Distinguishing values for clients in raw cash is but one of the advantages Baker Tilly will provide through its new range of services, after expanding the lead team.

The company operates as a medium-sized firm providing services to both local and overseas clients and manages a portfolio of more than 200 clients locally. It also has access to 30,000 resources in over 147 countries worldwide with shared experiences, expertise and best practices, to ensure privately-owned businesses and public interest entities meet challenges to respond proactively to opportunities.

The company is part of an international accountancy and business advisory network that has its headquarters in England and started functioning in Jamaica in February 2014, when Strachan, Lafayette and Associates became an independent member.

The chief partners of that entity, Wayne Strachan and Emile Lafayette, will remain lead directors in the local company to be now known as Baker Tilly Tax and Advisory Services Limited, which has widened the governance structure and skills sets by adding Jamaica Olympic Association CEO, Ryan Foster and former JaMobile Payment Services CEO, Heston Hutton, to the Board of Directors.

“We want to see ourselves as a bigger entity that provides advisory services regionally,” said Hutton, Executive Director of the Advisory side of the business.

“Instead of just giving templates and documents, we want to actually monetise the initiatives that we would’ve implemented. So whilst balance forecasts and documentation are important, it’s more academic than anything else,” he noted.

“The difference with our model is we’re going to put a dollar value, an efficiency value that can be translated throughout the business,” explained Hutton.

Also joining the leadership team as Associates are well known individuals with significant experience in regional business, Barry O’Brien and Ciaran Burke, both former CEOs of mobile giants Digicel and managing partners of Williams Caribbean Capital.

Together, the partners have more than 50 years leadership of significant start-ups and major businesses; over 50 years in telecoms, banking, financial technology, data processing, big date, e-commerce, ICT and gaming, and are presently directors on over 30 boardswith more than 20 years’ experience as independent consultants across 20 countries.

“Since our firm became a member of Baker Tilly International we have experienced significant growth in our business and stronger confidence from corporate companies and financial institutions,” said Strachan.

He added: “Having spent the last three years focusing on the business assurance, we felt it was time to expand into advisory services for which we have seen a strong demand from our existing clients.”

The combined fee income of Baker Tilly International’s independent members was US$3.23 billion for fiscal year 2016. By combined fee income of the company’s independent members, Baker Tilly says it is the eighth largest accountancy and business advisory network in the world.