Insider Spotlight
The firm, which recently opened a new Makati office to support its growing Metro Manila team, says the Philippines has become central to its global growth strategy because of the technical capabilities and professional readiness of Filipino talent.
Why the Philippines matters
“We are an advisory and accounting firm. So on the accounting side, we provide a full service of tax services and audit services. On the advisory side, we provide support for due diligence, we provide support for valuation, wealth management systems and also provide support for technology implementation to other firms as well,” Dave Kothari, Global Solutions Delivery leader and partner at Aprio, said in an interview with InsiderPH.
In 2022, Aprio opened its first PH headquarters in Clark Freeport Zone. After four years, they have grown their employee base to 400.” Kothari emphasized that the Philippines play a vital role in their operations mainly because of its local talent.
"We are able to find employees [here] that have technical expertise on all of the services we provide to our clients," he emphasized.
Workforce expansion plans
Aprio aims to scale its Philippine workforce to “north of 750 people by 2030,” with a continued focus on hiring accounting graduates and licensed professionals.
“Ninety percent of our employees are graduates from a university. Out of the 90 percent, 50 percent are certified public accountants,” Kothari said.
“All of our client-facing professionals do exactly the same job and task as our counterparts in the United States,” he added, noting the firm’s projection to increase its billable hours by 70 percent here in the Philippines.
Tech-enabled delivery
Aprio is doubling down on technology to enhance productivity. “Over the last 12 months, we've also acquired a technology company, more specifically an AI company in the United States,” Kothari shared.
This company provides AI tools that will help automate repetitive work, particularly high-volume tax filings. The firm has also been deploying robotic process automation (RPA) for a number of years now.
“Technology can help take away some of those mundane tasks from a professional so they can do more client-facing, more centric related work,” he said.
Culture as differentiator
Kothari highlighted Aprio’s internal framework, the “31 Fundamentals,” which include values such as building meaningful relationships; being relentless about time management; being the expert; being kind, and keeping things fun.
“That is our secret sauce that really works and defines the type of culture that Aprio strives for,” he said.
He added that Aprio continues to evaluate additional Philippine locations as it expands, aiming to “keep all of our employees as happy and productive as possible." —Vanessa Hidalgo | Ed: Corrie S. Narisma
