A meeting in Malta on September 30 has set the ball rolling for the setting up of a network-wide business advisory group for Nexia International, the global network of independent accounting and consulting firms.
Growing businesses are those looking at international markets
Professionals from Luxembourg, Egypt, India, Dubai, Spain, Hungary, Romania, the UK, the US, and Malta attended the meeting, called by local member firm Nexia BT of Swatar. They agreed that the business advisory group’s scope was to develop expertise in specialist areas and industries, to communicate knowledge among Nexia International members, and to identify prospects for collaboration in larger scale projects, Nexia BT’s specialist advisory services director Anita Aloisio told The Sunday Times.
Ms Aloisio said participants were keen to develop a platform to facilitate collaboration between firms, to design a common approach to methodology and deliverables among firms to have a similar ‘look and feel’ to the advisory offerings.
Nexia International is ranked among the world’s top 10 accounting firms and associations, and includes over 20,000 professionals in 590 offices in 105 countries.
The business advisory group currently being shaped aims to boost Nexia International’s service offering and complement its well-established tax and audit groups. The business advisory group concept was originally an idea of Nexia BT partner, tax and international client services, Karl Cini, and Ms Aloisio.
Nexia International’s executive director Kevin Arnold, and Europe, Middle East and Africa regional chairman Mike Bishop encouraged them to pursue the idea.
Service areas included in the business advisory offering are mergers and acquisitions, business valuations, restructuring and reorganisations, business planning, establishment assistance, accounting reporting and support, due diligence, post-acquisition services, forensic accounting, and risk management. Ms Aloisio hopes to have up to 100 specialists from across the Nexia network within a few years.
The meeting participants showcased their firms’ capacity, expertise, and experience, and outlined their expectations of the concept.
Among them was Stephen Drew, London-based director, head of assurance and business services at Smith and Williamson, the UK’s ninth largest accountants firm, who said a business advisory offering would help strengthen Nexia’s visibility and its brand.
“Growing businesses are those looking at international markets,” he stressed. “We need to have a clear understanding of how we can work together and establish a knowledge base within the group. For collaboration to work, good project management is essential. The best projects work because relationships are built, business kicks off more quickly, and better results are achieved.”
Seattle-based Jefforie Kvilhaug, a partner at Larson Allen LLP, named among Accounting Today’s top 20 firms, also emphasised how clients were increasingly examining global markets. He said the business advisory group would benefit from a better understanding of Nexia member firms’ capabilities and, importantly, by identifying what those professionals could and could not do.
Mr Kvilhaug pointed out that the member firms will see more opportunities for multi-dimensional collaboration, particularly through a growing demand for international due diligence engagements.
Shahab Haider of Sajjad Haider and Associates of Dubai stressed the importance of unearthing untapped expertise within the network, especially as there were significant opportunities in consultancy across various regions of the world.
A number of presentations at the meeting focused on cross-border due diligence, cost and regulatory accounting, EU funding, and internal auditing in small states.
“Our discussions will be formalised in a draft concept paper, which will outline the structure for formulating the group,” Ms Aloisio explained at the end of the meeting.
“The concept paper will be presented at the Nexia regional conference in Paris in November. A teleconference for the business advisory group will be held at the event so that the way forward is mapped. So far, we see the group as taking the form of an executive committee or a collection of sub-working groups.”