OREANDA-NEWS. BDO is pleased to announce the appointment of a new member firm in French Polynesia, effective 1 November 2013. The new BDO French Polynesia, formerly FITEC, was established in 1973 and remained independent until joining Coopers & Lybrand in 1981, which merged to become PwC in 1998. The firm has an excellent reputation in the local market and has seen steady growth year on year: revenues for 2013 are projected to be over €4 million.

The primary services provided by the firm are audit and accounting, tax compliance and legal secretarial services. The local government also approved them as an official training centre last year. Operating out of one office in Papeete with 44 partners and staff, the firm's clients include a high percentage of the island's top 20 companies, operating in the areas of tourism, banking and financial services, retail, transport and construction.

Very few international accounting networks have representation in French Polynesia and the BDO firm currently ranks number one in the market. Managing Partner Jean-Pierre Gosse is confident that becoming part of the BDO network will fuel the firm's future development.

“Our focus is on the SME market and we see a lot of opportunities to expand in this area, not only here but in New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna, where we already have a small client base. It will obviously be very beneficial to be able to augment our local knowledge with BDO's global expertise.

“We know that the BDO brand stands for exceptional service, delivered by exceptional people and we are keen to uphold this vision by empowering our people and providing them with the best in training, opportunity and reward”.

Anders Heede, Global CEO of BDO's EMEA region which, as a member of BDO's Francophonie group, BDO French Polynesia will be part of, adds “I am delighted to welcome such a strongly established firm to BDO. The partners' breadth and depth of professional experience has given them a high profile locally and they are very active within the profession in French Polynesia. We look forward to working with them to grow their firm and I am pleased that this new BDO firm has elected BDO as their trusted partner for growth”.