Things have changed on mainland, says Grant Thornton boss
With the mainland's accounting standards fast catching up, Daniel Lin says the rebirth enables the firm to tap opportunities across the border
Accounting firm Grant Thornton has a problematic history in Hong Kong.
The exiting partners protested against what they believed would be diminished standards at the firm once it was subsumed into the mainland operations.
Staff were forced to choose sides. Either stay with Grant Thornton, integrated with the mainland and with the mainland as the dominant partner, or leave. Lin, who grew up in Hong Kong and was trained in Britain, chose the former.
"A lot of our clients have operations in China. Hong Kong is only a city and an international accounting firm cannot survive in just a city. So I think the strategy was correct to build a nationwide firm that includes Hong Kong," Lin said.