Deloitte, one of the "Big Four" international accounting firms, is celebrating its 50th anniversary in Cyprus, honouring its two founders at a major event to be held in Nicosia tonight.
Since 1845 when William Welch Deloitte opened his first accountancy office in London, Deloitte has become one of the largest professional services organisations in the world, Christis Christoforou Managing Partner and CEO of Deloitte Cyprus told the Financial Mirror in an exclusive interview.
“Today we shall honour Christodoulos Chrysanthou and Michalakis Christoforou, who 50 years ago in January 1958 had the vision and foresight to set up Chrysanthou & Christoforou,” he said, adding that a milestone in the firm’s history was the integration in 2002 of Chrysanthou & Christoforou, the Arthur Andersen representative in Cyprus, thus enhancing Deloitte’s presence in Cyprus.
Alberto Terol, Deloitte Representative for Europe, the Middle East and Africa as well as senior Deloitte partners from 20 countries are in Cyprus to mark the occasion and take part in the anniversary celebrations.
“We continue to have a passion for excellence, with our two main pillars to achieve our vision being – the most sought after talent and the most sought after clients,” Christoforou said.
He added that apart from the milestone celebrated this year, the firm also received the Social Excellence award for implementing best practices for a World Life Balance among employees and for being named the best tax team in Cyprus for 2008 by the World Finance Journal.
Expanding
With more than 400 staff and 18 partners, Deloitte is one of the fastest expanding companies of Cyprus offering audit, tax, consulting and financial advisory services, operating from Nicosia, Limassol and Larnaca.
The Limassol offices recently moved to their own premises while the Nicosia office will move to their new building in 2010.
Deloitte is also a powerhouse in offering technology related services and delivering e-solutions for business and the government of Cyprus. It successfully implemented and delivered the government’s civil registration system for the Ministry of Interior, which runs the elections, passports, ID cards and related services.
Deloitte also developed the Cyprus government portal linking all the ministries through their own web sites.
In addition to e-business and e-commerce, new service solutions include wealth management consulting services which are offered through Deloitte Investment Services, a subsidiary of the Group, which is a regulated financial services firm providing investment advice to institutions and institutional investors and high net worth individuals.
Financial Centre
Christoforou said the future prospects of Deloitte Cyprus are directly aligned with the prospects of the island increasing its clout among nations competing to become financial centres.
“Cyprus succeeded in maintaining its competitive advantage post EU membership compared to other low tax jurisdictions, but now it is imperative that we maintain our advantages as regards Russia, the Ukraine, India and other countries and at the same time expand further our relationship with new emerging markets such as China”, he said.
As is the case with all major and successful services companies, Deloitte Cyprus derives a significant part of its revenue from international business, which is why Christoforou views as very important the need to maintain the key double taxation treaties with Russia, Ukraine, India and other emerging countries.
“It is not by chance that Cyprus is the third largest investor in Russia. We need to keep the momentum and build on this success,” he said.
