OPTIMISM BASED ON HIGH QUALITY SERVICES
Deloitte & Touche Audit Consulting Company has confidently entered the market of Azerbaijan. Having received a registration certificate last November at Azerbaijan's Justice Ministry, the Company has shortly won a good deal of clientele. Besides it was chosen a financial consultant for the World Bank project to prepare the gas distribution system of Baku municipality to privatization.
Mr. Gunduz Karimov, Business Development Senior Manager, speaks about the activities of Deloitte &Touche in Azerbaijan.
Gunduz Karimov: Deloitte &Touche in CIS is in the structure of an international network of the Deloitte &Touche Tohmatsu companies, one of the leading audit organizations and consulting services in the world.
The Deloitte&Touche Company is more than 150 years old. At present, its offices are functioning in more than 140 countries worldwide with 120,000 employees, which serve more than half of the largest transnational corporations, as well as large national enterprises, financial institutions, governmental bodies and rapidly growing companies.
Our experts are highly competent and provide quality to all our clients. Deloitte&Touche Tohmatsu acts in accordance with the Swiss legislation, and each of its national companies are separate and independent legal entities. More than 600 highly qualified local an foreign experts are currently working in the offices of Deloitte&Touche in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Kiev, Minsk, Baku, Tbilisi, Astana, Atyrau, Bishkek and Tashkent.
In CIS the Deloitte&Touche renders full spectrum of services both to international corporations and to the growing local companies, including the audit and contribution in book-keepers account, management and finance consulting, corporate management and corporate finances, services in estimation, consultations on taxation and law. The mission of Deloitte &Touche is to contribute to the success of its clients and employees.
We have an extensive practice in the CIS market; the Company possesses high growth co-efficient in the region compared to our rivals. The volume of services rendered only in Russian market has grown by 110% last year compared to the previous one. The Company is growing, the number of clientele and employees is increasing.
Q: Late last year Deloitte&Touche developed active work in Azerbaijan market and immediately won the project of the World Bank. Could you tell us about the project?
G.K.: Deloitte&Touche has signed $996,000 contract with World Bank for financial consulting on the project for preparation of the gas distribution system of Baku municipality to the privatization. A tender for legal consultations on the project was held separately. The project will last for about 18 months. Upon completion of the work a tender is to be announced by the government. But I would like to underline that the opening of the office in Azerbaijan is not related to that project at all.
Q: How much has the six month of work of Deloitte&Touche office here in Baku met your expectations?
G.K.: Deloitte&Touche had already been present in Azerbaijan for a number of years as a consulting company. It represented our interests in Azerbaijan, but last summer a decision was made in Moscow on the level of partners to open an office in Baku.
Apart from the above mentioned "gas" project, we have lots of other clients in Baku, from various industries: banking (AtaBank, AtraBank, Bank of Baku, NIKOIL ICB, etc.), insurance, etc. Among our clients are even governmental enterprises such as State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR), for which we were engaged in preparation of the book-keeping accounts in accordance with the international standards. We have also signed a four - year contract with WB for audit of Social Fund for Internally Displaced Persons (IDP).
Q: Would you mind to reveal what consulting services your Company renders?
G.K.: The Deloitte&Touche experts develop business-plans for banks and enterprises, as well as render services in corporate finance and many others. There is business and there is a demand in the market. Azerbaijanian market is the most important for us from the strategic point of view. Our Company highly estimates the development of the country: including the economical growth, production, and the welfare of the population…
Company renders consulting services in enterprise mergers. No doubt these are high-cost services, but they have high returns. Our Company has in possession "a know-how", a firm-specific audit software, called Audit System-2, which was developed by our experts. The system helps automate the audit process and, therefore, contributes to saving time of our employees in the process of audit, thus, the resources of our clientele.
Q: If it isn't a secret, could you reveal how you managed to attract so many companies as clients in rather a short time?
G.K.: First of all, due to high quality of services. We work for the clients, and they can rely on us both in audit and consulting (in the sphere of taxation, law and corporate finances). The Deloitte&Touche Company was the first to enter the market of CIS (former USSR) among then big "six" 15 years ago. There is a strong competition in the market, and, as a rule, the client himself chooses the company to work with on the basis of proposals received, their quality and price
Deloitte &Touche has high ranking in the sphere of the above services among the leading audit companies in the world, which also contributes to gaining of the clients' confidence in the market of Azerbaijan.
Q: Did the insolvency of the Arthur Andersen exert any impact over the activities of other world audit companies, including yours?
G.K.: The problem of Andersen was a red flag for all of us. Therefore, as soon as some unconscientious people breached the universally acknowledged rules that led to the termination of the Company, the internal control over every audit conducted by our companies got intensified even more, the rules of assessing risks have become tougher.
Q: Speaking of Azerbaijanian market, which activities were you planning to develop? Is there any demand for these kind of services in Azerbaijan?
G.K.: The strategic direction is the audit, investment consulting, business, taxation and legal consultations. We have an expertise, and in Azerbaijan the demand for this kind of services is sufficiently high. We are ready to help all our potential clients in developing their business.
All these stages are developed together with our clients and are very labor-consuming. No ready strategies and decisions exist. First, the business is analyzed; the Company's management is made aware of the process. The experts practically analyze the situation in the enterprise, applying international experience of our company in developing these types of companies.
Moreover, the analysis of the situation of the country's development, analysis of the market, and the plan of the market development within a definite time is carried out by international organizations and taken into consideration.
Q: Do our entrepreneurs assess the services of Deloitte&Touche?
G.K.: Unfortunately, this is our major problem. Not everyone acknowledges the necessity of our services and accepts the costs, but the largest Banks and enterprises are working together with us. In order for companies to come out to international market, it is necessary to speak to foreign partners in one language, and one of the solutions to the problem is the service of our company.
We are glad that there are organizations that are willing to cooperate with us directly without making tender invitations. Having worked with us once, they get convinced about the quality and favorable prices of our services.
Q: What are your predictions with regard to the work of Deloitte &Touche in Azerbaijan in 2003?
G. K.: Taking into account the tendencies, I think, our clientele is to increase, and within the next 2 years we intend to cover all the costs related to the office inauguration. Why in 2 years only? Because it is an expensive process. Our services are rendered and paid in accordance with time our experts spend. First year we make some discounts to our clients, providing them an opportunity to improve their financial situation. Next year they will be able to pay more, as their financial situation will boost compared with the previous year.
Q: Isn't it too optimistic?
G.K.: Our optimism is based on high quality of the services we render, the highest quality to price ratio that we offer here in Azerbaijanian market. And the optimism is supported by the greatest tendency, the enormous inflow of the clients to our Company.