Mazars Japan has merged its audit operation
with assurance services firm SCS Global. The combination will
enable Mazars to provide statutory audit services to Japanese
listed companies as well as banks and insurance companies.

SCS Global is partnership of Japanese
professionals that help Japanese companies establish abroad,
particularly in Asia where the firm has a wide network of
offices.

Currently both Mazars Thailand and Indonesia
have collaboration agreements with SCS Global and are fully
integrated with the firm.

Mazars will provide SCS Global with
international standards and technical support and both firms will
be able to work together on Mazars’ global audits.

As part of the collaboration, SCS Global will
also now be known as Mazars SCS Global Audit Corporation in
Japan.

Mazars Japan managing partner Bruce Darrington
told the International Accounting Bulletin the merger has
boosted its audit team to 20 people and will bring in estimated
revenue of about ¥162m ($2m) in the year to 31 August 2011.

Darrington said the firm expects to have 30
audit staff by the end of the fiscal year.  

“We will be operating in English, which will
be unique in Japan as everybody normally operates in Japanese. Our
Japanese partners are very international and most of SCS’s
employees and partners are based overseas in countries like
Singapore, which is actually their headquarters,” Darrington
said.

“We think this will be attractive for
cross-border work. Even the Big Four find us useful because when
they are trying to do work in Japan that is part of something
global we are actually quite convenient and we do a lot of work
already for them here but that’s going to be strengthened.”

Darrington said the firm’s business is
primarily foreign companies that work in Japan and Japanese
companies that operate overseas.

“We have an inbound and outbound focus and
that’s where our advantage is going to be,” Darrington said. “It
happens to be where the growth in the Japanese economy is going to
be. There isn’t much growth for Japanese companies in Japan but
there is still overseas where they are setting up factories in
India, China, Vietnam and Thailand. Many of them are now more
overseas than they are in Japan and that’s where we come in.”