Asia-Pacific
• Deloitte China has continued its expansion by
opening its 12th office. The Chongqing office will specialise in
providing a range of tax and financial advisory services to local
companies as well as international clients. It is expected to help
state-owned and privately-owned enterprises in Chongqing and
neighbouring cities execute a government-backed ‘go abroad’
strategy, and assist foreign investors. Chief executive of Deloitte
China Chris Lu said the Chongqing government recently initiated a
series of measures to improve the basic infrastructure and attract
business service agencies to establish their presence in the
city.
“With a GDP growth of 14 percent in 2008,
Chongqing is an engine of development for Western China and we
believe in the near future it will be one of China’s major
industrial and business centres,” Lu said.
Deloitte’s China network covers Beijing,
Chongqing, Dalian, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Hong Kong, Macau, Nanjing
Shanghai, Shenzhen, Suzhou and Tianjin.
• Deloitte Australia tax
services superannuation partner Noelle Kelleher has been appointed
to the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) by Australian senator Nick
Sherry. Kelleher, who has tax and industry expertise, including
assurance, actuarial, regulatory compliance, risk, tax, forensic
and consulting experience, will serve a three-year term on the
council. She is also the former director of a superannuation fund
and a regular presenter on superannuation topics at various forums
and conferences. Sherry said the appointments were to ensure that
the FRC maintained a broad representative base to meet its
statutory responsibilities relating to the oversight of accounting
and auditing standard-setting in Australia.
• Singapore is to fully converge Singapore
Financial Reporting Standards (SFRS) with IFRS for incorporated
companies listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange by 2012.
The country’s Minister of Finance, Tharman
Shanmugaratnam, made the announcement at a KPMG
Singapore IFRS conference recently, adding that Singapore
companies have generally been “IFRS-ready” and “IFRS-compliant” in
a substantive manner for a number of years. Since 2002, Singapore
has embarked on a strategy of closely modelling SFRS on IFRS —
deviating from IFRS only in very specific and exceptional instances
where there are strong reasons backed by economic and business
substance arguments, Shanmugaratnam said. He noted that Singapore
had long been an advocate for single global accounting standards
and the Singapore Accounting Standards Council’s decision to fully
align SFRS with IFRS would further reinforce Singapore’s role as an
international business and financial hub.
• Kreston International has
admitted Australian firm Kennedy & Co as a
member. The admission follows the merger between Kreston’s existing
Adelaide-based member firm PFA Chartered Accountants with Kennedy
& Co at the beginning of 2009. Kennedy and Co, a five-partner
firm with 60 professionals, will join the Kreston Australia and New
Zealand Group.
• Deloitte Malaysia has
promoted five executives to senior positions in line with its
expansion programme. The promoted executives are: Andrew Lee to
consulting executive director; Daniel Lim to tax executive
director; Lim Keng Peo to audit principal; Steven Lim to enterprise
risk services executive director; and Tan Hoii Beng to tax
executive director.
North America, Latin America
• Morison International has a
new Uruguayan member firm, Veiga Dobrich &
Asociados (VD&A). The addition strengthens Morison
International’s presence in Latin America, where it already has
representatives in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Costa Rica,
Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras and Peru. VD&A is based in
Montevideo, was founded in 1980 and has 25 professionals and five
partners. The firm provides accounting, taxation, auditing, finance
and consultancy services, and is focused on national and
cross-border client opportunities.
• Grant Thornton US has
teamed with software company Anybill to provide clients with
turnkey sales tax compliance outsourcing. The service is to be
provided through Grant Thornton’s national sales tax compliance
centre in Charlotte, North Carolina. It provides clients the option
to pay state sales and use taxes through Anybill’s integrated, on
demand payment and documentation platform for tax returns. The tax
returns will be prepared by Grant Thornton.
“The integration of Anybill payment services
with our compliance centre offers clients a secure, comprehensive
and seamless alternative for coping with monthly sales tax
compliance,” commented Brian Murphy, managing partner of Grant
Thornton’s state and local tax practice.
• Alvarez & Marsal
(A&M) has appointed Tom Behnke as a senior director in the
firm’s claims management services group. Behnke is an expert in
assisting debtors in bankruptcy case administration and claims
management. He has more than 20 years of experience and has worked
on a number of high-profile restructuring engagements, including
Dow Corning Corporation, Delphi Corporation, Enron Corp and Circuit
City. Behnke, who will be based in Houston, also brings financial
consulting and litigation support experience. His expertise spans
the automotive, retail, manufacturing, oil and gas, real estate,
health care and financial services sectors.
• Former PricewaterhouseCoopers
US partner Melissa Glynn has joined the Alvarez &
Marsal (A&M) public sector group. She will spearhead the firm’s
federal advisory practice in Washington DC.
“As taxpayers demand more accountability for
government spending, federal agencies are in need of better ways to
reduce costs and improve operations,” A&M public sector group
co-head Bill Roberti said. “Melissa brings extensive client
experience, having worked with top federal agencies as well as
major universities, health care and financial organisations.”
At PwC, Glynn played a role in developing the
federal advisory practice and served as the national engagement
partner for services to the Department of Veterans Affairs.
• Grant Thornton US has
appointed Brad Preber as managing partner of its Phoenix and
Albuquerque offices. He will be responsible for managing the
overall operations, client relations and growth of both offices.
Preber, who has more than 25 years of experience in the accounting
industry, will maintain his roles as the firm’s national partner in
charge of litigation consulting services and the West Region
partner in charge of the forensic accounting and investigative
services practices. Preber succeeds Ed O’Brien, who is transferring
to Texas to head the firm’s Dallas office.
• Ted Telford has been appointed national
credits and incentives (C&I) practice senior manager at
Grant Thornton US. He will be based in the firm’s
Denver office. The C&I practice provides a wide range of
traditional corporate real estate services, including portfolio
planning, facilities strategic plan development and site selection
for new or consolidating operations. Telford will assist clients in
identifying and maximising tax credit and other incentives
opportunities.
• The world’s largest accountancy firm has
revealed it has more than 1,000 women partners, principals and
directors. Deloitte US described the feat as a
commitment to enhancing the pipeline of women and minority
leaders.
In this year’s International Accounting Bulletin
survey, Deloitte noted it had 2,942 partners in 2008.
Barbara Adachi, the national managing
principal of Deloitte’s Initiative for the Retention and
Advancement of Women (WIN), commented: “It is extremely rewarding
to see the tremendous progress we have made since launching our
Women’s Initiative in 1993.
“Over the past 16 years, we have seen how
having a strong group of female leaders inspires new thinking and
brings about new approaches to business challenges, which in return
enables us to provide the best possible solutions to our clients’
problems.”
Deloitte has increased the number of female
partners, principals and directors from 97 back in 1993 to more
than 1,000 today. The firm said this is due to a variety of
training, mentoring, coaching and succession-planning
programmes.
Europe
• Graham Jung has been appointed director of
KPMG UK’s investment advisory practice. Jung has
more than 20 years of experience in the UK pensions and investment
industry. In his new role he will be primarily responsible for
providing strategic investment advice to institutional clients.
Jung joins KPMG from Goldman Sachs International, where he spent
eight years in the prime brokerage business, consulting to
institutional and boutique hedge fund managers across Europe and
Asia.
• PricewaterhouseCoopers UK
(PwC) has recruited two former Ernst & Young UK (E&Y) tax
staff. Paul Davies, who was previously head of tax at E&Y, has
been appointed tax industry leader for PwC’s retail and consumer
group. Andrew Dale has been appointed corporate tax partner with
PwC’s international and large corporate team in Birmingham. Dale
was previously a tax account leader for a number of E&Y’s
priority accounts in the international large corporate sector and
was responsible for a number of market and people initiatives.
• PricewaterhouseCoopers
Romania has appointed new assurance and tax partners.
Mihai Anita is an assurance partner specialising in retail, while
Ruxandra Stoian is a tax partner specialising in human resources
services. Anita joined the firm in 1995 and has worked through
changes in the economy and the audit profession, including the
implementation of IFRS. He will lead the assurance retail/fast
moving consumer goods and middle-market private companies services
initiatives. Stoian joined the firm in 1997 and leads the HR
management/reward practice. The HR consultancy business unit has a
strong focus on salary surveys, compensation and benefits advisory,
change management as well strategic HR consulting.
• Mid-tier network Ecovis has
expanded in Greece, admitting a new partner firm with offices in
Thessaloniki and Athens. Ecovis Kosmidis & Partner and Ecovis
Hellas have four partners and offer tax consultancy, accounting and
legal advice services in English and German.
• David Trunkfield has become the new head of
gaming at PricewaterhouseCoopers UK. Trunkfield
has been at the firm for eight years and was previously the leader
of travel and leisure within the firm’s strategy group. At the
firm, he has provided strategic advice, commercial due diligence
and market reviews to a wide range of clients in the gaming sector,
including Gala Coral, Rank, Genting, Sisal and GTECH.
“During my time looking at the industry, the
nature of gambling in Britain has shifted substantially, mainly due
to regulatory changes and an increase in the number of gambling
products available,” Trunkfield said. “The interplay of these
structural changes with the recession has led to gaming companies
facing many challenges.”
Prior to PwC, Trunkfield worked at the COBA
Group, a boutique strategy consultancy.
• JHI International has
appointed new executive committee members to represent the Europe,
Middle East and Africa region. Maxim Alekseyev of member firm ALRUD
Audit Russi is the chairman of the committee. The other members are
Emili Batlle of AddVANTE in Spain, Tony Kelly of Byrne Curtin Kelly
in Ireland, Helmut Lohrmann of Lohrmann Riehle Laetsch Durach &
Kollegen in Germany and Frank Stahl of RP Richter & Partner in
Germany.
• The parent company of Liverpool FC was
warned about its ability to trade as a going concern and has
suffered losses of £42.6 million ($69.3 million).
KPMG, the auditors of Kop Football Holdings, said
the company must refinance its £350 million debt before 24 July.
Kop Football Holdings, owned by US businessmen George Gillett and
Tom Hicks, is attempting to re-negotiate a deal with the Royal Bank
of Scotland. Latest reports suggest the pair is close to
refinancing the loan.
In its audit report, KPMG noted: “The
directors have initiated negotiations to secure the replacement
finance required by the group and these negotiations are ongoing.
These conditions… indicate the existence of a material
uncertainty which may cast significant doubt on the group’s and
parent company’s ability to continue as a going concern.”
The accounts for the year ended July 2008
showed Liverpool made a £10.2 million profit but the parent company
made a substantial loss of £42.6 million, mainly due to interest
payments totalling £36.5 million. The owners have been criticised
by the club’s supporters for saddling the club with debt.
