Vietnam remains vital for Deloitte

What can you tell us something about the development of Vietnam’s auditing market and its outlook for the years to come?

Although independent auditing is a new industry in Vietnam, it has achieved strong growth over the past 22 years with over 170 auditing companies now operating in Vietnam.

Despite being a young industry, independent auditing plays an important role in Vietnam’s financial industry and in ensuring transparency in the economy.

The issuance of the Vietnamese auditing and accounting standards and the Law on Independent Auditing passed in 2011, which took effect in 2012, created a legal framework for the auditing industry to further develop.

There has been an increase in the quantity and quality of auditing companies in Vietnam, including among the world’s four biggest professional accounting firms  (Big Four) providing tax, financial advisory services and consulting that have been highly appreciated by clients.

I believe that this industry will strongly develop in the coming years.

Leaders of Deloitte South East Asia and Deloitte Vietnam at the South East Asia Conference 2013 held in Ho Chi Minh City last week

Three years ago, Deloitte announced a billion-dollar strategic investment plan with half of the funds to be injected into member firms in China, India and South East Asia. How is the plan going, particularly in terms of Deloitte Vietnam?

Deloitte has started to invest $750 million over the 2013-2015 fiscal years in its Strategic Markets Programme. This is a continuation of the prior $500 million three-year investment programme for the 2010-2012 fiscal years. This equals $1.25 billion of investment in strategic markets between 2010 and 2015.

The programme focuses on 11 strategic markets around the globe, especially South East Asia including Vietnam. Other markets include China, India, Korea and Japan. The investment programme aims to expand client services and industry capabilities in selected strategic markets, bolster the hiring and deployment of top talent, and cultivate new innovative services and multi-disciplinary offerings.

Deloitte’s continued focus on priority markets resulted in nearly 7 per cent growth of these markets in local currency, thus outpacing the rest of the network markets. More than $250 million will go towards markets in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

Of the total investment, $550 million is earmarked for hiring talent, deployment, and development in order to strengthen member firm client services. In Vietnam, we have been investing in infrastructure and talent to provide the best services to our clients. About $7-8 million is set aside for Vietnam to hire expertise and professional skills.

PetroVietnam CEO Do Van Hau (left) and Chaly Mah Chee Kheong (right)

Are you satisfied with the growth of Deloitte Vietnam in comparison to other branches in South East Asia?

I am very optimistic and proud of Deloitte Vietnam. Vietnam has great potential and is one of the key markets in the South East Asia region that Deloitte has focused on. During the six years since 2007, Deloitte Vietnam has been one of the fastest growing practices in the region.

Vietnam is an extremely important market for Deloitte. As global attention increasingly shifts towards Asia, the region’s opportunities will emerge. Deloitte Vietnam’s expanding client service capabilities and innovative multi-disciplinary offerings position the firm perfectly to help its clients emerge as leaders in the highly complex and shifting marketplace.

The Vietnamese economy continues to shift towards a higher growth trajectory and is poised to play a greater role in the region. The ascendency of the Vietnamese economy, along with its renewed focus on sustainability, is leading to greater investment opportunities, which will likely lead to a stronger economy. In this context, our goal has always been to provide high-quality services to our clients that help them deal with the ever-evolving regulatory environment and economic landscape.

How is Deloitte positioned in terms of competition between the Big Four in this market?

I’m very pleased to announce that Deloitte is again number one globally, based on revenue results announced by PwC this week.

In the 2013 fiscal year, PwC achieved aggregate global revenues of $32.088 billion, compared to Deloitte’s revenues of $32.399 billion. This means Deloitte is now the largest among the Big Four globally, with a lead of just over $300 million.

Size, however, is only one measure of market leadership, the auditing quality and our role in society is even more important in determining how Deloitte is viewed by our wider stakeholders.

Deloitte continues to rank among the leading advisory and auditing companies with the highest growth rate among these Big Four companies in Vietnam according to the FAST500 Report. Our clients here include leading corporations such as the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam), state utility corporation Electricity of Vietnam, Vietnam Airlines, VietinBank and the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV), as well as the country’s leading telecoms service provider Viettel.