Christian Jensby, CEO & Partner
A learning experience for life
Up, up, up. Throughout the 2022-2023 financial year, it sometimes seemed like this was the only direction things were heading. Inflation, and in turn interest rates, skyrocketing. Energy prices soaring. Global temperatures rising alarmingly, leading to long heatwaves and raging wildfires. And on top of all this, growing geopolitical uncertainty and mounting tensions.
All of these factors contributed to a general sense of permacrisis, reflected in a degree of reticence and reluctancy in the market. But despite the challenges in our markets, Deloitte Denmark was able to navigate safely through the troubled waters, and we have secured both solid growth, good financial results and, most importantly, we have strengthened our capabilities across the five business areas. This is, of course, important, but when I look back over the year, I find myself particularly proud of the way our people’s ambition and attitude ensured we collectively achieved so much more than simply getting through times of uncertainty. We delivered more than expected, and this report is a testament to the impact we made – together.
Highlights from the business
Highlights from the business
Deloitte remains the largest professional services firm globally with more than 457,000 employees and revenue of USD 64,9 billion. This year, the Big Four business model was debated anew after one of our competitors announced plans to split their business. Although their plan was eventually dropped, this debate remains an important one. Independence between audit and advisory is absolutely key to uphold our trust, but we do believe that the benefits of an integrated firm outweigh the challenges. And we believe that the complexity that our clients are facing requires a diverse set of capabilities. Our global reach in combination with our unique multidisciplinary model caters for exactly that.
To match the complexity our clients are facing, we need to bring the best of Deloitte to our local market in a seamless and consistent way. Therefore, we are accelerating the integration across geographies. For seven years, we have been integrating into the Nordic member firm, and we are driving this forward at pace and at scale, moving towards shared accountability and an integrated business. We continue to strengthen our ties to the global firm. And our partnership with Deloitte North South Europe, encompassing member firms from 28 nations across Europe and the Middle East, spanning Reykjavik to Riyadh, allows us to transform at scale and at pace.
As this report shows, over the last financial year we achieved 12 per cent growth, resulting in revenue of DKK 4,963 million (approx. 666 million Euro). The numbers are one side of the story, but growth is not a measure of success in and of itself. Our purpose drives the work we do – and we live this purpose in our actions and engagements, creating an impact that matters for our clients, our people, and the society of which we are a part. We are proud to work with such a diverse range of clients, across industries, spanning the business community and public institutions alike.
Our brand position has never been stronger, and we are market leading in several areas of offerings – a testament to the work of our talents and an achievement to be proud of. We continue to be seen as an attractive employer – amongst the top 5 preferred employers of business students; number one for audit – and this year we onboarded 832 new talents to Deloitte Denmark.
Enter next generation
Many of these talents are young people – over half of the new talents we onboarded, in fact, were new graduates. And whilst the young generation are often talked about – in the media, in workplaces, by politicians – I worry, however, that society today is not always good enough at inviting young people into these conversations. Not good enough at giving them the chance and the space to speak their own minds. And, as we see in Deloitte, with so many talented young colleagues, this is a missed opportunity – not least when we consider that Generation Z are the leaders and decision-makers of tomorrow.
We can’t ignore the fact that an increasing number of young people feel overwhelmed, stressed, and anxious. This is a situation everyone in society needs to work together to get a grip on – not least because our young people, as I witness every day, bring innovation, new ways of thinking, fresh perspectives, and a social-minded ambition which strengthens our society immeasurably.
In the midst of ongoing debates about young people’s mental wellbeing, we launched surveys with new insights on Generation Z, Millennials, and youth in educational institutions. Our approach was and continues to be a constructive one: highlighting the potential to be realised; challenging biased assumptions. And, on top of this, our latest Small Great Nation report – The young generation: from school, screens and stress to the hope of the future – offered a fact-based analysis of young people’s wellbeing, alongside practical recommendations to turn the tide on an alarming trend.
Deloitte wants to include young talents even more, and our aim is to become the number one talent development firm in Denmark. We have a unique opportunity here – and, I believe, a responsibility to lead the way – as, when many of our talents join us, they are taking their first steps in the labour market.
Of course, we are a diverse firm, and this will be reflected in our efforts: our goal is to create a learning experience for life for talents at all levels and ages. We elevated our efforts this year – recognising the responsibility we have to develop unique talents while they are with us. A key concept which will underpin the work we do in this area, both now and moving forward, is psychological safety. We want our people to feel
seen, heard, and respected: to be safe in the knowledge that, with us, they are playing on home turf. And we are rethinking our role in the ecosystem of education and work more broadly.
As such, we are already sketching out plans for the establishment of our very own school of business. But we won’t stop here. Deloitte isn’t an island, but a part of society. We have a responsibility to collaborate – which is why, at my first Town Hall as CEO, I invited Nikolaj Malchow-Møller, President of CBS, Camilla Kruse, People and Purpose Leader at Deloitte, and David Johannes Treschow Ellebye, President of CBS Students, to discuss precisely how we can work together on lifelong learning.
And, just as importantly, we also have a responsibility to step forward constructively – which is what we did when I spoke at the Danish Parliament regarding plans to shorten the length of master’s degrees in Denmark. Deloitte welcomes over 400 new graduates each year – and we, as a firm, struggle to see how shortening study programmes won’t lead to a subsequent decrease in competencies amongst graduates.
As a nation whose prosperity depends on knowledge and innovation, Denmark can’t afford to fall behind on this front. And as a leading professional services firm, we need to commit ourselves to lifelong learning.
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An ESG career to unfold
When global leaders and decision makers met for the World Economic Forum in Davos, Deloitte published a report looking at the way climate change is affecting decisions and strategies implemented at the CxO level. We are at a tipping point in history, and Deloitte is taking action through our WorldClimate programme – our transformation to become a sustainable firm, with science-led targets for reducing our carbon footprint.
Throughout the year, climate issues, ESG, and sustainability were top of mind with clients and in our own organisation. Today, we have more than 80 talents dedicated to sustainability in a multidisciplinary team providing a seamless service to our clients whether they are getting started with ESG, need help with data and documentation to comply with new regulation, or want to adjust their entire strategy.
In audit as well as in advisory, ESG is now the prism through which we are viewing all our activities and services. ESG has quickly developed from being seen as an add-on to being rightly recognised as a given – a core and constituent part of how business behaves. This profoundly affects not just the way we work, but also the way we attract and retain talents.
Committed to diversity and inclusion
Creating a level playing field is crucial for us – so as to ensure that our diverse talents feel included and respected at all levels within Deloitte. We are not yet where we want to be; particularly when it comes to senior leadership and partner roles, we are some way from achieving truly diverse representation. But we are making progress. In the recent promotion of new partners, 30 per cent were women, and we now have 17 per cent female partners in total and 35 per cent female directors and senior managers. There’s work to be done here, and we want to lead the way.
Sustainability is a key part of the work we do – but it is also something we work constantly to embed within our own organisation. There are diverse elements to sustainability, and one aspect we have been focusing on concerns fostering sustainable lives for our people, through flexibility, our work culture, diversity, equity, and inclusion.
We are steadily moving the needle, and I am proud to see that our efforts are starting to pay off. After launching equal opportunities for fathers, mothers, and co-parents to take 24 weeks of paid leave with their children, our male Deloitte talents are now taking six weeks more parental leave than before. This is a win-win: for families, for children, for parents, and for equality.
The work we do to break down structural barriers to equality isn’t limited solely to the benefit of our people. In the year that has passed, we have entered into diverse partnerships to progress this work. One example is our support to female investors through Nordic Female Founders; another is the partnership with EQUALIS which gave rise to the Diversity Barometer, a tool monitoring work-related gender gaps on an annual basis. The latter, in fact, won an Impact Award in our European firm – testament to the way our people bring our purpose to life, and gain plaudits amongst the work of some over 50,000 talents across 28 countries.
A new era has begun
A development that rapidly changed the world in this financial year was the breakthrough and adoption of generative AI. We are currently in the dawn of what this technology will be capable of, but there’s no denying that it will fundamentally transform how we live and work.
We are on the cusp of a technological revolution – and it fills me with equal parts pride and excitement to know that we will be at the forefront when it comes to bringing this about: building on our strong legacy in tech, we have the people, the partners, and the passion to cut through the noise.
I am excited to see where this quantum leap will take us, and how we can use it to build a better future. We should remain wary, however, of potential issues it may bring. Transparency may be challenged when algorithms operate opaquely inside black boxes. And trust is at risk when it becomes impossible to distinguish facts from fakes.
As guardians of public trust, the task facing us in this emerging era – insisting on the value of building trust with our clients and alliance partners – therefore takes on an ever-greater urgency and importance alongside ensuring high quality in everything we deliver. Ensuring the highest quality of audits – work we pride ourselves on – is integral to instilling trust. And it is our people who are key to keeping trust and quality levels high.
So what better way to introduce this report than by emphasising, again, just how important our people are. No matter how appealing and mind-blowing new technological advances may be, I continue to be more impressed by what can be achieved by the powerful alchemy of human imagination and ingenuity, collaboration and co-creation.
As I step into the role of CEO, I am humbled and proud to have the responsibility to lead our firm in these rapidly changing times. The Deloitte culture is unique and long-lasting, and our people – as this publication shows – create a phenomenal impact every day and I am grateful that they decided to be on our team.
Christian Jensby
CEO & Partner
Sections 3, 4, and 5 of this report constitute Deloitte’s statutory sustainability report, report on underrepresented gender, and report of policies for data ethics, cf. Sections 99a, 99b, and 99d of the Danish Financial Statements Act.