Boardroom Insight

Consulting Sector News and Trends

BDO UK adds M&A executive Ben Dawson to its director roster

The UK affiliate of BDO has appointed Ben Dawson, a financial executive with extensive mergers and acquisitions experience, to the role of director.

Dawson will  work at the firm’s M&A advisory division.

According to the executive’s LinkedIn profile, his responsibilities at BDO UK will include advising companies and their shareholders on acquisitions. Dawson is also set to assist clients with capital raises. 

Another focus of Dawson’s role at BDO UK will be value creation. That’s the accounting industry phrase for working with investors to increase the value of a company they’ve purchased so it can be sold at a higher price later on.

Dawson brings more than 20 years of experience to his new job at BDO UK.

The executive joined the firm after a brief stint at software vendor Ideagen, which makes applications that firms use for activities such as managing internal documents. He earlier held a consultant position at M&A advisory firm Echelon Corporate Finance.

Dawson has worked on both the buy and sell side of M&A deals.

On the sell side, Dawson has assisted management teams with planning exits and improving internal accounting workflows. The executive’s buy-side job history, in turn, includes a past stint as an investment banker focused on backing small and medium-sized enterprises.

Dawson started his consulting career at BDO rival KPMG. He also worked at another Big Four accounting firm, Deloitte, before moving on to more senior roles in the financial world.

Dawson’s appointment follows a major hiring spree at BDO UK. The firm onboarded about 1,000 new employees last year, a growth sprint that was made possible by a significant increase in fee revenue from client projects.

BDO UK’s advisory business, the division where Dawson and other members of the firm’s M&A advisory team work, posted a 10% revenue increase in 2021. Overall revenues rose 11% to  £809 million pounds. 

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