 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 Portrait #02: Anne Belvèze
Head of Mazars' Moscow Office Could you describe your job?
I manage the Outsourcing department for Mazars's Moscow office. Our task is to offer European companies arriving in Russia the complete outsourcing of their accounting. We also take care of all the official administrative formalities our clients need in order to do business here, from registering the company to drawing up employment contracts and applying for business licenses. This is a great service, because it is very difficult for a foreign company to set itself up in Russia.
This range of services is accomplished by a team of ten people (we will be fourteen by the end of the year), all Russian, at least bilingual and with an average age younger than thirty. I want to specifically point out the high quality of the people in my department, because Russian accounting and administrative procedures are particularly challenging and every member of the department does an excellent job. We currently serve over two dozen clients, including Iberia, Essilor, Decathlon and Saint-Gobain, as well as a number of small and medium-sized companies. In this very dynamic context, my role is to manage and support my team and to assess its individual members. Knowing how to train our employees and keep them happy is a priority here. I am also in charge of the department's marketing development, which is founded on a variety of formal and informal contacts, as well as on concrete efforts to increase Mazars's name recognition in Russia. What is your professional background?
After a triple course of study in mechanical engineering, business administration and computer science, I began as an assistant professor at the European University of Brussels. I later joined KPMG and left for Kazakhstan as financial controller for the Central Asia zone. In 1999 I came to Moscow, initially as Regional Finance Director for the Castel group, which owns a water production facility and three industrial breweries between the Russian capital and the Caucasus. My job included establishing budgets and financial reports for the parent company. Then, in 2002, drawn by the promise of warm weather, I transferred to Thailand, where I became General Manager of Sancha, a dancewear and dance shoe manufacturer.
When my oldest daughter was accepted to the Bolshoi school of dance in 2005, I returned to Moscow and joined Mazars, a company I had come to know because they had been Castel's auditor. I was attracted both by the variety of tasks and clients, and by the opportunity to develop a department and a contract portfolio. What would you say to someone looking to join Mazars?
First, that what Mazars values above all is strong character, that is, intelligent and non-conformist individuals who are self-starters. Second, given my position here in Moscow, I appreciate that Mazars strongly supports the promotion of local employees. Training initiatives and a desire to offer evolving opportunities to our Russian colleagues are priorities here.
Finally, I would note that I am a mother of four, and that this presented no problems during the interview and hiring process. To me, this is a concrete example of equal opportunity in action. What motivates you the most?
I am passionate about the responsibility of managing my team, of assigning them goals and helping everyone to achieve them. I also love the contacts with our clients, the opportunity to build up a relationship of trust with them and move beyond the mere provision of a service. I am convinced that our ability to be not only more professional, but also to have closer, more personal relations with our clients than our competitors is one of the keys to our success.
The growth of the Outsourcing department, and our possibilities for future development, are in and of themselves exceptionally motivating. We regularly expand our clientele and I am privileged to be able to count on an efficient, solidly united team of professionals, who want to continue this adventure together for a long time to come. |
|
|
|
Back 