AUDIT and advisory services firm Kreston Zimbabwe is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year with several key initiatives in place. Our senior business reporter, Melody Chikono (MC), spoke with Kreston Zimbabwe’s managing partner, Modern Mutumwa (MM, pictured), to discuss the firm’s journey over the past decade and its future prospects. Below are excerpts from the interview:
MC: You are celebrating your 10th anniversary. What does this mean to you?
MM: Celebrating our 10th anniversary is a significant milestone for us. It represents a decade of hard work, dedication, and commitment to serving our clients and growing our firm.
This anniversary is a testament of the trust and loyalty our clients have placed in us over the years, as well as the exceptional efforts of our talented team of professionals. Reaching this 10-year milestone is a profound affirmation that our vision, values, and our dedication to excellence have paid off.Having stood this far, it also means we will be standing the next 10, 20, 50 years and grow from strength to strength.
MC: Can you take us through your plan for these celebrations?
MM: For our 10th anniversary celebrations, we have planned a series of events to engage our clients, employees, and the broader community.
Since the start of the second half of the year, our firm has taken steps to start the celebrations on our social media pages.
For our employees, we hosted wellness campaigns with local medical practitioners, as we believe a health workforce always delivers. We also went into the community and made donations to the less privileged.
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We will be hosting a dinner to recognise our long-standing clients and honour the contributions of our team members and everyone else who has been involved in making this successful milestone.
MC: What else are you organising?
MM: Additionally, we will be organising a series of thought-leadership seminars and workshops to share our insights and expertise with our clients and the industry. We also plan to continue giving back to the community by supporting local charity organisations through fundraising initiatives.
MC: What can you say are some of the challenges that you have faced?
MM: Over the past 10 years, we have faced several challenges, including navigating changing regulatory landscapes, adapting to technological advancements, and managing the complexities of a growing business.
One of the key challenges we have faced is the need to continuously upskill our team to ensure they are equipped to provide the highest level of service to our clients to meet the requirements of the reporting framework posed by International Financial Reporting Standards and from a Zimbabwean context, IAS 29: Financial Reporting in Hyperinflationary Economies and IAS 21: The Effects of Foreign Exchange Rates. To overcome this, we have invested heavily in training and development programmes, as well as fostering a culture of continuous learning within the firm.
MC: Tell us about developments in your sector.
MM: The audit industry has recently faced a massive wave of staff resignations with some staff joining online work and some going overseas.
This has led to disruptions on local service delivery. As a firm, we had to adapt quickly by engaging overseas firms so that instead of them dealing directly with our staff, they have to deal with us.
We then exposed our local staff to working for such organisations but still remaining with us.
This has made sure that after the wave has gone, we had our quality and experienced staff who can handle work at various levels irrespective of complexity.
We have also started recruiting A’ Level students as these have a longer training contract of five years, as opposed to university graduates who have a training contract of three years.
This ensures longer continuity on our clients.
MC: What other challenges have you faced?
MM: Operationally, just like any business in the world, Covid-19 presented several challenges, which ranged from change in work culture, business stress affecting collectability of debts, with some businesses closing shop.
We had to quickly adapt to working from home, meaning more investment towards online working.
We also had to streamline our cost structure to ensure that we manage costs and remain viable.
We are still having the after effects of Covid-19 and we are continuously checking our operations so as to optimise efficiencies while managing costs.
MC: What do you feel you could have done better over the years?
MM: While we are proud of our achievements, we recognise that there is always room for improvement.
One area we could have done better is the timely adaptation to emerging technologies and digital solutions.
In the past, we have sometimes been slow to adopt new technologies, which has led to inefficiencies and missed opportunities. Moving forward, we have made a concerted effort to stay at the forefront of technological innovation and to integrate digital tools and platforms into our service delivery model.
MC: Can you take us through your growth prospects and your global reach?
MM: In terms of our growth prospects and global reach, we are continually exploring opportunities to expand our footprint and extend our services to new markets.
Over the next few years, we plan to launch other services that fit into our strategic vision, and these mainly relate to business advisory and support lines.
This will enable us to better serve our growing client base.
