BDO History

BDO was founded in 1963 when firms from the UK, Netherlands, Germany, US and Canada joined forces to share and expand their knowledge and to support cross-national operations and customers. These firms formed the Binder Seidman International Group. In 1973, the British, German and Dutch member firms adopted a common name whose acronym has endured for the entire global network. That name was: Binder Hamlyn (UK), Dijker & Co (Holland), Otte & Co (Germany). Literally, BDO stands for Binder Dijker Otte.

In 1988, we established a worldwide structure and the BDO acronym was placed before each local member firm’s name. This, together with the introduction of a new logo and a consistent global brand, clearly demonstrated that the local expertise of our member firms was combined with the international expertise and strength of our international network.

Since then, our network has continued to transform in response to client needs, culminating in the change of our name in 2009 to simply BDO. Our move to a single global trading name demonstrates our commitment to service our clients and to compete successfully in our market on a multinational basis.

Stake on the local experience of BDO partner firms and their geographical proximity to customers is part of the BDO global strategy. Membership of each member-firm in the global network is a guarantee that the services provided comply to the high standards of BDO. BDO member-firms are active in all regions of the world, and the close cooperation among them made it possible to create a common strategy of the BDO, that is targeted at meeting the customer needs.