Yerevan /Mediamax/. Interview of Managing partner of Grant Thornton Amyot (GTA) Armand Pinarbasi to Mediamax agency## and Banks.am portal

- According to the latest amendments to the “Order for rating of commercial organizations by the Armenian Central Bank of Armenia, the companies, which are already conferred CB ratings “B-” and higher, starting from 2009, should be providing financial accounts, approved by one of the firms of the “Big 6”. We would like you to comment on that.

- Our assessment is very positive, and not because we are one of the companies of “Big 6”. This step of the Central Bank is directed to integration of Armenian companies into the world economy, the formation of civilized and professional business-relations.

- To what extent will the local organization be ready to use the services of the “great six” companies both from the point of view of prices for the services, and also in terms of securing greater transparency that will be needed?

- To an extent they have striving to work with the external world, assuring third parties in the objective and realistic nature of their financial accounts. In the course of ten years we can state that our services are consumed by top companies and that it is voluntarily. Not a single company, irrespective of the scale of its activity, will spend a dollar, not being confident in business-return. This means, everything has its logic.

- “Grant Thornton Amyot” has been working in the Armenian market for many years. What basic stages of formation of consulting and audit services market in Armenia can you single out in this period, and does the demand existing today for the given services satisfy the development strategy of your firm?

- We started working in the Armenian market in 1991, right after the proclamation of the country’s independence. In this period we have been providing services to French companies, which planned to carry out investment activities in Armenia.

In 1994, we received the first license for realization of audit activities, and already in 1997, we were registered as a joint venture, which later on was reorganized into Grant Thornton Amyot LLC.

In mid-90s not many people knew what “audit” means, and today the situation has radically changed – the society in general , starting from students and up to the business-community representatives, started realizing the benefit, which audit represents for economic activity.

Simultaneously with the progress, our company also grew. If in 1998, only 4 people worked in the company, today we employ 120 people. Our business grows, directly is linked to the development of economy and stability of the market – if we work, it means that the market demands audit services.

What concerns the demand for our services, it exceeds the supply, and the most important thing is to be able to manage everything in short terms, which our customers often require.

- What services are most demanded today in Armenia? Do specific products enter the variety of your services?

- Today, companies turn to us for audit, consulting and legal services. At that, if the frameworks of audit and legal services are more or less limited and concretized, the variety of consulting services is a little wider – from developing business-plans and fundraising up to mergers and acquisitions of enterprises.

In the course of the recent 2 years, we are providing assistance to companies in grooming for public listing , and we are sure that with the arrival of the new owner of Armenian Stock Exchange, which is OMX NASDAQ, these services will enter a new quality level.

IT-audit, the elaboration of which we took up about two years ago, falls under the category of specific products. It is meant for banks, credit organizations, public companies, as well as companies, which work in the sphere of information technologies, and is aimed at providing security of their activities in accordance with international standards. The elaboration and implementation of the given service became possible due to the selection of professional personnel, having international certification.

- How diversified is the customer base of Grant Thornton Amyot? What place in the given base is occupied by banks and financial organizations?

- Customers of Grant Thornton Amyot are companies representing various sectors of economy, both local and foreign, irrespective of the form of their property. If previously the largest one out of the 4 departments, functioning in the structure of our firm, was the banking department, today it yielded its positions to the department of audit of enterprises. Today only about 15% of our services fall within the share of the banking department.

- How severe is today the competition in the Armenian market of consulting and audit services?

- I would name the competition in the market of consulting-audit services as severe, but healthy. The customers are interested in the most quality services, in connection with which we carry out constant and serious work to increase the professional level of our employees, to implement modern technologies.

- What conditioned the necessity for carrying out re-branding of Grant Thornton?

- According to me, the realization of re-branding was a convenient occasion to display how cohesive is our global organization and how coordinated the rebranding of all member firms of Grant Thornton International Ltd is.

The realization of a re-branding once again confirmed our readiness to realize on the same day and at the same hour a single corporate idea in all 113 countries of the world, where we have member firms.