At MSK, We Think First Of Clients — Du Rann

Leonie Du Rann is the Technical Director, Moore Stephens Africa, and an association of independent firms willing to network for quality service. She spoke with BUKKY OLAJIDE on her plan to make firms in Africa International Financial Reporting Standard compliant. 

What difference will membership status make on the company? I represent Moore Stephens International Limited (MSIL). The headquarters of Moore Stephens is in London, United Kingdom.

We currently have a global income of over $2Billion. Our focus is on quality and we have quality member firms that represent MSIL locally in many countries.

With respect to the benefits of full membership, MSIL operates as an association of independent firms. Member firms are enabled to get exposure and referrals from other member firms, which ensures a great networking experience. MSIL usually seconds personnel from its base to work with the member and correspondence firms within the network.

MSIL is currently driving for the expansion of its network in Africa, seeking potential and qualified member firms with global exposure to join its network.

RoseWater Partners is a correspondent firm of Moore Stephens and we have been working with them since 2004 and due to the desire for change of status, from correspondent to member firm, I was seconded to Nigeria to technically review their standard of professional practice and to be sure that it is in tandem with Moore Stephens’ International Policy on quality of service.

This procedure forms part of the requirements for the ongoing monitoring process for change of status. Moore Stephen is one of the world’s major accounting and consulting networks with 292 independent firms and 626 offices in 103 countries. Member firms are to be viewed as the first point-of-contact for all financial, advisory and compliance needs worldwide.

What’s the progress on the change to full membership status by RoseWater partners? We have invested massively in the training of our people; we train both internationally and locally, which involves technical and management training. We have also invested massively in technology to assist us drive our business.

For instance, the software that we use for audit is called ‘case ware’. It is an audit software that is International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) compliant. We have also adopted the Moore Stephens working paper files, which we have integrated into our system.

All these measures are to ensure good quality of service to clients and to be in tandem with the Moore Stephens standard of quality of service globally. What is the benefit to clients? It is an opportunity to offer quality services to existing Moore Stephens’ Clients and potential clients.

It is also an opportunity to expand the offerings of Moore Stephens in the 103 countries where it is listed and to ensure that clients get the same Moore Stephens quality in Nigeria.

How do you cope with infrastructural deficiency? It is well known that constant power is lacking, but to combat this, we have invested massively in power generating machines. We have about seven generators so that at any particular point in time, we will be able to service our clients’ demands.

On the other hand, telecommunications has improved and we are taking maximum advantage of it. How would you rate RoseWater in terms of value of service to clients within your network? Rosewater is a leading Firm in Nigeria and is the first candidate in Nigeria.

What do you hope to achieve in your tenure as technical director? I am passionate about quality of services and it is my responsibility to review firms in that regard.

My role as technical director is to provide support in terms of how quality is set up. MSIL holds quite a number of conferences and training with the focus being on quality control.

Our conferences are held globally, we recently had a conference in Dubai and in November, we will have a technical training of Africa region member firms to be held in Nairobi, Kenya. Experts on quality control would be on hand for the training sessions.