Nepalese firm Shankar Associates is the latest member to join the Alliance, following hot on the heels of new recruits in Yemen, Chile and Puerto Rico.
Together, the new member firms provide exciting opportunities for collaboration in areas where the Alliance has been less represented until now.
Shankar Associates is the first independent accountancy firm from Nepal to join the Alliance. Based in the financial hub and capital city Kathmandu, the firm has 25 professionals working within assurance and tax, and over 80 personnel within the overall group. The firm specialises in accounts, audit, advisory services, finance and taxation for clients in diverse sectors including not-for-profit, hospitality, service industries and manufacturing.
Competitive advantage
Commenting on joining the world’s leading Alliance, Narayan Prajapati, Partner and Head of Shankar Associates’ Outsourcing Unit, says: “We believe that the international affiliation with Praxity will provide us with a competitive advantage in the Nepalese market and help us fulfill our ambition to be a preferred and renowned business in Nepal. Many of the prospective assignments in our local market require stronger international support and larger firms to participate, for which Praxity can be instrumental. We further believe that Praxity membership will help us explore the potential opportunities in the international market as well. ”We understand that the membership brings global reach and sharing of experience and best practices among member firms which would be of immense help in our strategic growth. We are also looking forward to collaboration among member firms in both international and local business, and to develop our technical capabilities.”
Opportunities for collaboration
Shankar Associates is looking to work with other member firms in the areas of audit/assurance and outsourcing/offshoring, especially on larger contracts. Many of the international bids that open up in Nepal require a strong international support partner and local expertise. These bids typically involve multinational companies, international not-for-profit organisations, UN agencies, and multilateral development agencies such as the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and International Finance Corporation, thus providing exciting opportunities for multi-firm collaboration.The Nepalese firm is the fourth new member to join Praxity in recent months as part of a strategy to achieve balanced global representation of high-quality firms with both technical and local expertise. Earlier, this year Praxity was joined by Hamed AlShameri CPAs in Yemen, Puente Sur in Chile and MD CPA in Puerto Rico. The Alliance now consists of 56 independent firms with offices across 121 countries and is ranked No.1 in 2022 IAB World Survey of accounting associations.