Susan Smith, Staff Reporter
HANDA
THE KPMG CARICOM partnership set up six months ago is already paying off for its partners around the Caribbean said integration partner for KPMG CARICOM, Tarun Handa.
KPMG chartered accounting firms around the Caribbean united six months ago to create the new entity, KPMG CARICOM.
The entity is chaired by Raphael Gordon, senior partner of the Jamaican firm, and is a legal framework which links all the KPMG offices in the Caribbean to provide coordinated audit, tax and advisory services across the region.
KPMG CARICOM was formed to improve the quality on policies, processes and procedures for its customers internationally, explained Mr. Handa.
"It has already added the competitive edge and has increased our visibility within the last six months even within the wider umbrella of KPMG," said Mr. Handa. "A medium-size firm like KPMG CARICOM can offer more to its clients and staff."
Mr. Handa told the Financial Gleaner that the partnership came about as a result of dual pressure. First, he said it was a global initiative from KPMG international which is promoting globalisation and regionalisation.
Second, he said the partnership was influenced by the fact that the Caribbean is doing more cross-border investments and listings.
"Our people are demanding that we have the infrastructure to give them mobility," said Mr. Handa. "If I were stuck to Jamaica, I could not do that. A small firm like that in Jamaica does not have a lot of clout," he added.
COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
Mr. Handa spoke of KPMG attracting several new businesses within and outside of the region as a result of the new structure. "When we are a bigger player, we can attract the attention of big players," he said.
"I have the services of someone in Canada which we would not have if we had not done all of this today," he explained.
"If someone wants a KPMG representative in St. Vincent, I can get someone there in 48 hours," he went on, speaking of the flexibility in service that the new entity provides.
He said, before, if KPMG wanted to send somebody to another island it would pose some restrictions.
Mr. Handa said his competitors have not yet got to this level of integration in the region. "Our focus is to be the best."
OPERATIONS
"KPMG is a global network of firms," said Mr. Handa. "The firms still remain resident firms. We have not set up an office, we've just grown the offices."
KMPG CARICOM operates as a joint venture because, according to Mr. Handa, one or two partner firms cannot maintain the quality of the infrastructure demanded internationally.
The entity has created a partnership of 25 offices in the Caribbean, seven of which will be leveraged by Mr. Handa.
CARICOM is still fine-tuning its harmonisation laws on business and labour issues, but Mr. Handa said KPMG will continue to work with the laws of the land until these change.
"That is going to take some time. We localise to meet what is required locally to create cross-border opportunities," he said.
At present the companies make presentations for other partners and cross-bill each other. He also highlighted that KMPG has its own conflict resolution policies set up, but that partners are counted as friends.
KPMG has 25 partners and over 300 staff members in the Caribbean operating in Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean (EC). The EC country members include Antigua and Barbuda, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
The auditing company's major competitors include PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte and Touche and Ernst and Young.
