Person of Interest
In this article we interview Sevan Tuna, Director of leading Melbourne accounting firm AS Partners.
FS: What is the history of the firm?
ST: The firm was founded in 1952 by Alexander and Spencer on the back of our first client Village Cinemas. The firm enjoyed rapid growth over the years and had offices in both the Melbourne CBD and Boronia. In 1990 the 2 offices separated amicably and in 1995 the partners of the Boronia office, Sam Rotberg and Charles Slowo, moved the practise to Camberwell. In 2000 Jeffrey Isaacs became partner and in 2007 Leo Di Battista a long-term employee of the practise joined the partnership.
In 2005 we relocated to our current office in Camberwell and decided with the move it was time for a fresh start and re-braded from Alexander & Spencer Partners to AS Partners. I became partner in 2009 after joining the firm as a graduate in 1999.
FS: How many directors and staff make up the AS team?
ST: There are 4 directors – Sam Rotberg, Jeffrey Isaacs, Leo Di Battista and myself. We currently have 32 staff including the directors.
FS: Does the firm have any particular areas of expertise?
ST: We don’t have a specialised industry we work in, however each partner has industries that they enjoy. We have built a reputation in the travel industry, construction, medical and software. However, our focus is attracting likeminded SME clients with a growth mindset. Our vision is to be the firm of choice for both clients and staff: where the very best people are in pursuit of excellence, unity and success.
FS: FeeSynergy has developed a strong relationship with the AS team over the last couple of years. In that time we have come to admire the firm’s professional and friendly culture. We see this so we assume your clients do also. This must be good for your business.
ST: We are very fortunate to have an amazing client base.
Due to the deep trust that our clients have in us, it has been easy to expand our value-add service offering to them. With cloud technology and having live data at our finger tips we are now seen by our clients as more of an outsourced CFO / Tax Advisor than an accountant that lodges their Income Tax Returns.
FS: AS won FeeSynergy’s Firm Of The Year award in 2017 in recognition of its efforts in implementing debtor management best practise. You were the first accounting firm to implement FeeSynergy’s Collect debtor management solution earlier this year; how has this benefited the firm.
ST: We are honoured to be the firm of the year for 2017. Our Debtor Days as at 30th November 2017 was 26 days and has been as low as 16 days. Prior to implementing the software, our firm averaged debtor days in excess of 60 days. We would highly recommend FeeSynergy Collect to any accounting firm. We are thankful for the service you offer to our firm.
FS: What are the firm’s plans for the future?
ST: Our focus is growth. In July 2017 we offered Bookkeeping Services to our clients for the first time with outstanding success. In the new year we plan to offer this service to the public at large. We view bookkeeping as the gateway for value add business advisory services.
The second half of the year will see the development of our advisory and consultancy division, specialising but not limited to virtual CFO and strategic business planning. We are very excited for the year ahead.
