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Address for Corrspondence
Baker Tilly Smoczyński i Partnerzy Sp. z o.o.
Kancelaria Biegłych Rewidentów i Konsultantów
Chartered Accountants and Consultants
ul. Nowogrodzka 12 lok 3, 00-511 Warszawa, Poland
Tel. +48 (22) 6221922, Fax +48 (22) 629 87 47
www.bakertillysmoczynski.pl
Changing Spots
The last of the major independent auditing and accounting networks, Baker Tilly International, is improving its network coverage in Poland by asking my firm to join as an independent member under the name Baker Tilly Smoczyński i Partnerzy.
By Joe Smoczyński, Managing Partner, Baker Tily Smoczyński i Partnerzy
I was first approached two years ago by Baker Tilly and they wooed me to move to their network. It was not an easy decision to make. There were many factors to take into account, one being that the marketing effort in the previous network made the name a household word in the business world. Another factor was the cost involved in marketing the new name. Here I was surprised how quickly the Baker Tilly name was accepted by the community. What I thought would take many months was readily accepted in the marketplace and I can confirm that the business grapevine works more efficiently than most of us give it credit.
The proposal in reality was to change my spots on my skin to larger spots. The result is that under our skin we are the same animal with better backing and support of similar but larger animals. This gives us the ability to function better than before and carryout more comprehensive assignments with more comprehensive backing.
One of the criteria in contemplating a change in networks was how could we further improve the service to our WSE clients. Baker Tilly firms have large back office facilities in London, New York and in other main financial centres. This technical expertise allows us to carryout assignments in the ever increasing legislative marketplace that we all live in.
Baker Tilly International is the world’s 8th largest network of independent auditing firms. It is the 5th largest in the USA and 7th in the UK. The network consists of 130 independent firms with over 20,000 staff in 560 offices in 85 countries.
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The Baker Tilly independent firms in the major financial centres in the world, such as London, Frankfurt and New York allows for improved technical support for; IPO’s, IFRS/IAS and US GAAP. This particularly important for our WSE clients and potential clients. Up to now the representation in Poland consisted of outsourcing, payroll and legal services. In each of these areas the respective firm is in the top 10 in its Polish sector. A decision was made to beef up the Audit and related services part of its Polish operations.
Our other services include: Due Diligence, Tax Consultancy, Business Consultancy, Mergers and Acquisitions, European Union Project Audits, SOX documentation and testing, Finance and Economic Consultancy and Forensic Audits.
From our Clients perspective only the name of the company has changed and eventually our e-mail addresses are a bit longer. However the location of our office, Management Board, the professionals, even VAT number and the audit registration number remain unchanged. In practice this means that contracts do not need changing. All we did was formally inform our Clients that the name and not entity changed. In other words we changed the spoths on our skin but not animal and hence now roam in a larger pride.
It is difficult to predict how we will expand in the future, however after two months of being in the Baker Tilly network, its larger size has already led to new clients. We plan to open one new office in the spring of 2007 and expand our audit capabilities to the other two existing offices in Wrocław and Łódź.
On a lighter but just as important note, have a fantastic five-a-side football team which last year came second in the Banking and Finance League (www.lbf.pl). No doubt for the current season under the changed team name of Baker Tilly we will at the very least have a similar performance as last year’s.
BAKER TILLY SMOCZYŃSKI I PARTNERZY SP. Z O.O.
Kancelaria Biegłych Rewidentów i Konsultantów
Chartered Accountants and Consultants
ul. Nowogrodzka 12 lok 3, 00-511 Warszawa, Poland
Tel. +48 (22) 6221922, Fax +48 (22) 629 87 47
www.bakertillysmoczynski.pl |
