By Mark Louis F. Ferrolino

Special Features Writer

By maintaining a culture of excellence and innovation since its inception in 1946, SGV & Co. has played a critical role in building a better working world for its people, clients and communities. The Firm remains as a trusted partner of different companies from diverse industries in attaining their goals by providing integrated solutions in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services.

SGV is the largest multidisciplinary professional services firm in the country. With eight offices across the country, it employs over 6,000 professionals from various disciplines that deliver value-added services to its clients.

SGV became a member practice of one of the largest professional services firms in the world, Ernst & Young Global Limited (EY), in June 2002, which has given SGV a competitive advantage in terms of global engagement that helps train its people and develop new solutions for clients.

SGV helps its clients manage issues associated with globalization, addressing technology vulnerabilities in the connected economy and assuring fairness in company’s financial information. All its professionals are equipped with its global audit process management and documentation tool that is supplemented by comprehensive standards and quality controls applicable to every client engagement. In tax services, SGV helps its clients align their tax strategies with their overall business needs. SGV also provides advisory services and solutions that help businesses compete effectively and efficiently, especially now that the business environment is becoming more complex due to various trends and new business orders.

“Our Advisory practice focuses on helping our clients maintain competitiveness and growth in their respective markets and industries through effective business solutions that integrate our competencies in various aspects of business operations,” said Rossana Fajardo, head of SGV’s Advisory services.

SGV’s Advisory practice is primarily divided into two pillars: Performance Improvement and Risk.

Performance Improvement means helping clients find solutions to their most complex issues. It may be in terms of creating growth, managing cost and efficiency, responding to market pressure and regulation, or resolving operational challenges. It covers areas of Finance, Supply Chain & Operations, Customer, and Information Technology (IT).

On the other hand, with its track record in Risk Assurance, Risk Transformation, Internal Audit, Cyber and Financial Services Risk Management, SGV helps its clients develop robust and agile risk-aware organizations and teams.

“For over 71 years, SGV has maintained a culture of excellence and innovation. Driven by a focus on continuing, lifelong learning, we promote continuous skills training and development for our people, strengthened by mentoring and direct exposure to global engagements through the EY Global network. Through market- and data-driven insights, we strive to serve as trusted business advisors to all our clients,” Ms. Fajardo said, noting that working with EY has given them access to extensive knowledge bases, competent talent, deep sector familiarity, and advanced solutions that can help enhance the way its clients do business and make data-driven decisions.

Also, through the EY Global Delivery Services (GDS), which consists of a network of service delivery centers all over the world, including the Philippines, SGV is able to provide its Filipino professionals access to global engagements that develop their knowledge and skills. At the same time, the network allows the Firm to provide clients with consistent performance, as-needed competencies and better economies of scale in terms of cost. The functions and service lines currently being supported from the EY GDS center in the country include Advisory, Assurance, Knowledge, Creative Agency Services and IT Services.

To remain competitive, SGV and EY invest in sector training and knowledge building for their global pool of professionals. “We actively pursue thought leadership programs, fora and industry- and sector-specific studies to ensure that the latest, most comprehensive and accurate data is available to help our clients make better decisions,” Ms. Fajardo added.

SGV shared that among the industry trends that it believes will continue to make an impact to the country in the coming years are the increased usage of mobile data and online retail and business platforms, the continuing expansion of the sharing economy into traditional business sectors, and the increasing use of robotics in the BPO industry.

SGV is set to adapt to these trends by taking advantage of its access to global experience and leveraging its knowledge bases. Knowledge and insights of the Firm’s global pool of talents help the company create new and advanced solutions in addressing clients’ needs.

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