Golden Advisor Awards 2018

WORLDWIDE FINANCIAL ADVISOR AWARDS MAGAZINE

GOLDEN ADVISOR AWARDS 2018

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Worldwide Financial Advisor Awards Magazine Golden Advisor Awards 2018 Worldwide Financial Advisor Awards Magazine is recognised all over the world for our comprehensive awards programs we run, taking votes from countries all over the world to recognise the most prestigious professionals in their specialised areas of practice.

The Superior Lawyers 2018 recognises a select number of leading professional firms around the world working both nationally and internationally in their field of expertise.

Worldwide Financial Advisor Awards Magazine selects the best professional & financial institutions from around the world and showcases there work ethic and skills within their area of expertise.

The Awards Magazine is aimed at not just the large corporations but the smaller companies of the advisory business sector.

Worldwide Financial Advisor Awards Magazine is currently being read by Lawyers, Advisers, Consultants and corporate executives.

We aim to showcase every company individually and to its full potential.

DEEP & FAR Attorneys-at-Law 13th F1., No. 27, Sec. 3, Chung San N. Rd. Taipei 104, Taiwan, R.O.C. Tel: +886-2-2585-6688 Fax: +886-2-25989900/25978989 email@deepnfar.com.tw Deep & Far was founded in 1992 and is one of the largest law firms in this country.

The firm is presently focused on the practice in separate or in combination of all aspects of intellectual property rights (IPRs) including patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, unfair competition, and/or licensing, counseling, litigation and/ or transaction thereof. Since this firm edges itself into the IPRs field, the firm quickly comes to fame. As an illustration, this firm often is one of the largest sources from which foreign filing orders originate.

The fascinating rise of this firm begins from the founder of Deep & Far attorneysat-law, C. F. Tsai, who is the one first patent practitioner in this country who both has technological and law backgrounds and is qualified as a local attorney-at-law.

The patent attorneys and patent engineers in this firm normally hold outstanding and advanced degrees and are generally graduated from the top five universities in this country and/or the university in the US. Our prominent staffs are dedicated to provide the best quality service in IPRs. As a proof, about one half of top 100 incorporations in this country have experiences of seeking patented their techniques, but more than one fifth of the top 100 incorporations are/were clients of this firm.

Furthermore, Hi-Tech companies in the science-based industrial park located at Hsin Chu play an important role in booming the economy of this country. About one half of which have experiences in seeking patented their techniques, and out of more than 60% of the patent-experienced companies in that park have ever entrusted their IPR works to this firm.

We have experienced in seeking IPR-protections for our clients in more than 100 territories all over the world. We have thousands of IPR-cases respectively prosecuted before official Patent Offices of major industrialized countries.

This firm not only is the most competent in IPR-related matters in this country but also is very familiar with IPR-practices in major industrialized countries. As a matter of fact, this firm oftentimes tries and makes precedents of new claim-drafting styles. While we might have become wonderfully famed locally with remarkable appreciation and respects, we would like to extend our services for internationalized or quality service-requiring foreign conglomerated giants, corporations or individuals. We strongly believe that we will win more

www.deepnfar.com.tw

Worldwide Financial Advisor Awards Magazine Golden Advisor Awards 2018 Index Bettina Palisek Contract Lawyer of the Year – Austria Deep & Far Intellectual Property Law Firm of the Year – Taiwan Dr. Lukas Fantur Company Law Firm of the Year – Austria Esquível Advogados Government Contracts Law Firm of the Year – Portugal Francis Scarpulla Competition: US Plaintiff Law Firm of the Year Infinity Partnership Limited Accountancy Business Services Firm of the Year – UK J.Lee & Associates Banking & Finance Law Firm of the Year – Malaysia Law Office of Ramni Taneja Constitutional Law Firm of the Year – India MARCO MUSCETTOLA Corporate Lawyer of the Year – Italy Oberhammer Rechtsanwälte GmbH Corporate Immigration Lawyers of the Year – Austria Patent.live Gmbh Patents & Trademarks Law Firm of the Year – Russia Spadafora De Rosa Law Tax Law Firm of the Year – Italy Tuli & Co Insurance Law Firm of the Year – India Tilen Terlep Real Estate & Construction Law Firm of the Year - Slovenia

Intellectual Property Law Firm of the Year—Taiwan Deep & Far attorneys-at-law was founded in 1992 and is dealing with all phases of laws with a focus on the practice in separate or in combination of all aspects of intellectual property rights (IPRs) including patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, unfair competition, and/or licensing, counselling, litigation and/or transaction thereof.

Area of Practice: Intellectual Property, including patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret.

The patent attorneys and patent engineers in Deep & Far normally hold outstanding and advanced degrees and are generally graduated from the top five universities in this country. Our prominent staffs are dedicated to provide the best quality service in IPRs in this country. As a proof, about one half of top 100 incorporations in this country have experiences of seeking patented their techniques, but more than one fifth of the top 100 incorporations has ever used services of this firm. Furthermore, Hi-Tech companies in the science-based industrial park located at Hsin Chu had ever played the most important role in booming the economy of this country.

About one half of them has experiences in seeking patented their techniques, and out of more than 50% of the patent-experienced companies in that park have ever entrusted their IPR works to this firm.

Experiences: Mr. Yu-Li Tsai, a patent attorney graduated from Department of Electrical Engineering of National Taiwan University (NTUEE), which is the best engineering school in Taiwan. Because of interest in communication system, he then attended in the Graduate Institute of Communication Engineering (GICE) of NTU. During his research life in GICE, he also started to get involved in knowledge and skills of patent-related matters for taking and receiving the qualification of patent attorney. Mr. Tsai also attended to receive an IP master from Law School of University of New Hampshire, also known as Franklin Pierce Center for Intellectual Property, had an internship with InterDigital, Inc., and passed the U.S. Patent Bar Examination. Currently, Mr. Tsai is working for Deep & Far Attorneys-at-Law as a patent attorney.

It is our philosophy to provide competent legal services that other firm cannot comparably provide.

The necessitated ensuing problem is how we can so provide? Deep & Far so achieve by selecting, edifying and nurturing peoples who have the following personalities: learned in expertise, morally earnest and sincerely behaved in mind and strictly disciplined between give and take. It is wellbelieved that such properties are key factors for peoples to properly and competently behave themselves. Because the clients become more understood in the knowledge of IP and more budgetsensitive, they usually want to select an agent who can more efficiently and effectively deal with their IP matters. They often invite bids, set out tenders and call for interview before they decide to entrust a service provider. Taking patent for example, they gather information of costs for patent prosecution, previous works, and firm introduction materials in a preliminary choice stage, and hold an interview to obtain further details of the firm which has passed the preliminary choice stage. We represent international giants, e.g. InterDigital, MPS, Schott Glas, Toyo Ink, Motorola, Cypress, Google, Armani.

We always keep updating the newest state of this firm, recruiting elite patent engineers and strictly

training them the essential skills, improving the efficiency and quality of service, and developing new strategies that can assist the clients effectively protecting their intellectual property rights. This firm believes that if the efficiency, quality, and enthusiasm of the services can be consistently monitored and maintained, overcoming complexities, challenges or changes is just a result rather than an issue.

Our aspiration and directions would be developing more potential clients either in domestic or foreign countries, and expanding the size of this firm to assist more clients in pursuing most satisfactory IP protection. Although the domestic IP market, especially in the patent field in 2013 shrank a little, we expect this situation may finally change because there is a phenomenon that the gross economy is starting to recover in 2014.

Contact Details: Deep & Far Yu-Li. Tsai Tel: 886-2-25856688#900 Fax: 886-2-25989900//886-2-25978989 Add: 13th Fl., 27 Sec. 3, Chung San N. Rd., Taipei, Taiwan Web: www.deepnfar.com.tw Email: lawtsai@deepnfar.com.tw

Francis Scarpulla Competition: US Plaintiff Law Firm of the Year The Scarpulla Law Firm handles antitrust and other competition claims in the United States, Canada, the European Union, and Taiwan. We profiled the firm as we gained an insight into the success and strategy of the business from Francis O. Scarpulla.

Based in California, the Scarpulla Law Firm works with a variety of clients, including Fortune 500 companies, government entities, small businesses, and natural-person consumers. The team operates with an overall mission of recovering the highest amount of damages for clients, and it achieves this by prosecuting their claims to the fullest extent of the law.

Operating exclusively as a litigation boutique, the firm only accepts cases which it believes are winnable, either because there has already been a governmental-entity investigation, or because the client has inside information which is sufficient to support the claims.

After taking on the case, the firm’s team works alongside the client every step of the way to ensure that the desired outcome is achieved. Taking an individual interest in each client, staff consult with them on a regular basis and involve them in all major decisions. If the client is not interested in pretrial resolution of claims, then the team are always prepared to try their cases.

Ensuring that the firm can adapt to daily developments within the legal industry, attorneys read all new case-law precedent, the rules of procedure, and statutes in the competition/antitrust discipline, including how these substantive laws relate to class action procedures.

Ensuring that the best result is reached, the law firm’s attorneys consult with each other, as well as with staff daily to ensure that there is no important information overlooked.

In addition to being admitted to the Bar of the United States Supreme Court, Francis is admitted to the Roll of Solicitors in England, Wales and the Republic of Ireland. Expanding its international competition practice in addition to its Canadian and EU competition cases, the firm will consider the viability of cartel claims in China and India.

Francis has been the recipient of a number of accolades, including: The California State Bar Antitrust Lawyer of the Year; AI – Most Outstanding Law Firm of the Year; Global Leading Lawyers – Competition – US Plaintiffs Law Firm of the Year; and Lawyers of Distinction – Civil Litigation – Top 10% in USA to name a few.

Ultimately, building on the success of its achievements, there are exciting times ahead for the Scarpulla Law Firm. Francis and the team believe that for EU member states to protect their citizen-consumers from price-fixing cartels, these states should adopt uniform competition damage statutes, permit cross-border service of process and discovery, and enact uniform opt-out class action procedures, as well as permitting contingent fee contracts.

Contact Details: Company: Scarpulla Law Firm Address: 456 Montgomery Street, 17th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94104, USA Contact: Francis O. Scarpulla Phone: 001 (415) 788-7210 Website: www.scarpullalaw.com

Tax Law Firm of the Year – Italy Spadafora De Rosa Law has more than 15 years of history and can provide a full range of services through its professionals and/or its broad international network.

Alessandro De Rosa has more than 20 years of experience in Contracts, Civil Law, International Deals, Real Estate, Soccer, Aviation, Fashion, Hotels, VIP Properties, Apps, etc.

He has a 24/7 problem solving attitude for any emergency of his clients.

Spadafora De Rosa Law has more than 15 years of history and can provide a full range of services through its professionals and/or its broad international network. The level of experience reached and the creativity of its professionals represent a tremendous added value for its clients.

Practice Areas: -

Real estate transactions for VIP properties -

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Aviation Global business project start up -

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Hotels transactions

Football deals closed in EU

App contracts for a new international platform Distribution agreements for an international consortium

“Our work and commitments remain the same since our foundation 15 years ago. We to work hard every single day, the success is proportional to the hours dedicated to Your structure and clients.”

Contact Details: Sede di Roma Via di Trasone, 52 00199 Tel. 06 858221 Fax. 06 8582250 Email: a.derosa@spadaforaderosa.com

Cross Border Lawyer of the Year – Canada As a senior business law partner, Barbara Doherty has lead projects demanding large teams of lawyers in leading edge transactions from P3s to cross border mergers and acquisitions including in regulated industries. Her practice includes providing general counsel advice to local and international clients as a trusted adviser. She is actively involved in advising foreign companies with their direct investment and establishing their businesses in Canada.

She advises companies from Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, India, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates and the United States on their Canadian operations. These International companies range from industries as diverse as architecture and consulting, biopharma, biotech, brokerage, clean tech, construction, construction equipment/power and parts, data management and communications, digital media, eco-wastes, ecommerce, emerging technologies (AI, blockchain and smart contracts), energy and renewable energy, engineering sealants and paving maintenance, film production, financial services, food and beverage, footwear, forestry, global construction and infrastructure, government registry development, health care, hotel management, hydro-electric construction, international dealers and advisors, investment funds, logistics, marketing and advertising, mining equipment engineering, oil and gas, outsource product engineering services, pharmaceuticals, product manufacturing, private and public security training and simulation, real estate development, robotics, roof coatings, small appliance manufacturing and housewares, soil and water decontamination, solar power, specialty environmental contracting, specialty publishing, telecommunications, utilities and safety solutions and water resources.

In firm management, she has chaired and co-chaired the Securities and Business Law groups, both at the national and local levels. Barbara is active in mentoring and developing business development tools designed to assist young lawyers in identifying, pursuing and servicing their best client relationships and opportunities.

Miller Thomson LLP enjoys a reputation as one of Canada’s leading national business law firms. With close to 550 lawyers across Canada, the firm offers a complete range of business, advocacy and personal legal services to help domestic and international decision-makers with all their Canadian legal needs. Firm offices are located in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Regina, London, Kitchener - Waterloo, Guelph, Vaughan, Markham and Montreal. www.millerthomson.com Areas of Expertise Corporate/Commercial Equity and Debt Finance Mergers and Acquisitions Investment Funds and Asset Management Public-Private Partnerships Contact Details: Barbara R.C. Doherty Partner Miller Thomson LLP Scotia Plaza, 40 King Street West Toronto, ON M5H 3S1 CANADA Tel: +416.595.8621 Fax: +416.595.8695 Email: bdoherty@millerthomson.com

Intellectual Property Law Firm of the Year – India The Firm Singh & Singh Lall & Sethi (SSL&S) is a merger of two highly acclaimed IP Law Firms of the country. The merger took place in April 2015. The merger brought professionals passionately dedicated to create perfect synergy with specialist IP practitioners and litigators in different fields of intellectual property law. The firm serves as a one stop solution for IP, Telecom, Competition laws, Information Technology and related aspects, as also technology, media and telecommunication laws with a wide bandwidth to handle large portfolios and litigation across all areas.

The firm also handles a large number of non-IP matters especially in the field of pharma regulatory, arbitrations, policy making in IP and Telecom Sectors, including Compulsory Licensing and Copyright Amendment Act 2012.

The firm not only represents a large volume of Patent and Trademark litigation cases in India, but also provides unrivalled IP services, including but not limited to domestic and international filing and prosecution.

The firm currently has offices in New Delhi, Mumbai, Colombo and Kathmandu.

The Founders and Partners The founders are four of the most prolific litigators of the country. Mr. Sandeep Sethi, Mr. Maninder Singh and Ms. Prathiba M. Singh are all designated Senior Advocates. Mr. Chander M. Lall took over the mantle from the founders and is the Founding and Managing Partner of the merged firm.

SSL&S is a professionally managed firm with 9 partners, over 40 attorneys and patent agents and a total strength of over 120 personnel. Out of the 9 partners in the Firm, the Managing Partner and two other Partners are involved in Patent litigation. One Partner heads the Patent Prosecution.

Four Partners are heading IP Prosecution and Enforcement teams and one partner is involved in Telecom & Broadcasting. There is an entire team of lawyers and patent agents working under each Partner.

Patents The patent professionals of SSL&S have wide ranged experience in drafting applications of various technologies and liaising with inventors, technical experts and in-house patent counsels in the preparation of specifications. Because of its day to day experience in patent litigation, SSL&S is able to provide assistance in strategizing complex innovation related issues, enforcement of patents, and analysing strength of patents prior to enforceability, streamline prosecution etc.

SSL&S is estimated to be engaged in over 70% of the patent litigations currently pending in the country concerning technologies like pharmaceuticals, bio-similar, medical devices, mechanical engineering, chemicals, electrical and electronics, to name a few. In the area of Standard Essential Patents (SEPs), the firm is engaged in virtually all pending cases in India and is instrumental in assisting development of the law in this field.

Trademarks On the trademarks front, SSL&S has been instrumental in laying down the law in several areas such as comparative advertising, trade dress protection and a wide variety of internet and IT law related issues. The firm has been involved in many civil and criminal anti-counterfeiting actions.

The firm currently represents 7 of the top 25 of the world renowned trademarks listed by

Interbrand. SSL&S is the preferred firm not just in India but the entire South Asian region, including Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Maldives and Bhutan.

Telecom and Broadcasting SSL&S practices extend beyond core IP. It has a strong presence in the area of telecom and broadcasting representing a large number of broadcasters in different forums including the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT).

Bespoke IP Management Software All the work is carried out on a unique bespoke IP management software platform ClickIPR. The software has IP law engines for all jurisdictions around the world ensuring automated docketing of files worldwide and populating of forms. The use of the software system, which is far superior to any known IP software system, ensures that deadlines are never missed and costs are kept low.

The firm was perhaps the first in the world to maintain all its files in electronic form.

Clients SSL&S has a very wide list of clients from all over the world which include The Coca-Cola Company, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Eli Lilly, GSK, Bayer, Merck KgaA, Monsanto, Citibank, Mondelez, KraftHeinz, Diageo, Warner Bros., Twentieth Century Fox, United Technologies Corporation, Kimberly-Clark, Lacoste, Gant, Hewlett Packard, Nike, Ebay, Cisco, Amazon, Samsung, Reckitt Benckiser, Panasonic, DuPont, to name a few International one with an equally impressive list of Indian clients which includes Zee, Marico, Havells, Woodland, HCL, NIIT, Essel, ITC, Eicher, HeroEco and Fabindia.

Awards SSL&S is the more extensive awarded firm of 2016 being acknowledged as a leader in IP law. The firm has bagged several awards and maintains highest rankings in many categories. The `Managing Intellectual Property` has ranked Singh & Singh Lall & Sethi as Tier 1 for Patent Contentious, Trade Mark Contentious and Copyright respectively for 2016. The `Chambers & Partners` has ranked the firm as `Band 1 in Intellectual Property` and Chander Lall as `Band 1 Intellectual Property Litigation Lawyer in India`. `Legal Era` positioned Singh & Singh Lall & Sethi as the `IP Law Firm of 2015`. The firm also bagged `WTR Gold award for Enforcement and Litigation` and Chander bagged the `Gold award` in individual category. The firm shot the `Deal of the Year 2015` award for representing Glenmark Pharmaceuticals in Merck Sharp & Dohme and Sun Pharma v Glenmark Pharmaceuticals by India Business Law Journal besides bagging the `2015 - Indian Law Firm Awards - Intellectual Property`. The M&A magazine declared the firm as the Law Firm of the Year - Intellectual Property – India. `Professional Sector Network` has accolade the firm with `IP Law Firm of the Year – India`. WIPR chose Chander Lall as `Leaders 2016 in Patents & Trademark`, while Sudeep Chatterjee was chosen for Trademarks.

CHANDER M. LALL- FOUNDER & SENIOR PARTNER Co- founder of the previously reigning IP boutique, Lall & Sethi Advocates, Mr. Chander M. Lall is currently the Managing Partner and spear-head of the merged entity ‘Singh & Singh Lall & Sethi’ (Singh & Singh is India’s leading IP litigation firm – the two firms merged to form this IP Powerhouse since April 2015).

An adventure sports enthusiast by heart and a successful Advocate by profession, Mr. Lall is a renaissance man, who has many firsts in his name in the legal profession. He was the first to have the foresight to commence patent drafting outsourcing to India in the year 2002, when the concept was relatively unknown. Under his mentoring and leadership, in the year 2007, his firm developed one of the world’s first proprietary IP Management Software (Click IPR) for international filing and management. His firm went completely paperless as long back as in the year 2010, perhaps one of the first, internationally. He argued his first case with the complete file on a tablet in that year itself.

In court, Mr. Lall is rated amongst the best IP litigators. He was counsel for a winning cause in two of the lead decisions (whirlpool and Ocuflox) of the Supreme Court of India on well-known and famous marks – decisions which were path-breaking not just in India, but internationally. His litigation and enforcement foresight is legendary when one considers the impact his strategies had on bringing down film piracy levels in India whilst representing a consortium consisting of the Motion Pictures Association of America, the leading Hollywood studios and many leading Indian film producers. The Supreme Court decision on curtailing cable piracy stands at the forefront of this initiative. He is widely acknowledged as one of the best in the field of copyright and copyright litigation.

Post his graduation, Mr. Lall enrolled as an advocate with the Bar Council of India in 1989. He has been practicing in various forums including the Supreme Court of India, Delhi High Court, in addition to other High Courts around the country for over 25 years. He was also a part of the Core Group to make amendments in the copyright laws of India. Mr. Lall is a leading member of the Pharmaceutical Trade Marks Group and advises and represents many leading pharmaceutical companies including Pfizer, Eli Lilly, Bayer and Merck on various IP issues. His firms protects 8 of the top 30 brands of the world listed in the Interbrand 2014 Rankings.

Besides having an illustrious career as a litigator, Mr. Lall is also a proud member of various globally renowned network and associations. He was perhaps the youngest, and the first Indian and south Asian member to be on the Board of Directors of the International Trademarks Association (INTA), a world-wide association of trademark owners & professionals from the year 1998 to 2000. He was also the Chairperson of the World-Wide Anti-Counterfeiting and Enforcement Committee at INTA for a two year term and also serves as the President of the Intellectual Property Rights Attorney Association. Besides his exceptional litigating skills, Mr. Lall demonstrated his outstanding writing abilities by being the contributing Author and Editor for the publication entitled "Trademark AntiCounterfeiting in Asia and the Pacific Rim". He has also authored the chapter on Indian law in both the editions of the publication of INTA entitled "Trademark Law and the Internet".

Mr. Lall has is consistently listed as one of the leading IP practitioners in India by virtually all leading international publications. He frequently attends and speaks at national and international IP conferences and is on the WIPO Panel of speakers and resource persons for their Training of Trainers (TOT) Programs. He has participated in well over 20 TOT programs in over 3 continents including Africa, South America and Asia.

In addition to being a distinguished lawyer, Mr. Lall is an advanced certified scuba diver, a fervent mountaineer, an avid and former national lever cyclist, a bold bungee jumper, a one-time sky diver, a wanna-be Harley Davidson Hog and a passionate water and alpine skier.

Contact Details Chander M. Lall cmlall@indiaip.com D - 17, South Extension II, New Delhi - 110 049, India Ph: 91-11-4289 9999 Website

DRAGONFLY: 300 MILLION YEARS OLD

T-REX: EXTINCT

Nature knows size and survival are independent.

Demotech, Inc. has proven that to the insurance industry.

Regional and Specialty insurers are often mistakenly thought of as financially unstable due to their size.

Financial Stability Ratings® offer the following benefits:

Financial Stability Ratings® look beyond the size of an insurer and evaluate solvency using a quantitative model based on insurance fundamentals.

• Acceptance by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and HUD

Innovative thinking, strategic analysis, commitment, insight and on-going involvement with the insurance industry allow us to provide solutions as unique as your company.

• Eliminate Reinsurance Cut-Throughs • Access to Stand-Alone Umbrella Insurance • Premium Financing Available • Errors and Omissions Insolvency Gap Coverage Available • Much more!

Contact us today to learn how Demotech and Financial Stability Ratings® can help insurers level the playing field.

Call 800-354-7207 or visit www.Demotech.com/FSRBenefits

®

Financial Analysis Firm of the Year - USA Demotech, Inc. is a financial analysis firm located in Columbus, Ohio. Since 1985, Demotech has been serving the insurance industry by providing actuarial consulting as well as accurate and proven Financial Stability Ratings® (FSRs) for Property & Casualty insurance companies and Title underwriters. FSRs are a leading indicator of the financial stability of an insurer. In 1989 Demotech became the first insurer rating services in the United States to review and rate independent, regional and specialty insurers based upon the company’s execution of its business model and not its size. The rating process provides an objective baseline as well as insight as to the financial stability of an insurer. Demotech levels the playing field by offering FSRs to insurers of all sizes.

Demotech distinguishes itself from other rating services in many ways. Four distinguishing characteristics are the industry experience of our analysts, long tenure of our analysts, our focus on an insurer’s business model rather than its size, and the transparency of our analysis process. In total, our four primary analysts average more than 30 years of progressively responsible insurance experience. Furthermore, the same four primary analysts average more than twenty years of tenure with Demotech. As a result, carriers that contact Demotech can be assured of comparable treatment, institutional memory and consistent outcomes due to the professionalism and tenure of our staff.

As noted, our analysts, including myself, are experienced professionals. I am an actuary with forty years of insurance and financial analysis experience. Sharon Romano Petrelli, co-founder of Demotech, has earned the designations of CPCU, AIAF, CCP and ARC. She has served on the board of an insurer as well as the board of governors of the CPCU Society. She has thirty years of insurance experience. Barry J. Koestler, II, Chief Ratings Officer, a Chartered Financial Analyst, has more than twenty years of insurance and financial analysis experience including rate filings, loss and loss adjustment expense reserving and financial analysis. He has coordinated the development and monitoring of FSRs since 1996. Robert M. Warren, CPCU, CPA, Client Services Manager, has served as the chief financial officer of several insurers. His forty years of experience includes more than ten years with Demotech.

Although other rating agencies seem fascinated by the size of an insurer and its diversification, neither size nor diversification has kept insurers out of liquidation. In fact, some of the largest insolvencies in the history of insurance were substantial publicly traded carriers that touted their diversification. As such, Demotech focuses on a carrier’s business model and its execution of that model. In 2007 we introduced our Company Classification System to initiate dialogue on business models.

A Comment from Joseph Petrelli: “I am the President and Founder of Demotech, Inc. Organized in 1985, Demotech is a Columbus, Ohio based financial analysis company. Demotech reviews and rates more than 420 carriers domiciled in the United States. Our clients include larger, publicly traded carriers as well as regional insurance companies, title underwriters, risk retention groups and specialty insurance markets. Financial Stability Ratings® of A or better are accepted by the secondary mortgage marketplace, virtually all mortgage lenders and an increasing number of umbrella insurance markets, insurance agents errors and omissions insurance carriers, reinsurance carriers and other informed third parties.

Prior to forming Demotech, I was employed by Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, Countryway Insurance and ISO. I am a member in good standing of the Casualty Actuarial Society, American Academy of Actuaries,

The Conference of Consulting Actuaries, and the Society of Actuaries. I graduated from The College of Insurance and have an MBA from The Ohio State University.”

In addition to our efforts reviewing and rating insurance carriers, two of our clients during 2015 were the State of Ohio Office of Risk Management and State of Iowa Title Guaranty Division. When these public entities needed experienced, credentialed actuaries to assist them with the pricing and evaluation of their casualty insurance exposure and title guaranty exposure, respectively, our actuaries were the first choice. Recent acknowledgements of our insurer rating capabilities include HUD’s re-affirmation of our acceptance in its Section 232 Handbook and expanding our acceptance to its Section 241(a) program, Fannie Mae Multifamily acceptance of risk retention groups and captive insurers rated A or better, our nomination for Intelligent Insurer’s Global Award – Best Rating Agency (2014 and 2015) and securing the ACQ5 award for US – Niche Financial Analysis Provider – Insurance, two consecutive years, 2014 and 2015. In addition Demotech was nominated for the Rating Agency of the Year at the fall 2015 Reactions North America Gala. We were also honored with the Florida Association for Insurance Reform’s Founder’s Award at its 2015 annual meeting. More recently we secured the Financial Monthly – M&A Awards 2015 – Financial Analysis Firm of the Year – USA and the Corporate Vision – Corporate Excellence Award 2015 – Best Evaluator of US Regional and Specialty Insurers & Sustained Excellence in Insurer Financial Analysis.

Our clients operate in an environment dominated by low interest rates and the pressure that places on earnings from an underwriting profit. Emerging coverages, such as cyber liability, data breach, or gap coverages associated with addressing the need to supplement personal automobile insurance policies for commercial use associated with transportation network companies focus our experienced, professional analysts on a collaborative role with clients. Our analysts are well versed in the traditional aspects of insurance and reinsurance. Concurrently, as educated professionals they are comfortable with the development or analysis of creative strategies and products to address emerging consumer needs. Our experienced and credentialed analysts often provided clients with peer review and independent feedback on aspects of the client’s current and future operations.

Demotech is focused on continuing to grow and serve our current and our future clients. With a team of experienced, credentialed professionals, we are uniquely positioned to address the current as well as the emerging issues that must be addressed. In May 2016, we will host a seminar addressing the needs of regional and specialty carriers in the important areas of product development, client retention, and the identification and response to emerging issues.

Contact Details: Joseph Petrelli Demotech, Inc. 2715 Tuller Parkway Dublin, Ohio 43017-2310 Main: (800)354-7207 Direct: (614) 526-2160 FAX: (614) 526-2161 JPetrelli@demotech.com www.demotech.com

Law Firm of the Year – Czech Republic The law office GĂœRLICH & Co was founded on 1st February 2002. All members of the firm are experienced lawyers possessing outstanding professional expertise in various branches of law.

Currently, the firm consists of many lawyers who are supported by a qualified office staff.

Besides, on a case to case basis, we would invite for cooperation many other external specialists and free-lance lawyers. This law firm is fully capable of offering legal services to both individuals and legal entities in almost all fields of civil and commercial law, all over the territory of the Czech Republic. We are capable of providing legal services in the Czech and English languages.

In the event of cross-border transactions and litigation, this office hires its cooperating international law offices as well as external foreign lawyers. Still, this Law Firm remains a purely Czech legal office free of any financial or other influence exerted by foreign and/or local nationals. This allows the firm to provide its services in compliance with law, professionally and independently.

Our law firm focuses mainly on the following areas of law: Civil law, Corporate and business law, Real Estate law, Intellectual property, Labor law and Litigation.

Above all we deal with, among the advisory on real estate property transactions (e.g. sale, purchase or lease of apartments and commercial property), drafting all documents relating to real estate financing, drafting all security related documents (mortgages, lien over property and other assets including sets of movable assets, lien over IP or a business or part thereof, security / collateral agreements relating to banking accounts, shares and ownership interests, as well as numerous fiduciary assignments of rights demanded by banks), arranging registration and all other related steps, including advice on governing law. Moreover, we focus on advisory to developers, on investment in real estate, lease and sublease agreements, liens on real estate, creation of easements, building law.

Our law firm provides its services at a high professional level, quickly and with complete independence. Two of our key values that help to drive businesses of our clients are flexibility and personal approach that we manage to maintain through the hard work of our young but skilled colleagues who are at all times prepared to offer tailor-made solutions. Within the scope of legal assistance, our law firm provides prevailingly advisory services in selecting the most suitable procedure with a view to client’s needs, prepares various documents and arranges for the preparation of opinions and legal analyses.

The highest level of professionalism that we try to maintain encompasses taking into account forthcoming legal amendments, detailed continuous study of judicature of both the national and European courts. However, while focusing on professionalism we never forget that it goes hand in hand with a personal approach which ensures that clients can always rely on

our services and we provide our best in the shortest possible time with a broad level of transparency and detailed records of our performance.

Scope of Legal Services: Business Transactions Civil Law Intellectual Property Corporate Law and Business Law, Public Procurement Labour Law Real Estate Litigation

Contact details: GĂœRLICH & Co Politickych veznu 19 110 00 Prague 1 Czech Republic tel.: +420 222 101 591 Fax: +420 222 101 590 Email: info@akrg.cz Web: www.akrg.cz

Corporate & Commercial Leading Lawyer – Thailand SCL Law Group (formerly known as Chavalit Law Group) provides a full range of legal services to serve the needs of clients. We have structured our group of law firms in such a way that general legal work, such as corporate, securities, banking and finance, corporate recovery services, expatriate services, labour, mergers and acquisitions, property, taxation, litigation and arbitration, are handled by Siam City Law Offices (SCL); and intellectual property, information technology and telecommunications work is handled by Chavalit & Associates (CA).

Our clients are both domestic companies and multinational corporations. We have worked with law firms in many jurisdictions for cross-border transactions.

The firm was started with 4 partners and a number of support staff, totalling 30 people and now after 11 years, our staff count is 100 people with head office in Bangkok and branch office in Hua Hin, along with offices in Myanmar, Loa PDR and Cambodia.

Nilobon Tangprasit is one of the founding partners of Siam City Law Offices Limited (SCL Law Group). Prior to the group’s establishment, she was a partner and member of the Corporate & Commercial Practice Group of International Legal Counsellors Thailand Ltd. (ILCT) (Russin & Vecchi). Her previous professional experience includes a three-year period as an in-house lawyer with B. Grimm & Co., in addition to successful stints with Siam Yamaha Co., Ltd. and Coopers & Lybrand Associates Ltd. Nilobon Tangprasit is a well-renowned corporate attorney within the Thai legal industry and has headed the Corporate Practice Group of SCL Group since its inception. In a career that has spanned more than 25 years, she has gained extensive expertise in advising and assisting international and Thai corporations, both in the private and public sectors, in the areas of business organisation and structure, foreign business law, investment law, joint ventures, dissolution and liquidation, corporate recovery, M&A, taxes, exchange control laws, share sales and purchases, public offerings and listing and delisting from the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET). In addition, Nilobon Tangprasit also has vast litigation and alternative dispute resolution (ADR) experience involving general commercial and corporate matters.

The Partners and the team manage each and every case in an individual manner. Great emphasis is given to the fine details of each matter. No one case is the same. We always try to understand what our clients want not only immediately but also for the long team goals of our client. This creates the trust and ultimate establishing a long working relationship. Being in the Asean region, often there is much cross boarder transections and client trust us in handling these matters. The fact that we have offices in Myanmar, Lao PDR and Cambodia makes is easier for us to provide values added service to our clients.

We have been in the business in this region for over 35 years and with it comes a vast amount of experience and a great deal of knowledge of how business is done in this region and specifically Thailand. This knowledge and expertise is used in assisting our clients in obtaining the best deals in negotiations and in various areas of our practice. We understand what our clients want and we deliver quality service, be it the setting up of a new company or restructuring a company, just as an example.

With this amount of experience comes by itself the strong business network that has been established over the years. Some of our partners have over 35 years of working experience. They know who to go for different matters, especially when dealing with Government officials.

A few prominent cases are as follows: i.

A major deal involving an aerospace supplier/manufacturer based in the USA and a leading premium built-to-measure warehouse, distribution centre and factory developer, both in Thailand and the South East Asia region. ii.

The closing of a lucrative deal between an industrial packaging container supplier/manufacturer based in Germany; and Thailand’s leading developer of industrial estates, utilities, and power and property solutions.

iii.

iv.

Assisted in a consortium agreement between a prominent utilities management services company, and (undisclosed), a division of a foreign company, the world’s largest supplier of water services; with regard to the purchase of the bid documents on the hire of work via an eauction system from the local water authority. The result of this is that its name is on the recipient list of the bid documents regarding hire of work with the e-Auction System of PWA. Assisted (undisclosed) on a contract on hire of work for water system supervision, operation and management at Suvarnabhumi Airport with Airports of Thailand PCL (“AOT”).

This year has been a tough year indeed, but we have always been in close contact with our client and have always provided them with top notch quality service. There have been compromises that we have made for our clients. These go towards showing that we value our clients and we are not merely counsels for hire. We go beyond our expectation to provide best value added service and provide the best possible solution to our clients.

We as a law firm have always believed in evolving with the times and changes in the legal frame work. A most significant development this year has been the implementation of the Asean Economic Community (AEC). We as a group have embraced this significant change and gone further to advice clients on not just their needs for Thailand, but the AEC as a whole. Educating the clients of the momentous cooperation and getting them to look beyond just Thailand, and how they can benefit and venture out into the Asean countries. When there is complexity and challenges, or changes we look at how it can work well not just for us as lawyers but also for our clients.

Our goals have always been clear for us – always provide service excellence to our clients. In achieving this aim we evolve as a group, we better ourselves in learning and adapting ourselves and our practice group in servicing our clients.

We would like to be known as a leading firm, not only in Thailand but a firm with an excellent reputation in the Asean region.

Other notable awards to evidence our excellent service are: Asian Women in Business Law Awards in the following categories: 1. Best firm in Thailand; and 2. Best national firm for work/life balance.

Contact Details: Siam City Law Offices Limited Rajanakarn Building, 20th Floor 3 South Sathorn Road, Yannawa Sathorn, Bangkok 10120, Thailand Tel: +66 (0) 2 6766667-8 Fax: +66 (0) 2 6766188 www.siamcitylaw.com

Business Advisory Services Firm of the Year – Ireland Firm Profile: Averian Global was established in 2008 to meet the needs of clients undergoing organisational or strategic change. The firm has grown organically and through acquisition (most recently Bridgewater Management in Ireland) to become one of the leading consulting firms in Europe and the Middle East offering Strategic, Technical and Solution Consulting to clients of all sizes.

Averian Global now helps meet the needs of the world’s largest companies experiencing strategic challenges and undergoing significant business transformation. Since formation, the company has built a client base of successful SME’s, multinational and blue chip clients.

Averian has been instrumental in adding significant value to these organisations and has a track record of success across many sectors to include Pharmaceutical, Biotechnology, Financial Services, Insurance, Utilities and Telecommunications.

Our team of experienced and dedicated strategy professionals are chosen for their broad range of skills and are expected to have practical hands on entrepreneurial experience allied with sound academic knowledge.

Our consultants have experience in delivering business strategies, transformation and organizational change programs. Through our innovative ‘CSI’ offering (C-Suite Initiatives) we focus on the achievement of business value along with very strong analytical and communication skills which enable us to manage change initiatives to solution delivery. To date we have created initiatives valued at over $1bln for our clients. On our Technical side, we have built specialist SWAT teams – experts in Software Analysis and Testing to ensure clients position only the best and most appropriate solution to meet their needs.

Averian has also recently acquired BusinessChallenger.com, an innovative cloud based solution to provide consistent and expert reviews of business documents in order to remove ambiguous or vague requirements within initiatives from the earliest possible stage. This solution is currently in use amongst several Enterprise Support agencies and bodies across Ireland and the UK. At Averian, we understand the link between People, Process and Technology – we build on this and develop practical workable solutions through strategic guidance, business analysis, design, and planning and solution delivery. It is our passion for helping businesses grow that makes Averian the best there is.

Areas of Expertise: Our service offerings are as follows – •

Strategy / Business Model Development / CSI – C Suite Initiatives

• •

Technical and Solution Design and Programme Management • SWAT – Software Analysis and Testing • Financial/Accounting Services/ PMO / Test Services Business Restructuring – Operational, Organisational, Strategic • Business Planning and Feasibility Studies • Training & Business Mentoring

Contact Details: Averian Global – Alan Carey, Chief Executive

Limerick Office: Bridgewater House 89 O’Connell Street Limerick, Ireland T: +353 61 512122

Offices in Dublin, London, New York and Dubai

Arbitration & Litigation Advisor of the Year – Indonesia Lubis Ganie Surowidjojo (LGS) was founded in 1985 by Timbul Thomas Lubis, Mohamed Idwan (‘Kiki’) Ganie and Arief Tarunakarya Surowidjojo. LGS specializes in both Commercial Transactions and Commercial Disputes, including criminal law. As well as helping to put the deal together we can also help to prevent or solve problems in its implementation.

Our lawyers are specialized in confirming what the legal problem is, but do not leave the solution to the client, they are also trained to suggest commercial solutions to what has started as a legal problem or legal solutions to what has started as commercial problems.

Mohamed Idwan (‘Kiki’) Ganie is the Managing Partner of Lubis Ganie Surowidjojo (LGS). He graduated from the Faculty of Law of the University of Indonesia and holds a PhD in Law from the University of Hamburg. Dr. Ganie is a Chairman of the Association of Indonesian Anti-Trust Lawyers, a member of the Regional Panel of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC), and a fellow (FSIarb) of the Singapore Institute of Arbitrators.

Dr. Ganie has more than 30 years of legal experience, and specializes in commercial transactions and commercial litigation, including alternative dispute resolution and has acted as an expert in a number court and arbitration proceedings. His expertise covers general corporate/company law, banking law, finance, bankruptcy and restructuring, mining, investment, acquisitions, infrastructure projects/project finance, antitrust, and shipping/aviation, with a particular focus on corporate governance and compliance.

Founding Partners: Mr. Timbul Thomas Lubis heads the Lubis Ganie Surowidjojo litigation section. Mr. Lubis specialises in commercial transactions and company law, as well as labour, property and real estate law.

Dr. Mohamed Idwan Ganie is the Managing Partner of Lubis Ganie Surowidjojo. Dr. Ganie specializes in commercial transactions and commercial dispute resolution, and has a focus on corporate governance.

Mr. Arief Tarunakarya Surowidjojo specializes in corporate law and has acted as the lead lawyer in hundreds of IPOs, rights issues and other capital market transactions, and more than 100 M&A deals.

Partners: Mr. Abdul Haris Muhammad Rum’s field of expertise includes general corporate, restructuring, capital markets, M&A, project finance, syariah, and oil and gas law.

Mr. Harjon Sinaga has a strong general corporate background and specializes in commercial litigation, concentrating in the fields of bankruptcy and antitrust.

Mr. Rofik Sungkar’s practice focuses on litigation, debt restructuring and general corporate law.

Ms. Dini Retnoningsih specialises in corporate transactions.

Mr. Mochamad Fajar Syamsualdi specialises in M&A. Mr. Ahmad Jamal Assegaf specialises in restructuring, investment, M&A, and telecommunications.

LGS has experience representing a diverse range of clients, including domestic and multinational corporations, public and private companies, Government instrumentalities and State Owned Enterprises.

Dr. Ganie’s international commercial transaction and litigation clients include: Goldman Sachs (US), Temasek Holdings (Singapore), Hutchison Whampoa (Hong Kong) and Mitsui (Japan).

Clients are increasingly looking for stability (or better: sustainability) and strategic direction. We have made it our mission not only to service existing but also anticipated client needs. We are therefore skilled not only to advice what the "the law says", but also what the clients could or should do to solve the legal aspects of a legal or commercial problem or to support our Clients' strategic direction.

In three years’ time we see the firm to have achieved its mission to be the Indonesian firm with the largest transaction and dispute resolution division and with the largest network of branch offices throughout Indonesia to provide not only expertise on central government laws, regulations and policies, but also regional laws, regulations and policies, and to provide assistance wherever the legal issues arise within Indonesia. All that with a view to increase value, to be more effective and cost efficient for the benefit of our clients and also to assist other firms who require legal services in the region (provinces) of Indonesia.

Contact Details: Dr. Mohamed Idwan (‘Kiki’) Ganie Managing Partner Lubis Ganie Surowidjojo Address: Menara Imperium 30th Floor Jl. H. R. Rasuna Said Kav. 1 Kuningan Jakarta 12980, Indonesia Tel: +62 21 831-5005, 831-5025 Fax: +62 21 831-5015, 831-5018 Email: ganie@lgslaw.co.id Website: www.lgsonline.com

Accounting Firm of the Year – UK Please introduce yourself, detail your areas of expertise and your experience.

John Harrison and Company have offices in Worksop, Nottinghamshire. We are an innovative firm and have won many international awards for our work. We have recently won the Corporate Livewire award for the Best Financial Management Services in the UK for 2017 for the second year in a row and won the Acquisition International s award for the Most Innovative for Financial Management Services in the UK. Please provide an overview of your firm’s history and areas of expertise.

Our Financial Management Service is designed to provide a full outsourced finance department to owner managed businesses. It is tailored to their needs to provide them with information and support that will help them manage their businesses more profitably.

We specialise in helping businesses to become more successful. Using our skill with numbers, and the ideas of some of the world’s leading business thinkers and achievers, we’ve developed a series of processes, systems and tools to help businesses become much, much more successful. We believe that our clients should always have access to the best business development support that is available.

We also believe that our clients should not pay any more tax than the law requires them to pay. So using our Tax Mitigation Service we plan our clients’ tax affairs so that they pay the least amount of tax possible.

To provide the full range of specialised services our clients will require from their ‘back office’ finance department, we have put together a network of professional service providers covering business cost reduction services; an online debt recovery system; corporate and personal finance; tax mitigation; wealth management; research and development tax credits, insolvency support and so on.

What’s your firm’s unique selling point?

There are two things which differentiate us in the accountancy profession. First, we see our role as helping owner managed businesses build better businesses and have better lives, hence our strapline ‘Better Business, Better Life’ Our Business Development Programme takes business owners through a full process from goal setting, through strategic planning, business modelling, customer service standards, team building, operational efficiency and so on through to creating a Management Control Plan.

The second is that we believe in setting the highest possible service standards which are backed by these guarantees: We guarantee that our fees will be agreed in advance for all the assignments that we undertake; we will always take our clients’ telephone calls when we are in our office or return them within seven working hours, failing which we will send our client £50; we will meet the deadlines that are set for any assignment or that assignment is free; and we will pay any penalties, interest and surcharges which might arise from our shortcomings. On top of all that, if anything we do falls short of our clients’ expectations we will refund our fee in full without question, or allow our client to reduce the fee to whatever level they feel Please tell us about the firm’s management in this (these) areas and their specific abilities.

These are the core values upon which our business success has been built and on which our future success will be built.

Work Expectations. Our work experience has to be sufficiently varied to give all team members exposure to all of the types of work that general practice, and our practice in particular, can give. The work we do has to be challenging and enjoyable.

Client Relationships. At all times, we have to maintain personal relationships with our clients. They must be made to feel welcome on every contact with our practice. They must always be aware of the work we are performing for them, the desired results, anticipated time scale and, most importantly, the progress we are making on their behalf.

Client contact will always take precedence over anything else that we are doing at the time.

Team Management, Development and Relationships. The personal development of all of our team members is vital for our own self esteem and for our future as a practice. We have to regard learning as a lifetime commitment. Our internal procedures have to ensure that every team member always has a personal development programme and given every assistance necessary to carry it out.

We will always be aware of the maxim that ‘business creates life’ in the sense that we go to work to provide the means to make a better life for ourselves. We will always remember that our responsibilities to our families always take precedence over our professional ones as the latter can be delegated in times of need.

Personal Standards. Greet and farewell clients by name, with eye contact and handshake if appropriate.

Always speak politely using a person’s name, ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ as appropriate.

If you have an issue with someone, talk about it with them and in private and resolve the issue. When you talk to a person who is not present, speak as if they are listening to your conversation. Apologise and make restitution if someone is rightfully upset by your actions.

Blame a system, not a person for errors or omissions. When things go wrong it is inevitably because our procedures have not been documented properly rather than individual incompetence.

Always tell the truth. Trust is one of the most important factors in professional relationships. Once it is lost, the relationship is likely to be lost too.

Quality. The quality and accuracy of our work should always be the highest level possible commensurate with its value to our client and naturally the amount they are prepared to pay for it. All of the work we do must be subject to review before it is submitted to our clients.

Leadership. We have to be innovative in our service delivery. We have to always be aware that our clients’ needs will change over time so we must always observe those changes and amend our service offering where necessary. The role of leader is to provide the vision of our business progression, to carry out the necessary research, communicate it to the team members and provide them with the means to carry it out.

Please detail any significant clients your firm has worked with and/or projects undertaken by your firm in the past year.

We have been engaged by a $500 million American company which deals with liquid handling and has decided to expand into Europe. It handles any kind of liquid: water, wine, oil, corrosives; farm slurry and so on. They are a big contractor to the fracking industry in the US and are bringing their knowledge and experience into the European marketplace. At the moment they are open in the UK, Netherlands and Germany and our software is ideal for them as it is multi lingual, multi currency, allows branch reporting and consolidating accounts. We can send financial reports either in the local currency or over to the US in US dollars. We get two days after the month end to complete management accounts and we’re never late.

“Outstanding product, outstanding service, I would not hesitate to recommend Mr. Harrison’s accounting and consulting services to any company that is considering opening a business in the United Kingdom”.

Richard Stanton, (of the American company)

“Dear Richard, I’m glad to hear that Mr. Harrison has provided you with a variety of accounting and consulting services. I will keep Mr. Harrison in mind for future US companies who are considering opening a business in the UK.” Ondre Seltzer, Business Development Associate, UK Trade & Investment, British Consulate-General | 2029 Century Park East, Suite 1350, Los Angeles.

Also we’ve recently been appointed by a British company which has invented the greenest lightweight aggregate in the world which is used for concrete manufacture using raw material all of which goes into

landfill at the moment. We are working with them on their business plans and assisting them arranging the funding for the first UK plant which will generate sales of £50 million per annum.

We have been chosen because our systems are expandable, fully documented in the cloud and we have access to efficient offshoring services which will provide any labour that we cannot source in the UK What challenges, complexities or changes has the firm experienced this year particularly bearing in mind the tough economic downturn we are all encountering?

When I first obtained my practising certificate I could provide any of the services that my clients might require: accounts and tax returns; audit; wealth management and insolvency work. Over the years the latter three have been denied to us through regulation and licensing.

When computers first became commercially available they gave us an exceptional technological advantage because in the small business sector only professional practices could afford to buy them.

Things are very different now. People can go to college for three years, buy a £400 laptop and all of a sudden they can set up across the road as an ‘accountant’ at about 1/3rd of the fee we charge. So there we were. The last of our core services and the margin on it was falling through the floor.

How did you overcome the complexities, challenges or changes?

Around the end of 2013 I was at a 2020 conference where Chris Fredrikson was speaking. He was extolling the virtues of a book that had been written by Jim Collins and was the most read book on business management on the planet..

I had that book, but never read it. It was called ‘Built to Last’. Collins had carried out a study of businesses that had started out over 100 years ago and were still with us today and compared them with similar companies that set up at the same time but failed.

He discovered that each of the long lasting companies had a mission. He didn’t mean one those woolly Mission Statements thought up by marketing gurus, he meant they has a real purpose, for example, GalxoSmithKline whose mission was to improve human health so if they are fighting cholera or polio or aids or some future disease it makes no difference..

So that set me thinking about my accountancy practice which had been founded in 1928. What had been our mission that had seen us through the last 90 years or so that would be relevant for the next 90 years? I knew from an old cash book that we still had that in the 1930s most of the work was insolvency work. As the Second World War came along accounts preparation became prevalent; in the 1970s when tax rates hit 98% tax mitigation was a big factor; from the 80s onwards computerised accounting services were prevalent.

To me the common thread seemed to be that we were helping business owners build better businesses and in Paul Dunn’s words provide a better life for the owners, the workers and their customers so the strapline ‘Better Business, Better Life was born.

I wondered what services can we provide that would fit into that definition in this digital age and I came to the conclusion that it would be financial management services, helping business owners set their long term strategic goals and achieve them. At its heart would be a Financial Management System and started researching electronic systems using the cutting edge technology that was becoming available at the time.

Purchase invoices were e-mailed into the system, approved online and supplier payments sent into an online system for authorisation and release to our clients’ bank accounts; bank transactions were streamed into the accounting system and real time financial reports sent straight to our clients’ phone. The year end figures go into financial performance review software for graphical analysis, forward projections and financial modelling.

You might have noticed that no single entry has been typed into the accounting system with a keyboard. Not a single one. And so it is with month end journals. Spreadsheets are created for things such as petty cash transactions, expense claims, month end journals and these are linked to a template which is used to upload the transactions into our accounting software, eliminating the possibility of keyboard error.

What are the future aspirations and directions for the firm? How do you see the market progressing in 2018?

Business for Good

As part of our initiative to help spread the word about businesses giving back to the community, we play a big part in this thanks to Buy 1 Give 1. Due to B1G1’s incredible charities and stories, we are able to choose what charities and what giving we want to do.

We have decided to link various tasks we complete to giving so that when we complete a certain task we will give to a project on our client’s behalf. The point of B1G1 is becoming a business for good.

Here are some of the examples of the charitable giving that we make: •

As it means a lot to us to gain a new client at John Harrison and Company, when someone new signs we provide five hot, nutritious meal to persons in need in the UK.

•

A business diagnostic is a great way for business owner to improve their business so when we complete a diagnostic we send a birthday treat to an orphaned child in South Africa

•

Our Profit Improvement Programme really is a very valuable tool to help businesses grow. As it is so important tour clients, we have decided that when we complete this programme we shelter a child for a week in Nepal

•

It’s really good for our cash flow when a client pays our fees on time so when they do we provide hospital patients with clean water for a day in Kenya.

•

When file accounts at Companies House, we provide one square metre of rainforest protection in Australia

•

When we file a tax return, we give seven days of access to warm clothes for winter protection in Ukraine.

Get and Give a Million We have just launched major new initiative called Get and Give A Million to help the region’s businesses put £1 million into their bank accounts and make the world a happier place by creating a million smiles We want to make a real impact on the lives of business owners. An impact that flows over into their families, communities, economies and the wider world. An impact that will help make the world a better place for us all. We launched “Get and Give A Million” as a free initiative that helps in two ways. Firstly, by using our skills and experience to find ways of putting £1 million into the bank accounts of our clients to give better lives for business owners, their team members and loved ones (this is the “Get A Million” part). And secondly by helping them to fulfil their corporate social responsibility by giving which creates impacts and a million smiles around the world supporting the UN’s Global Goals (this is the “Give A Million” part).

Contact Details: John Harrison & Company 78 Carlton Rd Worksop Nottinghamshire S80 1PH 01909 472310 john@johnharrison.co.uk

FOR ADVERTISING ENQUIRIES PLEASE CONTACT: ADMIN@WFAAMAG.CO.UK

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