BlackRock, Inc.’s auditor is Deloitte & Touche LLP, which has served as the asset manager’s independent registered public accounting firm continuously since 2002.1BlackRock. BlackRock Inc. Annual Report on Form 10-K for Fiscal Year 2024 Deloitte audits the parent company’s consolidated financial statements and internal controls, the work that appears in BlackRock’s annual 10-K filing with the SEC. It does not audit the thousands of individual investment funds BlackRock manages; those are separate legal entities with their own auditors.
What the Deloitte Audit Covers
Two opinions come out of the engagement each year. The first is on whether BlackRock’s consolidated financial statements fairly present its financial position under U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. For fiscal year 2024, Deloitte issued an unqualified opinion, the cleanest result available, meaning no material issues were found in how BlackRock reported its numbers.1BlackRock. BlackRock Inc. Annual Report on Form 10-K for Fiscal Year 2024
The second opinion is on BlackRock’s internal controls over financial reporting, required under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.2U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Internal Control Over Financial Reporting in Exchange Act Periodic Reports Deloitte evaluates whether BlackRock’s controls are designed and operating well enough to prevent or catch material errors. For a firm whose Aladdin platform processes enormous volumes of transaction and valuation data, testing concentrates on revenue recognition, subsidiary consolidation, and investment pricing.
Individual Funds Have Different Auditors
If you’re looking for who audits an iShares ETF or another BlackRock-managed fund, Deloitte is usually not the answer. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP audits many of BlackRock’s ETF trusts.3Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. Form AP – BlackRock ETF Trust Keeping the corporate audit and the fund audits at different firms prevents any single accounting firm from having unchecked oversight across both the asset manager and the products it sells.
Where the 2024 Audit Was Hardest
Since 2019, PCAOB standards have required auditors to disclose “critical audit matters” — the areas involving especially challenging or subjective judgment on material accounts.4Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. AS 3101 – The Auditor’s Report on an Audit of Financial Statements When the Auditor Expresses an Unqualified Opinion Deloitte flagged two for fiscal year 2024.1BlackRock. BlackRock Inc. Annual Report on Form 10-K for Fiscal Year 2024
The first is the valuation of the Global Infrastructure Partners acquisition, which closed in October 2024. BlackRock recorded roughly $1.8 billion in intangible assets tied to management contracts and an estimated $4.2 billion in contingent consideration. Deloitte had to evaluate management’s assumptions about future revenue, growth rates, and discount rates behind those figures.
The second is impairment testing on indefinite-lived intangible assets, including management contracts, trade names, and licenses acquired through past deals. Deciding whether any of those assets have lost value requires management to project future revenue, operating margins, and discount rates, and Deloitte had to test whether the assumptions were defensible.
Both matters trace to the same underlying feature of BlackRock’s business: enormous intangible value tied to long-term management contracts, valued using judgment calls that reasonable people can disagree about.
What BlackRock Pays Deloitte
For fiscal year 2024, BlackRock paid Deloitte approximately $34.1 million in total fees, disclosed in the 2025 proxy statement:5U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. BlackRock 2025 Proxy Statement
- Audit fees of $24.5 million, covering the consolidated financial statement audit, quarterly 10-Q reviews, statutory audits, SEC document reviews, and the internal controls opinion.
- Audit-related fees of $5.9 million, primarily SSAE No. 18 and ISAE 3402 attestation services, verification of Global Investment Performance Standards compliance, and regulatory assurance work.
- Tax fees of $3.6 million for tax compliance and advisory services from Deloitte’s tax personnel.
- All other fees of $0.1 million for regulatory reviews, technology subscriptions, and translation services.
Those figures exclude an additional $6.7 million tied to auditing GIP-affiliated funds after the October 2024 acquisition; the GIP funds themselves reimburse BlackRock for those costs.5U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. BlackRock 2025 Proxy Statement Audit fees make up roughly 72% of the total. Regulators watch that ratio because a large share of non-audit fees can give an auditor too much financial incentive to keep a client happy on the consulting side. BlackRock’s mix falls within normal bounds for a large financial institution.
How Independence Is Enforced
BlackRock’s Audit Committee has sole authority to hire, pay, and oversee Deloitte. It must consist of at least three independent directors meeting both NYSE independence standards and the SEC’s stricter rules for audit committee members, with at least one qualifying as an “audit committee financial expert.”6BlackRock. BlackRock Inc. Board of Directors Audit Committee Charter The committee pre-approves every service Deloitte performs and annually reviews Deloitte’s quality-control procedures, any investigations involving the firm, and all relationships between Deloitte and BlackRock.
Independence itself is defined by SEC Rule 2-01. Deloitte cannot hold any direct investment in BlackRock. No loans can flow between the two in either direction. And Deloitte is barred from providing a long list of non-audit services that could compromise objectivity, including bookkeeping, financial system design, actuarial work, internal audit outsourcing, management functions, and legal services.7eCFR. 17 CFR 210.2-01 – Qualifications of Accountants The PCAOB enforces overlapping rules, and where the two standards differ, the auditor follows whichever is more restrictive.8Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. Ethics and Independence Rules
Sarbanes-Oxley adds a partner rotation requirement: the lead audit partner cannot serve on the same engagement for more than five consecutive years.9Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 – Section 203 The name of the current engagement partner is public. Under PCAOB Rule 3211, Deloitte must file Form AP identifying the partner leading each BlackRock audit, and those filings are searchable on the PCAOB website.10Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. Form AP, Auditor Reporting of Certain Audit Participants