Gżira-based audit firm Attard Giglio and Co., currently celebrating its tenth anniversary, on Thursday officially rebranded to Mazars Malta, after joining Europe's fifth-largest audit and business advisory group.

Attard Giglio, with three partners and a staff of 20, has been a correspondent of Mazars since 2002. The local firm was accepted into the Mazars fold following a vote at the annual partners' convention in Rome in December.

Mazars took root in France 70 years ago. The international integrated partnership today has offices in 50 countries and boasts 11,000 professionals - double the staff it had three years ago - providing audit, accountancy, tax, legal and advisory services in a wide range of sectors.

Between 2007 and 2008 alone, Mazars consolidated its presence in South Africa, Brazil and Vietnam and set up offices in Thailand, Botswana, Indonesia, Malaysia and Canada, besides Malta.

Thanks to integrated practices, joint ventures, correspondent agreements, and Praxity (an international alliance of independent firms Mazars established in 2007), the organisation's wider remit serves clients in 75 countries through 25,000 professionals.

Last month, it announced a 16 per cent increase in global fee income for 2007-2008, and a turnover of €745 million. Mazars is the fifth largest auditor of listed companies in many key countries.

Mazars partner Loïc Wallaert, who is personally in charge of monitoring the organisation's European presence, was in Malta this week. He says Attard Giglio's progression from correspondent to member of Mazars stems from the firm's high standards and Malta's financial business attractiveness: membership of the European Union and the Eurozone, legislative framework, language, professional pool, and the increase in banking and insurance groups favouring Malta as a domicile for specific arms of their operations.

Mazars' clients include banks such as BNP Paribas, Natexis, and the French Central Bank, and insurers Axa and April Group. A chartered accountant and certified statutory auditor, Paris-based Wallaert has been involved in the statutory and acquisition audits of food giant Danone, beverage group Pernod Ricard, and car maker PSA Peugeot Citroën.

Some of France's larger captive insurers like Peugeot, Renault and Axeria, have moved some business to Malta, and several others are known to have expressed interest in following suit. Mazars itself showcased the opportunities Malta offers in this field at a recent event in Paris.

"It is imperative for Mazars to be present in Malta, where we see substantial room for growth, so that we will follow our clients," Mr Wallaert told The Sunday Times on Friday.

"Because of our practices, we are looked upon largely as a European organisation in comparison to the bigger Anglo-Saxon groups, and we enjoy a reputation of being an alternative to our competitors."

Two key attributes make Mazars stand apart: its self-imposed transparency and its structure. It is the only global audit and advisory firm to adhere to the same conditions as its listed clients and to publish its accounts. Its books are audited according to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). More importantly, it is not a network but an integrated partnership.

"We share tools across all our business on a global level: staff, technology, resources, property and client base," Mr Wallaert explains, pointing out that some of the bigger names in the audit business are looking into adopting the integrated partnership model.

"We exchange staff between offices and are able to easily source teams on a European level for specific contracts. Mazars was recently entrusted with a considerable due diligence project in Russia and the team was handpicked from across the partnership. In this way, we can put the right resources at the disposal of our clients.

"Some business lines are growing significantly. It is notably the case for business restructuring work which is presently booming. We assign specific teams to financial institutions and we are also currently involved in the evaluation of those institutions' business model. Even in the current climate, we continue to grow. It presents us with a new challenge. It is a time to gain experience and boost expertise."

Mr Wallaert says Mazars' strength lies in its scale, which serves the organisation well, particularly in the current downturn when a speedy reaction to developments is of the essence.

"Because we are small in comparison to the larger players in our industry, we are more reactive," he points out. "I like to think of Mazars as the fastest-moving audit firm: as an integrated partnership, there is less bureaucracy within our ranks, partners network better, and we share dedicated tools like our intranet which serves group purposes, audit software which was developed at group level, litigation expertise, and resources. Like this, we are able to ensure speed and to keep in closer contact with our clients, who know Mazars as a trusted advisor."

To equip staff with the necessary knowledge to rise to the challenges of the industry, Mazars established its own university early last year with three major objectives: "to focus all staff on Mazars' culture, to position Mazars as an excellence-driven player in the market, and to contribute to Mazars' engagement with social issues".

Mazars' people also do fun. Several initiatives are held throughout the year to serve as networking opportunities. One is the 'Mazariades', an international sporting event held in a different host country one weekend a year. According to Mr Wallaert, more than 700 members of staff scramble to attend.