This year’s PKF Global Gathering took place in the tropical island of Dominican Republic! The annual event gives us the chance to connect and share expertise and ideas with fellow members of our global community. We caught up with James Bagley (Managing Partner), Gavin West (VAT and Indirect Taxes Partner) and Selma Delic (Operations Partner) who attended the event to find out more.

Did you learn anything new about the host firm or Dominican Republic as a destination?

Gavin - Apparently the country was discovered by my fellow international man of travel Christopher Columbus on his first voyage in 1493.

Selma - The host firm, PKF Guzman Tapia, are the longest standing member of the PKF network. In fact, they have been in the network longer than the network has existed! Not quite sure how that works but it was a stat in their introductory presentation. The other thing I learned which probably says a lot about my lack of geography knowledge was that it is the same island as Haiti and not an island of its own! I only found this out when Gavin kindly warned us about the pending hurricane looming the same time as the conference which sent me into a *mild* panic 2 days before we were due to fly…

James - Didn’t know that Dominican Republic and Haiti were the same island, always assumed they were separate!

Were there any key learnings or interesting topics covered during the conference?

Gavin - We are now seeing many more sessions at the international events highlighting business development and cross border collaboration opportunities which is a positive step in the right direction. From a tax perspective we try to ensure that at the very least the first day is allocated to continuing to drive strategies at a global level and now challenge ourselves as a group to deliver on these and measure successes. This has led us to evaluating key initiatives across tax for the next 6 months including opportunities for tax teams to go to market together on a global basis as well as working more closely on business development with our Audit and CF colleagues too. This represents a real step change and a considerably more proactive approach than when we first joined the network. We are already creating a global priority account and target list which will benefit all service lines as well as a joined up campaign between Tax and Transfer Pricing which will be rolled out not only across the UK, US and Europe but LatAm and Asia too.

Selma - We attended the large firm meeting which James has been attending since inception, but it was my first time. We covered a few key topics mainly based on macroenvironment and external factors affecting the accountancy profession and I found it really interesting hearing about experiences of other large firms from around the world. This included discussions on PE and challenges around brand trademarking/ownership which was particularly interesting to me given the links to marketing and strategy generally.

James - The topics covered on collaborative working, firm structures and culture were the most interesting. However part of the greatest pleasure I have when we attend these conferences is learning what other firms are doing.

And finally, what was your highlight of the conference?

Gavin - There are always a few. Beating the Belgians at Padel has to be up there but having a colleague crowned as a PKF Icon surely cannot be topped.

Selma - It definitely was not James and Gavin turning up late to our planned meeting with PKF Mexico, leaving me sat with a group of 15 Mexicans quizzing me on what work I could send to them! I’ve never been as happy to see Gav in all my life… Jokes aside, I would say having the opportunity to catch up with colleagues from around the world – we are a few years into our membership now and have built some great relationships so seeing each other at these conferences is a great opportunity to reconnect and discuss ideas on how we can continue to work together.

James - We approached this conference differently, with more structure of who we wanted to meet and had planned meetings and dinners with a number of firms. This ensured we spent time with the members that we believe we can work more collaboratively with and as such drive additional work and benefit to our firm and our clients. We believe this worked very well for us and gave us some great takeaways.

Having said that, the highlight was probably Gav and I beating PKF Bofidi at Padel in 35 degree heat and 100% humidity!

Thank you to everyone at our host firm PKF Dominican Republic for their hospitality and organising the event.