Andersen Global has set out an ambitious expansion plan in Africa and globally, in the face of  the uncertainty caused by COVID-19, as the firm plots to rival the Big Four.

The legal, tax and accountancy network currently has a presence in 36 African countries, through collaboration agreements, and is in discussions to move into a further eight countries on the continent.

In an interview with Law.com International, global chairman Mark Vorsatz said this puts the firm ahead of Big Four giant PwC, which is in 33 countries on the continent. "We surpassed them this year."

Andersen has announced a new presence in Tunisia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Morocco, Mauritania and Madagascar, during this year alone and has just completed a deal in South Sudan.

The firm will be announcing new locations in 12 additional countries in Africa in the coming weeks and anticipates completing six to eight more deals this year.

"Our goal is to be in 49 of the 54 African countries by the end of next year," says Vorsatz.

He said most of the firm's work in Africa comes from inbound cross-border business with multinational companies.

"One of our recent proposals for a multinational involved work in 20 African countries.

"We provide them with a one-stop-shop for tax and legal services instead of them having to deal with multiple firms."

As to why he is so bullish about the future of Africa, he pointed out that six of the world's best performing economies last year were in Africa, and that the continent has one of the youngest populations in the world with a median age of just shy of 20.

"GDP will follow as countries grow and develop, as has happened over the past 30 years with China."

He believes that, due to a growing reputation as a major player across the continent, Andersen can "attract the best law firms to join our network of collaboration partners."

To put Andersen's Africa footprint into a global context, the firm has a four-year plan to be in 153 countries globally in the next four years.

"We currently have a presence in 91 countries so would need to add another 62 to reach 153.  This year to date we have already added 19 countries."

Andersen Global is structured as a verein – an association of member firms. Firms coming into the network initially join as collaborating firms and can become member firms in time.

"It is easier to collaborate for two years first and test the cultural fit than to immediately go into profit share," said Vorsatz.

He said Andersen's strategy is to provide a global platform with global service lines that can be reproduced in any country.

The total headcount of all Andersen's member and collaborating firms is nearly 6,000 with about 850 partners, providing services to some 40,000 clients, according to Vorsatz.

"Our goal is to reach 200,000 clients in the next seven to eight years," said Vorsatz.

The firm is currently growing at 20% to 25% per annum, in terms of both global clients and total revenues, he said.

Despite the uncertainty of the potential fallout from the COVID-19 crisis, Vorsatz says his firm is "looking to maintain a similar growth rate in 2020, and certainly not less than 20%."

Andersen Global's roots go back 18 years to when Vorsatz and a group of 23 fellow former partners at the now defunct Authur Andersen joined forces to form WTAS, which initially stood for Wealth and Tax Advisory Services.

WTAS, subsequently became a wholly-owned sudiary of HSBC, which was looking to expand into the U.S.A. After a management buyout in 2007, WTAS started expanding and in 2011 looked at joining an existing international network. But Vorsatz says he found them all to be too fragmented, and opted to go it alone.

"We subsequently negotiated and acquired the rights to all Arthur Andersen's brands in 184 countries."

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