Helping Israeli companies do cross-border business
Joining Praxity has enabled Brit Pikuach to provide high-end expertise in specialist areas of accounting for international clients.
“It’s a very good solution. The quality of services is excellent and our clients are satisfied.”
Profile
Firm: Brit Pikuach / MBT Group
Praxity membership: Member
Sector: Accountancy, Audit, Consultancy
Head office: Tel Aviv
Brit Pikuach is the 6th largest accounting firm in Israel, with 360 employees, 85 CPAs and 2500 clients. The firm specialises in auditing services for the Kibbutz, agriculture and traditional industries, including large companies with business operations worldwide. In 2009, leaders of the firm made the decision to join an international alliance to develop a broader range of high-quality services for clients doing cross-border trade. They chose Praxity because it provided the perfect platform to tap into the global expertise of accounting professionals with shared values.
The challenge
Having achieved impressive growth in Israel, including No.1 status in the Kibbutz sector, Brit Pikuach Managing Partners wanted to expand the firm’s international presence and specialist expertise. The aim was to provide a wider range of quality services to new and existing clients, especially those with subsidiaries in Europe and the USA. This growth strategy was dependant on accessing and acquiring specialist knowledge in key areas such as international audit and transfer pricing.
The Praxity solution
Joining Praxity – the world’s largest alliance of independent accounting and consulting firms – enabled professionals at Brit Pikuach to connect, share knowledge and develop meaningful business relationships with like-minded professionals in different countries. Importantly, Praxity membership meant Brit Pikuach could access expertise in the disciplines the firm had gaps in.
Describing how being part of the alliance has helped develop the audit side of the business, Arnon Raz, Audit Partner at Brit Pikuach, explains: “Every country has different rules. The main business that we do through Praxity is for our clients with subsidiaries around the world. We send these clients to Praxity participant firms who provide specialist expertise in the relevant country. Our main Praxity partner is Mazars as they are located in most of the places where we are looking for support.”
The Israeli firm has also benefitted from international expertise in transfer pricing, most notably by connecting with specialists at Praxity participant firms in the United States and Hungary. Stephanie Finkelstein, Financial Analyst at Brit Pikuach, says: “We brought over to Israel a professional from BKD in the USA who taught us how to do transfer pricing correctly. It helped us provide more services for our clients.” She adds: “We also have a team at Mazars Hungary that we work with very closely. They have the knowledge of worldwide transfer pricing whereas we have the local knowledge in Israel. The quality of analysis is very good.”
The outcome: global expertise for local growth
Praxity membership has helped Brit Pikuach expand its core services including audit, transactions, valuations and due diligence, as well as developing new areas of business, both domestically and internationally.
“Before joining Praxity, we could not provide all these services,” says Yossi Sapir, Partner and Manager of the Financial and Business Consultant Department at Brit Pikuach. He adds: “It’s a very good solution. The quality of services is excellent and our clients are satisfied. It’s a very good way to use Praxity from my point of view.”
As well as tapping into expertise worldwide, membership of Praxity has enabled Brit Pikuach to develop a close working relationship with other Praxity participant firms. This has paved the way for a joint audit for a large company. “It works very well,” Arnon says. He stresses that the key to collaboration is the personal connections between the partners around the world and the ability to contact professionals you meet at conferences and those you have got to know personally. He concludes: “The conferences and meetings are what make the alliance what it is. These events bring out the trust that develops between the various firms when they connect under the Praxity umbrella.”