In 1973, the organisation adopted the name BDO, made up from the initials of the three founding firms: Binder (UK), Dijker (Netherlands) and Otte (Germany).

[4] Established in 1975, BDO Australia has offices in Brisbane, Cairns, Sunshine Coast, Sydney, Melbourne, Hobart, Adelaide, Perth and Darwin.

While starting as an association of independently owned accounting firms, BDO Australia has since undergone several significant mergers that include: In mid 2024, BDO established an office in Canberra, the capital of Australia, for its federal government advisory sector.

Founded by James M. Dunwoody (affectionately known as "The Colonel" by BDO's employees) it opened its first location in the 1920s in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

By the early 2000s, Dunwoody and BDO Ward Mallette, a firm based out of Toronto, had merged.

The company has merged a number of times, including a merger announced in October 2009 with the accounting firm of Hudson LLP.

The rebrand, which included design, messaging, all of the separate global websites, marketing collateral and trickle-down implementation across the 110 country network took just over five months.

[8] The intention was to create a global consistency, so that the BDO network could be presented as a single entity.

[11] On July 10, 2019, former BDO Puerto Rico president Fernando Scherrer was indicted on federal charges related to the redirection of over $15 million in federal education funds, alongside former Puerto Rico Secretary of Education Julia Keleher and others.

[16] BDO Stoy Hayward was criticised in their role as administrators for the collapsed Christmas hamper savings company Farepak.

[17] BDO Stoy Hayward used an 0870 premium rate phone service to provide information for victims of Farepak's collapse in 2006.

[18] In September 2008, Andrew Caldwell, valuations partner at BDO Stoy Hayward, was appointed independent valuer for the stricken mortgage bank, Northern Rock plc.