Audit Management Finance (A.M.F.) is an accounting, financial, legal and tax consulting firm offering a complete service. The firm was founded in 2008 by Mehdi Maazoun, a chartered accountant with significant Big 4 experience in both Tunisia and France. Mehdi is also the first certified public accountant elected in the High Council of the Judiciary, representing all Tunisian accountants. This honorific title has notably increased the legal services of the firm A.M.F. and gives him the opportunity to sit with the highest magistrates and lawyers.
We asked Mehdi to answer our questions on some key issues in the accounting sector:
In your opinion, what is the future for your profession?
Significant changes await our profession in the coming years. Numerical changes and artificial intelligence will impose new methods, techniques and rules. Even traditional activities such as audit will have to change working methods and take advantage of new technologies to gain in terms of cost and profitability. On the other hand, we believe that consulting activities will be the most affected by these changes. We must prepare ourselves for these new challenges and take advantage of new technologies in order to increase the growth of our professions.
What is your growth strategy?
We are planning more work in the African continent and in particular Francophone Africa (Ivory Coast, Senegal, Mauritania, Morocco, Guinea and Djibouti), whose countries use the same laws as those applied in Tunisia and inspired by French law.
In addition, the French language applied in these countries allows us to send, to the consulting and audit missions, our Tunisian collaborators who master the French language (language of study in Tunisian Universities).
Finally, the African continent has achieved the highest level of growth compared to all other continents. Not being a saturated market, the opportunities and prospects are enormous and allow us to plan more growth in these countries, especially based on our knowledge of the terrain and the business environment, which remains very specific to Africa.
Where do you see your firm 5 years from now?
Over the next five years, we will develop the foreign market in order to export more of our services. Our firm will also benefit from being part of BOKS International and we plan to invest more in new technologies and artificial intelligence in order to be up to date, not to be overtaken by competitors, and to improve the positioning of our firm in the next five years.
What is your biggest challenge?
The life and the future of a company are only the sum of a set of challenges that never stop, as long as there is still life in this entity. The main challenge is to keep up with the pace of growth of our firm, to keep up with the legislative, regulatory and technological changes that are advancing at high speed, while maintaining the human size of our firm.
What percentage of your work is international?
30-40%
What business advisory services do you offer?
Our firm works with local and international clients (in particular subsidiaries of European companies established in Tunisia). Our business advisory services cover Business creation; Business plan; Tax optimisations; Corporate valuation;…
What was your main driver for being part of BOKS International?
The presence of BOKS in several countries is an opportunity for our firm and our customers who wish to work internationally. Our firm frequently works with local clients who have subsidiaries or assignments abroad. Our membership of an international alliance will give our clients an opportunity to contact the law, audit and consulting firms present in these foreign countries. Our clients will be better served and will certainly appreciate working with us, Cabinet AMF Tunisia, which is part of an alliance present in several countries.
Moreover, our membership in BOKS International will allow our firm to be more up to date, to benefit from the experience of other members around the world, to participate in regional meetings and annual conferences in order to discover new developments in our fields of activity.
Where do you see BOKS International 5 years from now?
Based on my professional experience in international audit networks, I appreciate the high standards applied by BOKS International’s management. In my opinion, this explains the solid growth of BOKS International in previous years. In the future, I am confident that this strong growth will continue, including a presence in several new countries.
It will be very interesting this year in particular because it will correspond with the year 2020 (Top 20 in the year 2020).
How would you describe your typical client?
We have many types of clients in our firm but if we have to choose a typical client, it will be an SME company with a share capital closed to a reduced number of partners. Small and medium-sized companies generally export partially because the local Tunisian market is not large (10 million inhabitants), but the export possibilities are important thanks to the strategic position of Tunisia (as a gateway to Africa), the advanced know-how and the high quality of its engineers and workforce compared to the neighbouring countries.
The typical small and medium Tunisian company client of our firm is generally an industrial or service company.
Tell us about a recent international assignment?
Our firm has accompanied the creation of a new economic entity in Africa (Guinea Conakry) by preparing the business plan as well as the implementation of accounting and internal control systems to ensure a successful start-up.
How do you target clients who are looking for international services?
We offer special assistance to clients seeking international services, anticipating in advance the obstacles that may hinder the client abroad, analysing the differences between the laws and business environments of the countries concerned and assisting clients in their international business, whether by our firm or by the other member firms of BOKS International.
Do you specialise in a particular sector or service?
Tax optimisation
