CLA Global's new CEO, Paul English, is planning to further extend the accounting and advisory firm network to more countries.
CLA Global was
"First and foremost, growth has to be a consideration," he said. "We're competing with networks that have been around for 20, 30, 50 years. We're in 14 markets now, so naturally our focus is to expand. We expect to be in between 25 to 30 markets by the end of the year. Things are moving very quickly. The pipeline's very active."
He wants the growth to occur in specific parts of the world. "It has to be quality growth," said English. "It's not just growth for the sake of it. The structure of the network is important. The intention is not to try and cover the world. Many of the networks out there will be in 140 or 150 markets. We've taken the view that based on the type of network we want to create, the number is probably around 50 strategically important markets, not quite as tight as, for example, a global law firm, which might be 20 or 30. But 50 markets we think are strategically important, and our focus is there."
"That partly links to what will be a key focus to me is the type of experience we want to create in that network," he continued. "It needs to feel a certain way. We'll have one network firm per market. It's not a volume play. It's a quality play. And we want the experience of the firms within that network to be a positive one —to be a very collaborative one rather than just being in a sea of other organizations."
English has over 20 years of experience in global and marketing leadership roles in professional services across the Americas, the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) region and the Asia-Pacific. He was formerly on the global leadership team at Grant Thornton, working on global strategy, brand, and the international clients and markets agenda. Previously, he also worked at RSM in the U.K., focusing on consulting and marketing strategy in the mid-market and the government sector. As strategy director at the consulting firm, Source, English spent many years working on a variety of consulting projects for over 20 of the world's largest professional services firms.
Last week the network announced that Hills Group in Sao Paulo, Brazil, has become a network member firm of CLA Global and is being renamed CLA Brazil. Several former member firms of Baker Tilly in Mexico also
"Latin America is important," said English. "Some of that pattern is linked to the brand power of CLA LLP, so naturally for firms with some proximity to the U.S. there's probably a greater level of brand visibility and brand awareness. The corridors of business between the U.S. and some of those markets are strong, so it's interesting to see the pattern of where that starts to take place."
He sees a number of locations in Europe where the network may expand as well. "Europe has a number of key markets," he said. "We've got a very strong firm in the U.K., Germany and the Czech Republic. They are helping us to identify where the markets are important to them and where their clients have operations, so we've identified a number of key European territories that we would like to have a presence in."
He is open to seeing services expand as well in various ways. "It's across the board," said English. "In the markets that we're talking about, we would like to have a network firm that has full-service capability across audit, tax and advisory. We're also building out an alliance network where there may be more specialist skills in one niche, capabilities that would sit alongside those full-service firms. Given our focus on the midmarket particularly, they really do value that more integrated capability across audit, tax and advisory."
Unlike Andersen Global, he doesn't foresee expanding much into legal services. "Legal services are not front of mind at the moment," said English. "Sometimes in certain markets, we may have a firm that will have some legal capabilities, but it's not a strategic investment area at the global level."
He hopes to attract more young people to the firm amid the talent pipeline shortage in accounting.
"That's certainly a focus," said English. "I've not had a chance to speak to all the firms in the first week, but I know that is very much front of mind for most of the firms in the network. What I do think, from previous experience, and what is certainly happening, is that the opportunities around augmenting professional pathways with technology, with AI, do seem to really appeal to that generation of younger professionals in terms of the possibilities there. Rather than seeing accounting as an old fashioned or tired long-term profession, they're seeing new and different opportunities as to how can I be a professional in the new world, and how can I use some of these new technologies to both create value for our clients, but also have different types of experience from a career perspective."
More accounting firms seem to be embracing artificial intelligence as a way to automate processes and make up for staff shortages, and the network may help spread those skills and technology approaches.
"AI is obviously very much front and center in everybody's minds at the moment," said English. "I think there are opportunities to adapt some of the existing AI technologies. Many firms in the professional services world are creating custom platforms internally. They're working out how that sort of capability can be integrated with existing service lines to deliver new services in new ways. But there are lots of other technologies around process automation. The innovation doesn't always come from the biggest firms with the deepest pockets. Sometimes those problems are solved in different markets. We have been looking at lots of interesting innovations in the ASEAN markets, for example. Part of my focus is on how to identify, capture, leverage and enable that transfer of technology between firms. That's partly what we're seeing in the announcements from some of the bigger firms in CLA Global about their future investments. Nobody wants to be on their own thinking about this. They'd like to lean into more of a network or a collaborative capability to try and think about that more collectively, given some of the implications."
In addition to AI, more firms are also getting into the sustainability reporting and assurance area, and could team up there as well.
"Many of our firms already have that capability," said English. "Some of that is driven by client and market demand. I know just from my experience in the market, sometimes there's been an anticipation that it's going to explode and it doesn't move so fast, and then it starts to accelerate. There's probably an opportunity in a new network to think about how we bring those communities of practice together, and bring professionals and experts from different countries together to think about those things."
There may be opportunities for accountants to move laterally across firms in the network to share their expertise, especially if they want to relocate abroad, and that is on CLA Global's list of strategic priorities.
"That is something that we're very much focused on," said English. "We're trying to work out the best processes and approaches to enable that to happen. Naturally, there are complexities in making that work, but our intent is very much to maximize those opportunities. There are already a number of secondees, even in an early stage network, between some of our bigger territories. They're sharing their stories back into the network. We want to do more of that, and we just need to work out the mechanisms to make that as streamlined as possible."
He sees other strategic priorities as well for CLA Global, especially around innovation. "How do we maximize that? That is very much central," said English. "There is something for me about building a cadre of global leaders, and thinking about that group of next generation leaders, and building a global mindset in the organization and how powerful that can be. The idea is you can go into any office in any member firm across the CLA Global network, and they have a sense of that international network. They feel like they're part of something bigger. I see that as very much central to my role. That is something we need to create. If you're sitting behind your desk as a tax or audit or advisory professional in one city in one country, you have a sense of a global entity around you, and that is inspiring a sense of opportunity."
