Mark Vorsatz: A name from the past, and a firm for the future

Mark Vorsatz is the Global Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Andersen and Managing Director (MD) in the firm’s Private Client Services practice. He co-founded the firm under the name WTAS in 2002 and has been responsible for it ever since. He spearheaded the firm's adoption of the Andersen name in September 2014, and the establishment and expansion of Andersen Global into more than 300 locations worldwide.

He works exclusively with individuals in the design and implementation of customised income tax and estate planning solutions. Vorsatz's client base is limited to founders and/or substantial shareholders of public companies, owners of closely held businesses, and high net worth family groups. He focuses on preserving wealth for multi-generational families and has over 35 years of experience in tax practice. Earlier, he was a partner at Arthur Andersen from 1987 to 2002.

Vorsatz is co-author of two treatises: 'Income Taxation of Fiduciaries' and 'Beneficiaries and Tax Economics of Charitable Giving.' He is also co-editor of the newsletter 'Family Business Advisor', and has conducted numerous seminars on family business consulting and business disposition strategies, as well as writing articles for 'The Tax Advisor', 'Taxation for Lawyers', 'Taxation for Accountants', and other prominent tax publications.

Vorsatz spoke exclusively with Khaleej Times during his whirlwind trip to Dubai last week.

Here are some edited excerpts from the interview:

What’s your take on the growth trajectories?

We expect to continue to grow above market globally. As a benchmark, we hope to achieve 20 per cent annual growth. This year, we’re projecting a revenue growth of over 40 per cent and a headcount growth of over 20 per cent.

What could the split impact of E&Y be on audit?

I believe that audit should be a regulated business and should be separate from tax, consulting, legal, etc. The appearance of conflict, whether there is an actual conflict or not, impairs the perception of independence and objectivity. The audit function is critical to the global financial markets.

What about outreach and industry best practices?

Our focus is on expanding our global service lines and industry practices – knowledge sharing and leveraging our experiences enables our firm to pursue a strategy of best in class. Here are three recent examples in the region, for which we were selected due to our quick turnaround time:

How are the industries different in Africa and Asia?

Africa is at a different stage of development; but demographics are compelling in the long term. There are 30 countries in the world where the median age is less than 19.7 and 29 of those countries are in Africa. Asia has several mature economies such as China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Australia etc. These are combined with developing economies to provide more balanced and mature economic growth in Asia.

What's the future of tax and consulting?

The global minimum tax that was passed in the United States (and endorsed by 140 countries) is likely to require greater integration of tax service globally. This requires increased compliance and quality of service providers. We think that this benefits a firm like Andersen.

The consulting industry will continue to evolve. As my good friend George Shaheen (former global head of Andersen consulting from 1989 to 1999, and now a colleague as part of our global strategy) says, the industry is at an inflection point. We believe that there will be massive changes in solutions for clients (cybersecurity, telemedicine, education, etc.) that will require businesses to rethink comprehensive strategy. We have all learned a great deal as a result of the pandemic and this will continue to shape the manner in which business is conducted.

How is Andersen geared to help businesses in changing the landscape of the professional industry?

Our global platform (174 countries and the largest geographic platform of any professional service firm) coupled with our integrated solutions enables us to provide clients with one stop shopping — borderless, seamless and integrated. In addition, we do not have conflicts related to independence because of the audit function. Our goal is to provide our clients with objective advice.

Andersen’s thought leader initiatives

It is our desire to be thought leaders. We want to help clients be successful and achieve their potential. We have formed the Andersen Institute for Finance and Economics. The current board consists of the following members:

• Myron Scholes — Nobel prize winning economist and a faculty member at Stanford University. He obtained his PhD from the University of Chicago and then taught at MIT and Chicago before coming to Stanford. He created the black Scholes model — the most widely used equation in the history of the world.
• Ken Rosen— Obtained his PhD from MIT and taught at Princeton before joining the faculty at the University of California at Berkeley. He is the founder of the Fisher Centre for Real Estate, and a top economist on real estate issues.
• Raghuram Rajan — A faculty member at the University of Chicago and former chair of the Federal Reserve Bank of India.
• Rebecca Diamond — A faculty member at Stanford, who obtained a degree from Yale University and a PhD from Harvard University. She is a global expert on labour issues.
• Lubos Pastor — A faculty member at the University of Chicago for the last 24 years and independent director of the Bank of Slovakia
• Larry Summers — a faculty member at Harvard University. He is also a former treasury secretary during the Bill Clinton administration, and chair of economic council during the Barack Obama administration, as well as former president of Harvard University.

“We’re in the process of evaluating CEO candidates as we advance this initiative. We own the mark “Andersen consulting” and are exploring the potential of relaunching this business.

We’re also in the process of visiting firms in different regions. I was in Dubai last week for meetings with consulting firms in the Middle East,” Vorsatz added.

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