Moore Stephens Australia today announced the admission of the former PKF Southport as its new member firm on the Gold Coast, Moore Stephens Gold Coast, effective Tuesday 1 December 2009.

The admission of its newest firm on the Gold Coast follows the merger of the former Horwath South Australia with the audit division of Moore Stephens’ previous Adelaide member firm to form the new Moore Stephens Adelaide on 2 November 2009.

With six principals, 25 staff and approximately $5 million in annual fees revenue, Moore Stephens Gold Coast specialises in holistic strategic advice covering accounting and tax compliance, superannuation, GST/tax consulting, added value services/management consulting, proprietor’s wealth creation, finance – residential and commercial loans and asset protection/tax structures. The firm plans to build an assurance division in the short to medium term, drawing on the resources of the Moore Stephens Australia network and, in particular, Moore Stephens Queensland.

Mr Alan Mitrovich, a Director of Moore Stephens Gold Coast, said the decision to leave PKF was driven by a desire to find a national and international network that was a better fit for the firm. “We talked to several leading mid-tier networks and Moore Stephens came out on top on every measure,” Mr Mitrovich said.

“Moore Stephens shares our philosophy and our commitment to success for our clients, our principals and our people,” he added. “Equally importantly, the outstanding resources and real sense of cooperation and teamwork around the network, and for us, especially in Queensland, mean we can develop an audit business and grow our financial planning and tax consulting businesses in line with our strategic plan, while at the same time sharing our expertise and IP with the Australian and international networks.”

Mr Ken Pickard, Managing Director of Moore Stephens Queensland, said a member firm on the Gold Coast was a very attractive proposition for his firm. “Moore Stephens Queensland is the only mid-tier firm with six locations across the state,” Mr Pickard said. “Working closely with Moore Stephens Gold Coast will give us additional coverage in a critical Queensland market and the ability to draw on the firm’s outstanding IP, particularly in taxation, retirement villages and property.”

Mr Stephen Humphrys, Chairman of Moore Stephens Australia, said he was delighted that Moore Stephens had attracted another firm of such a high calibre. “Moore Stephens Gold Coast is exactly the kind of entrepreneurial and forward thinking firm we are looking for as we continue to build our network,” Mr Humphrys said.

“We have worked hard to build a network of like-minded firms committed to success by delivering quality work for quality clients, but not at the expense of the quality of life of our partners and staff,” he added. “We also aim to deliver to our member firms appropriate, high quality centralised resources with a conservative cost structure designed to deliver maximum value.

“The admission of a former PKF firm, and a Horwath firm before that, says to me that we are getting the balance right.”


About Moore Stephens

Moore Stephens is a leading national network of seven independent firms of business advisors and chartered accountants in all mainland capital cities of Australia. All Moore Stephens firms are long-standing members of their local business communities and specialise in providing highly personalised, expert and commercially astute audit, accounting and advisory services to their clients.

All member firms are also independent members of Moore Stephens International Limited, a global network of 366 independent member firms with 647 offices in 98 countries and annual fees revenue of more than US$2.2 billion.

For Further information:

Joel Lentin
Chief Operating Officer, Moore Stephens Australia
Phone: (03) 8635 1900    Mobile: 0412 105 945

Alan Mitrovich
Director, Moore Stephens Gold Coast
Phone: (07) 5519 1000    Mobile: 0438 884 488