Deloitte Southeast Asia officially opens its newest practice in Lao PDR

VIENTIANE, 11 March 2016 — Deloitte Southeast Asia expands its regional footprint by officially opening its Lao PDR practice on 9 March 2016. This new practice joins 10 other local practices – Brunei, Guam, Indonesia, Cambodia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam – to deliver high quality services to companies operating in or out of the country, drawing on the regional and global expertise within the Deloitte network.

Incorporated on 1 June 2015 under Deloitte (Lao) Sole Co., Ltd., the practice’s new office is located at the Lao Stock Exchange building in the central business district of Vientiane, with a current staff strength able to provide a broad range of audit, tax and advisory services to multinational companies and local clients. The number of employees is projected to grow steadily as the demand for professional services increases in Lao PDR.

“Lao PDR has been growing rapidly. With an impressive GDP growth rate of 7.5% last year and the government’s commitment to developing a resource-based economy, Lao PDR is certainly presenting many attractive opportunities for businesses,” says Chaly Mah, Chief Executive Officer, Deloitte Southeast Asia. “A number of Deloitte’s global and regional clients have started doing business in Lao PDR or have plans to do so, and we are seeing a greater demand for world class professional services on the ground.”

Deloitte Southeast Asia, of which Deloitte Lao PDR is a part, sets itself apart by being able to deliver seamless services for clients operating across the region as one firm. Deloitte Southeast Asia’s team of over 270 partners and 7,300 professionals, backed by global resources, are able to offer a multidisciplinary suite of professional services that go hand-in-hand with deep regional industry insights.

Deloitte is one of the largest professional services organisation in the world with aggregate revenue of US$35.2 billion and a headcount of over 225,000 professionals in 150 countries.

Deloitte Lao PDR can tap into this full spectrum of global and regional insights, and at the same time, provide in-depth local market knowledge which is crucial when navigating the local business, tax and regulatory environment.

“Lao PDR and Thailand have long-standing relations and close collaboration in many areas. There are also frequent exchange of visits between the leaders of the two governments which have enabled Thailand and Lao PDR to become strong economic partners,” says Subhasakdi Krishnamra, Country Managing Partner, Deloitte Lao PDR and Deloitte Thailand. “The opening of our Deloitte Lao PDR office is an important milestone which demonstrates Deloitte’s continuing commitment and support to the growth in the emerging markets and the development of our capabilities to serve clients from all corners of the business community and industries across the region.”

The local office in Vientiane is led by Country Director Choopong Surachutikarn who is also an Audit Partner of Deloitte Thailand, and Senior Manager, Ms. Phaymany Philakone, who has many years of experience serving both MNCs and local companies operating in Lao PDR.

Based on IMF Forecast, the Southeast Asia region is expected to become the 4th largest economy in the world by 2020 and Lao PDR is one of the countries with high GDP growth among the ASEAN nations. In addition, the launch of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) will present many opportunities for Lao PDR through benefit from more intra-regional trade.

“The expansion into Lao PDR is in line with Deloitte Southeast Asia’s strategy to grow inorganically through scale change and geographic expansions. We are committed to growing our business in Lao PDR and will continue to provide strategic support to develop the accounting profession through training and development, and capacity building. We will also share our collective experience and expertise of our Deloitte network with the professionals in Lao PDR,” says Mr Mah.

“These are exciting times for Deloitte as well as for Lao PDR, and we look forward to work together with the various business and government organisations here to thrive in this new business landscape.”

Grand Opening of Deloitte’s Lao PDR practice. From L – R:

• Philip Yuen, incoming Deloitte SEA CEO
• Chaly Mah, current Deloitte SEA CEO
• Dr. Phirany Pissamay, Deputy Director General of the Accounting Department of The Ministry of Finance and the President of The Lao Chamber of  Professional Accountants and Auditor
• Subhasakdi Krishnamra, Country Managing Partner, Deloitte Lao PDR and Deloitte Thailand
• Choopong Surachutikarn, Country Director, Deloitte Lao PDR
  
  

Note: Please contact Carie-Anne Bak for high resolution photo