20th July 2010:

Thoughts of a frequent traveller

As I have previously said, one of the privileges of this job is the opportunity it gives for me to meet people from so many different countries and cultures.  This has particularly been the case over the past few weeks with our annual regional meetings.  I have previously commented on my visit to Saudi Arabia for our Middle East regional meeting and the fact that I was unable to get to Pretoria for our Sub- Saharan Africa regional meeting.  However, over the past few weeks I have been to Vienna for our European meeting, to Santiago de Chile for Latin America, to Shanghai for the Asia Pac region and I am in Curacao this week for the North America & Caribbean meeting.  

Whilst the differences in culture were evident so were the similarities in the challenges and opportunities for the BDO firms in each of these regions.  This was perhaps surprising given the different economic circumstances of each region – some still facing no or very limited economic growth whilst others, particularly Asia Pac, are continuing to enjoy a buoyant economy.  Further, some our firms are fairly new – either as firms or to BDO – whilst others are long established; some operate in developing economies whilst others are in mature economies; some operate in a highly regulated environment whilst others are self regulated or have limited external regulation.  And of course, in some countries the audit and accounting profession is still relatively new whilst in others it has a long history.

As a traveller I was impressed by the beauty and history of Vienna.  I have never visited this city before and am determined to return as a tourist when I will have time to enjoy the architecture, the museums, the art and the music.  We had time for a quick coach tour of the highlights of Vienna and had dinner in the famous Hotel Sacher - the home of the sacher torte and a client of BDO.

I wasn’t sure what to expect in Santiago and was impressed that there are no lasting signs of damage in the city from the recent earthquake – indeed a visitor to Santiago wouldn’t even know of this tragedy that struck Chile only a few months ago.  We had over 160 partners at this meeting, the largest regional meeting as all firms send many partners to the meeting, and there was a great party atmosphere every evening – particularly at our dinner at the end of the meeting in a winery.  I can highly recommend Chilean wine!  Meetings in Latin America are always a great family occasion – helped because everyone (apart from me and a few North Americans and Europeans) speak the same language (I know the Brazilians speak Portuguese but they all seem able to make themselves understood in Spanish if they don’t actually speak it).  

I always enjoy my visits to China – it is such a fast changing country and is always very exciting.  I rarely have any time to ‘see the sights’ so I was pleased that I was able to spend just over half a day at EXPO 2010; I am only sorry I couldn’t spend the whole day there and see it lit up at night.  It was amazing.  Full of people, full of queues but vibrant and exciting.  Some of the buildings are extraordinary and it is a shame that most of them will be taken down after the EXPO finishes at the end of October.  The China pavilion dominates – a striking red building shaped like a pagoda on stilts – but there are plenty of interesting buildings even if the displays inside the pavilions are somewhat variable.  There is also a new concert hall, shaped like a flying saucer, with a balcony all round the top from which the views, of both EXPO but also of Shanghai, are spectacular.

As for Curacao, the sky is a perfect blue with hardly a cloud and the sea is sparkling – a perfect location for the final regional meeting.  We had dinner last night on the terrace of a new hotel overlooking the sea - magical.  A very different location but similar issues, challenges and opportunities.

 International BDO  0 Comments July 20th, 2010