FINFIVE ARE NEXT GENERATION CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS
April 2009
A team of four dynamic young chartered accountants are reinventing the profession and positioning themselves to take advantage of changes in the industry.
They are young, dynamic and unconventional—not the usual way you would describe a team of accountants. But the professionals at FinFive are exactly that, and while they do not fit the typical grey-suited accountant mould, they are delivering top-level consulting services to some of South Africa’s leading businesses.
Their client list includes mining companies such as Randgold, Alexkor, Namakwa Diamonds and Great Basin Gold. They have structured major BEE deals, were involved with listing one of their clients on the London Stock Exchange and currently act as chief financial officers for two of their major mining clients. Not bad for a team who until recently operated only virtually.
“We have opted for a 22nd century approach,” says Pieter van Zyl, one of the firm’s partners. “We are all young professionals who have worked in old-fashioned corporate contexts. We wanted to create a more flexible environment which would suit our lifestyles, and for a long time we operated virtually.
“Working remotely is very easy for young people who have grown up with PCs and operate them with the same confidence that the older generation has tuning a radio! We capitalise on these natural skills of young people, and make it work for the business and for the individuals.”
While having a virtual office may seem like an obvious strategy to manage overheads, van Zyl insists that there is more depth to the approach. “We know from our own experience that young professionals do not want to be tied to their desks,” he says. “A lot has been written on the Y Generation—smart youngsters who want to work, but they need their work life to adapt to them and not vice versa. We have created an environment where we maximise productivity and maintain the morale of this new up and coming generation.”
Van Zyl says that one of their company policies is to not travel in traffic unless it is completely unavoidable. But their staff need to available and 100% mobile for the usual working day. “This increases our overall productivity by at least 15% daily,” says van Zyl. “Given that we’re in the business of selling time, this makes a material impact on our bottom line.”
FinFive has recently acquired office space “only because we had to get a filing cabinet, and some of our admin staff needed a space to work in,” says Van Zyl Botha, another of the partners. “Even the filing cabinet was a big shift for us—we are committed to operating in a paperless environment, but collecting some paper along the way has been unavoidable.”
“We have a staff complement of 18, but we only occupy 48sqm of office space. This is nowhere near the required size, but we can keep it to a minimum as 90% of our staff still operates remotely.”
FinFive has future-proofed its business both from an employee and a client perspective. In 2010/11, the Companies Act will change so that smaller companies will no longer be required to submit audited annual financial statements. “Most firms have positioned themselves firmly in the auditing space,” says Botha. “Historically, this has been a low-risk model, because all companies have to be audited and therefore have to hire auditors, guaranteeing annual annuity income for firms.
“But an audit is always a grudge payment—it is something smaller companies have to do rather than want to do. From the outset, we decided that we did not want to have this kind of relationship with our clients. Even though it was higher risk, we made a choice to position our consulting services over and above our auditing skills. It is also the work we are more passionate about!”
By following this approach, the team at FinFive finds itself well positioned to take advantage of the change in the Companies Act. Having already established success with value-added services in the mining industry, the company can leverage this to offer similar services in other industries.
“Our model has proved to be hugely successful in the three years we have been operating,” says Botha. “We are very profitable but we can offer our services at a fraction of the cost of other accounting firms. Clients like working with us because of our different approach, and the fact that we are extroverts and leaders in the accounting profession.”
FinFive is one of the fastest growing accounting firms in South Africa, employing at least one new person every month. Not content with its success locally, the firm has its sights firmly set on international markets, particularly London and Dubai.
Given that they have been able to achieve what conventional players may have scoffed at, it seems likely that the partners at FinFive will accomplish whatever they put their minds to.
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