Partners at the firm saw their annual payouts drop to £518,000 in 2020, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The partners were paid more than their peers at rival firms EY and KPMG. EY’s partners received £749,000 each, while KPMG partners secured £572,000.

Despite the rise in partner pay, the firm is set to invest heavily in improving audit scores, meaning earnings are likely to decline over the next few years.

BDO, which is the UK’s fifth-largest accountancy firm, has previously scored well in the annual inspections of audit firms carried out by the Financial Reporting Council. However, managing partner Paul Eagland voiced concerns over this year’s results

Of BDo’s audits checked by the watchdog, more than half required some improvement, The Times reports.

Mr Eagland said: “Despite securing some of the highest audit quality scores in recent years, we are disappointed with our 2021 audit quality review results.”

He added that BDO was “actively addressing” the results by “controlling the amount of work we take on”, as well as investing in extra training for staff and on new software and systems.

BDO is set to spend more on IT than maintaining its offices, while the firm is also trying to lure senior partners to the firm from its rivals PwC, KPMG, EY and Deloitte.

Mr Eagland added: “We expect profit per equity partner to drop in the years to come because as we start to invest and bring in more partners, by definition those figures will decrease a little.”