all the risk and their impact on their
business.
One of the biggest risks that this firm is facing is of the cyber-attack. It has been seen that
there are cyber-attacks happening in many parts of the world (Brierley & Gwilliam, 2017).
This has raised concern for the accounting firm such as BDO as they have many kinds of data
related to the financial accounts of many clients. Hackers are in search of these data for their
personal benefit.
There is a severe fluctuation in the economic condition of the world (Sikka, 2015). This has
created tension for the firm and their clients because of any decisions regarding the
investments or transaction goes wrong there can be huge losses to the company.
With the increasing tension in many parts of the globe it has become difficult for the global
firm like BDO Australia to have smoothness in their operations. Cited firm has to change
their global strategy as per the changing global political scenarios.
Decisions that are taken by the firm to enhance their performance
There are various kinds of decisions that are taken by the firm so as to make sure that
their performance gets increased.
They have introduced a whole new training program that will help in training their employees
based on the requirements they have (BDO Australia, 2017). This will also help in increasing
the skill set of the employees especially for working on the new technologies (Hurtt, et al.,
2013). This will assist the firm in improving its performance.

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Company has decided to add new financial partners in the business venture. This will help the
firm in the reducing the risk due to financial instability in various parts of the world. This will
help the firm in improving their strategic performance in the market.
This is an important decision that will help the company in meeting the demands of various
types of clients (BDO Australia, 2017). Since different clients wants different business
solution hence having large number of services in their portfolio which will help them in
meeting their demands.
Functions within the business organisation that will assist in achieving its
strategy
There are many functions within the business organisation that will help them in
achieving their strategy.
HRM has a very crucial role in achieving the strategy of BDO since they have a critical
responsibility of training the employees as well as rewarding them for their performance.
They have a crucial role in implementation of strategy and hence achieving it (Lander, Koene
& Linssen, 2013). Training regarding the use of advanced technologies that are used in
auditing and finance needs to be provided to the workers of BDO.
Finance unit has the role of providing funds for achieving different strategies (Hasseldine,
Holland & van der Rijt, 2011). Without the help of financial unit success is hard to be
achieved. They have a crucial role in deciding the ROI which is an essential metric in finding
strategic success. This department’s role becomes significant in the case of BDO as they have
to manage the internal and their client’s financial problems at the same time.
Marketing department has a very essential role in achieving the strategy because they help in
increasing the product sale which is necessary for the growth of the company. Marketing is
always done as per the strategies made by the cited firm (Devos, 2012). Marketing will help
BDO in attracting more number of clients towards their business which will further help the
firm in reaching to the top.
Research department plays a very essential role in the achieving of the strategy. This
functional unit helps the company in doing the market research and understanding the
demands of the consumers based on which they can develop their strategy or make changes
in them. Since the financial up and downs can be noticed in their clients all across the globe
hence BDO also need to do research so as to find innovative solutions for their clients.

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Conclusion
On concluding this essay it can be said that BDO Australia is one of the biggest financial
consultancy firm that helps their consumers in various types of business solutions. A
hierarchal structure is followed by the company. Apart from this there are many internal and
external forces that are impacting the business of the firm. Along with this there are many
types of risks that are confronting their business. They are making several decisions for
improving the performance of the organisation. Apart from this there are several functional
units that help the company in achieving their strategy.
REFERENCES
AFRĂSINEI, M. B., & GEORGESCU, I. E. (2015). Analysis of the Presence in Tax Havens
of the Largest Accounting Firms. Audit Financiar, 13(126).
Azim, M. I. (2013). Independent Auditors Report: Australian Trends From 1996 to
2010. Journal of Modern Accounting and Auditing, 9(3), 356.
Azim, M. I. (2013). Independent Auditors Report: Australian Trends From 1996 to
2010. Journal of Modern Accounting and Auditing, 9(3), 356.

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BDO Australia. (2017) Our people. [Online]. Retrieved from: https://www.bdo.com.au/en-
au/our-people.
BDO Australia. (2017) Publication: Global Risk Landscape 2017. [Online]. Retrieved from:
https://www.bdo.com.au/en-au/insights/advisory/publications/global-risk-landscape-
2017.
Brierley, J. A., & Gwilliam, D. (2017). Human Resource Management Issues in Accounting
and Auditing Firms: A Research Perspective: A Research Perspective. Abingdon:
Routledge.
Devos, K. (2012). The impact of tax professionals upon the compliance behaviour of
Australian individual taxpayers. Revenue Law Journal, 22(1), 31.
Durocher, S., Bujaki, M., & Brouard, F. (2016). Attracting Millennials: Legitimacy
management and bottom-up socialization processes within accounting firms. Critical
perspectives on Accounting, 39, 1-24.
Handley-Schachler, M., Al-Abiyad, S. A., & Al-Hadad, A. A. (2012). Evaluation of the
suitability of international financial reporting standards (IFRSs) for application in
emerging North African countries: A literature review and a research agenda. Journal
of Modern Accounting and Auditing, 8(12), 1773.
Hasseldine, J., Holland, K., & van der Rijt, P. (2011). The market for corporate tax
knowledge. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 22(1), 39-52.
Horngren, C., Harrison, W., Oliver, S., Best, P., Fraser, D., & Tan, R. (2012). Financial
accounting. Melbourne: Pearson Higher Education AU.
Hurtt, R. K., Brown-Liburd, H., Earley, C. E., & Krishnamoorthy, G. (2013). Research on
auditor professional skepticism: Literature synthesis and opportunities for future
research. Auditing: A Journal of Practice & Theory, 32(sp1), 45-97.
Jones, M. (Ed.). (2011). Creative accounting, fraud and international accounting scandals.
New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.
Lander, M. W., Koene, B. A., & Linssen, S. N. (2013). Committed to professionalism:
Organizational responses of mid-tier accounting firms to conflicting institutional
logics. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 38(2), 130-148.

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Nwogugu, M. (2011). Structural Changes, Competition and Financial Stability: Accounting
Firms, Credit Rating Agencies (CRAs) And Allocation Mechanisms.
Sikka, P. (2015). The hand of accounting and accountancy firms in deepening income and
wealth inequalities and the economic crisis: some evidence. Critical Perspectives on
Accounting, 30, 46-62.
Xu, Y., Carson, E., Fargher, N., & Jiang, L. (2013). Responses by Australian auditors to the
global financial crisis. Accounting & Finance, 53(1), 301-338.
Xu, Y., Jiang, A. L., Fargher, N., & Carson, E. (2011). Audit reports in Australia during the
global financial crisis. Australian Accounting Review, 21(1), 22-31.

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