Friday, 6 February 2009

Ernst & Young poised for relaunch in Cambodia

Photo by: Sovann Philong
The building of Ernst & Young’s new headquarters in Phnom Penh. The company hopes to tap the growing demand for internationally- certified accounting services in Cambodia.

The Phnom Penh Post

Thursday, 05 February 2009
George McLeod

Soaring demand for accountants and auditing services is driving company to expand operations in Cambodian market

FROM its brand new office on Norodom Boulevard, Ernst & Young’s Phnom Penh Director Mai Phuong Nguyen says the company has big plans for Cambodia.

The company is setting up a full practice here Friday, hoping to tap into the Kingdom’s growing demand for internationally accredited auditing. Its services include accounting, auditing, business consulting and tax planning.

“We see a lot of opportunity in Cambodia.... There is huge demand.... We will be investing heavily in training and skills for local accountants,” she said.

“Cambodia is a member of the WTO ,and the Cambodian government is putting efforts into improving the quality of its institutions,” she said.

US-based Ernst & Young is one of the world’s biggest financial services companies, offering auditing, accounting and business consulting.

The firm has increased its presence in the developing world, eyeing the Asia-Pacific region which has seen high growth in recent years.

Even with local markets facing problems, Ernst & Young says it is expanding from 19 local staff to 22 in the first quarter of 2009.

“With the downturn, businesses are looking at their internal operations. This is the ideal time for companies to fix their problems.”

Cambodia is moving to adopt international accounting standards, and the need for recognised auditors and accountants is rising.

The planned launch of the stock exchange for 2009 has been a big boost for auditing firms like PricewaterhouseCoopers and Ernst & Young.

“We have a lot of experience from exchanges in China and Vietnam, and there are a lot of lessons we can share with local companies,” said Nguyen.

Local talentBut recruiting local talent in Cambodia remains a major challenge for auditing firms. “This is always an issue for us. The local education system is still unable to provide us with the staff we need ... so we are having to invest in training for our staff.”

According to Sok Chanda, secretary seneral of the Council for Development of Cambodia, the need for accounting and auditing in Cambodia far outstrips supply.

“I think Cambodia still lacks professional accountants, and especially when firms want to be listed, they need to have professional auditing services,” said Sok Chanda.

“There are a lot of local accountants, but its a matter of standards.”

Efforts are under way to improve the standard of local accountants, with Cambodia’s accounting watchdog, the Kampuchea Institute of Certified Public Accountants and Auditors (KICPAA), working to bring local universities up to international standards.

Since it was established in 2003, the KICPAA has trained about 800 accountants and has won a World Bank grant to certify local university courses.

The agency was accepted into the US-based International Federation of Accountants in November.

“There is going to be a lot of demand for professional accounting because local companies are still too informal – they don’t have proper procedures.” said Sok Chanda.

The Ernst & Young launch is set for Friday and will be presided over by Ngy Tayi, undersecretary of state for the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

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