Gold Magazine June - July 2013, Issue 27 | Page 18

COVER STORY

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Top 50 Audit Firms In Cyprus Top 50 Audit Firms In Cyprus Top 50 Audit Firms In Cyprus Top 50 Audit Firms In Cyprus To
Top 50 Audit Firms In Cyprus Top 50 Audit Firms In Cyprus Top 50 Audit Firms In Cyprus Top 50 Audit Firms In Cyprus To
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Cyprus
Top
50 Audit Firms In Cyprus Top 50 Audit Firms In Cyprus Top 50 Audit Firms
In
Cyprus Top 50 Audit Firms In Cyprus Top 50 Audit Firms In Cyprus Top Institute in 2010 for his contribution in the
development of the accounting and auditing
50 Audit Firms In Cyprus Top 50 Audit Firms In Cyprus Top 50 Audit
profession and the economy of Cyprus. This
Firms In Cyprus Top 50 Audit Firms In Cyprus Top 50 Audit Firms In
was confirmed last year when he became the
Cyprus Top 50 Audit Firms In Cyprus Top 50 Audit Firms In Cyprus
first individual recipient of a CIPA International
Top 50 Audit Firms In Cyprus Top 50 Audit Firms In Cyprus Top 50
Investment Award.
Audit Firms In Cyprus Top 50 Audit Firms In Cyprus Top 50 Audit Firms
In Cyprus Top 50 Audit Firms In Cyprus Top 50 Audit Firms In Cyprus
Michael Zampelas himself is modest about
Top 50 Audit Firms In Cyprus Top 50 Audit Firms In Cyprus Top 50 Audit his achievements and, in an interview with
Firms In Cyprus Top 50 Audit Firms In Cyprus Top 50 Audit Firms In
Gold, he stressed the importance of teamwork.
Cyprus Top 50 Audit Firms In Cyprus Top 50 Audit Firms In Cyprus
However, when pressed to identify key moTop 50 Audit Firms In Cyprus Top 50 Audit Firms In Cyprus Top 50
ments in the development of the local accountAudit Firms In Cyprus Top 50 Audit Firms In Cyprus Top 50 Audit
ing profession, he pointed to two particular
Firms In Cyprus Top 50 Audit Firms In Cyprus Top 50 Audit Firms In
events which, he believes, led to today’s situaCyprus Top 50 Audit Firms In Cyprus Top 50 Audit Firms In Cyprus
tion in which Cyprus is recognised the world
Top 50 Audit Firms In Cyprus Top 50 Audit Firms In Cyprus Top 50
over for the excellence of its accounting/audit
Audit Firms In Cyprus Top 50 Audit Firms In Cyprus
Top
sector. The first took place in 1977 when the
50 Audit Firms In Cyprus Top 50 Audit Firms
In
Board of ICPAC was trying to persuade the
Cyprus Top 50 Audit Firms In Cyprus Top
50
House of Representatives to pass legislaAudit Firms In Cyprus Top 50 Audit Firms In
tion to protect the accounting profession.
Cyprus Top 50 Audit Firms In Cyprus Top 50
Zampelas considered the idea “shortAudit Firms In Cyprus Top 50 Audit Firms
sighted and catastrophic” and he was
In Cyprus Top 50 Audit Firms In Cy- In Cyprus
fortunate to have an ally in the person
prus Top 50 Audit Firms In Cyprus and elsewhere,
of Brian Maynard, then President of the
Top 50 Audit Firms In Cyprus Top studying to become a
Institute of Chartered Accountants in
50 Audit Firms In Cyprus Top 50
Certified
England & Wales (ICAEW). Maynard
Audit Firms In Cyprus Top 50 Audit Chartered orhas tradiwas invited to address the Board and he eloFirms In Cyprus Top 50 Audit Firms Accountant
tionall y been viewed as a sound and admirable
In Cyprus Top 50 Audit Firms
quently persuaded them that the way forward
career move and nothing that has taken place
In Cyprus Top 50 Audit Firms
was to let the profession develop by adopting
in the last three months is likely to shake this
In Cyprus Top 50 Audit Firms
international standards, not by turning it into a
belief. When the Institute of Certified Public
In Cyprus Top 50 Audit Firms
‘closed shop’.
Accountants of Cyprus (ICPAC) was estabIn Cyprus Top 50 Audit
The other key moment, according to Zampelished in 1961, it had 21 founder members.
Firms In Cyprus Top 50
las, came at the start of the ‘90s with the fall
Today, more than 3,000 accountants belong to of communism. As an elected member of the
Audit Firms In Cyprus
the Institute.
Top
50 Audit
board of Coopers & Lybrand Europe, he was

TOP 50
ACCOUNTING,
AUDIT, TAX
& ADVISORY
FIRMS
IN CYPRUS

N

umber Crunchers.
Bean Counters.
Ledger Lovers.
Account Ants…
These are just some
of the more innocent
nicknames used when referring to accountants and auditors while to those outside the
profession, only one word comes to mind
to describe their job: boring! Of course, it’s
not really like that. Accountants analyse data,
present reports and create strategies for success. To excel in professional accounting, you
need decision-making, strategic planning and
leadership skills, as well as a clear understanding of the inner workings of an organisation.
It should not be a surprise to learn that many
business leaders are accountants and many
accountants are business leaders.

It is generally agreed that the reason why
the accounting profession in Cyprus is today
considered as equal to that of the UK, the US
and other developed countries is all down to
one man: Michael Zampelas. In 1965, when
ICPAC was four years old, Zampelas became
a Chartered Accountant and five years later,
together with his associates, he established the
accounting and consulting firm Coopers &
Lybrand in Cyprus and Athens. A merger in
1998 would eventually lead to the creation of
PricewaterhouseCoopers, more recently abbreviated to PwC, which is the world’s largest
professional services firm and the largest of the
so-called “Big Four” accountancy firms measured by 2012 revenues.
In 2007, Zampelas was honoured by the
Board of ICPAC for his visionary services to the
accounting and auditing profession in Cyprus,
while he was awarded First Prize by the same

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16 Gold THE INTERNATIONAL INVESTMENT, FINANCE & PROFESSIONAL SERVICES MAGAZINE OF CYPRUS

in a position to closely observe developments
in the countries of the Eastern bloc and realised
that there was an untapped market. By this
time, the accounting profession had reached the
stage where Cyprus was the only country outside the UK authorised to train UK Chartered
Accountants and to hold the relevant examinations, and Zampelas proposed the idea of inviting 25 outstanding students from the former
communist regimes to be trained in Cyprus.
“I knew that on their return home, they were
not only going to become top executives in
their countries but they would become the best
Ambassadors for Cyprus. That is precisely what
happened and, in my view, these two events
were key to the development of the profession
which is now admired by the rest of the world.
And it is thanks to a great extent to today’s accountants that Cyprus has gained its reputation
as a major professional services centre.”