We asked the management of Grant Thornton Hungary to evaluate the 2021 financial year in terms of what was their greatest success, the biggest challenge they had faced, what words they would use to characterise last year, how market trends affected their business line, and what their plans are for 2022.

In the following, we have compiled and will now also share with you GT Hungary’s review of the year 2021, and the further goals set by the leaders and teams of each division.

What was the greatest success you achieved in 2021?

For the Tax Advisory division, the beginning of the year started with a fairly significant transformation, as there was a change in the management, and then from the beginning of April József Vizer became the sole person responsible for the management of the Tax division, who is now also a Group Partner. “The handover of the tasks was quick and smooth, and the tax division remained stable also afterwards.”

In the Transfer Pricing Advisory business line, success came in the form of new clients, thanks to many years of constructive work, as well as the opportunities offered by the Group. There has been a shift in the market since, in addition to legislative changes in recent years, access to the databases used has also become more expensive, which accentuated the quality gap between market players, to the benefit of GT.

In the Accounting area, Balázs Szentirmai said that “in the interest of the more efficient handling of our own company processes, as well as providing a higher level of service for our clients from an accounting and controlling point of view, in a parallel way with the introduction of our new ERP system, we have also changed the organisational structure of the accounting department. This serves the purpose of using the automated data processing capabilities offered by our new system to the maximum extent possible.” Balázs is also a GT Partner starting from this year.

In connection with the HR department, the business unit newly established in 2021, Zsófia Vajna highlighted the following, and perhaps most important success of the year: “Our launch was the success itself!” She further highlighted the success of her well-functioning and stable team, as well as the positive impact of the development of internal human resources functions.

Judit Gittinger, leader of the Audit division, believes that last year’s success was in the growth in terms of clients, turnover and staff, which she says was due to the satisfaction of the clients and more familiarity with their work. In Judit’s words, “we have no idle periods.”

Anna Szabadfalvi believes that the success of the Payroll division is due to the professional recognition of her colleagues by clients. Further, she said that “last year, several of our clients relied on our colleagues’ work, in outsourcing arrangements, performed at their premises as on new tasks within their company or taking over the tasks of their staff that left the company.”

The head of the Valuation division considered the highest volume of revenue in the company’s history as one of the biggest successes of last year. According to Ágoston Jakab, this is due to the fact that “Based on the current trends in the real estate market, we received a higher number of inquiries and assignments than in previous years in the field of real estate valuation and technical advisory services for banks,” and he also underlined the orders received from 17 banks in a contractual relationship.

Szabolcs Nagy, the managing director of M&A Consulting, attributed the success of the business line to the positive feedback from his clients, and stating that “We have been able to secure business thanks to our positive references, and the decisions to choose us was not primarily made by the clients based on our fees.”

What were the biggest challenges last year?

Here, the recurring responses concerning the main challenges identified by the management included how to correctly handle the situations arising due to COVID and the difficulties that this caused. These included the provision of professional support for colleagues working in home office, maintaining team spirit and motivation, organising and carrying out work abroad, travelling, as well as the difficulties of building contacts and ensuring the availability of the suitable equipment and technical systems.

In addition, the challenges also included the tasks related to starting the new HR business line and, last but not least, the change of management within the Tax and Accounting divisions.

What are the 3 words that best describe last year from a business perspective?

Unsurprisingly, one of the most frequently used expressions was Home Office, as this was and still is the safest mode of operation both for the employees and the company last year and also currently.

Based on the previous phrase, the words Innovation/Digitalisation are not a surprising answer either, as this is a necessary precondition for our colleagues in home office and the clients being able to work together efficiently.

And last but not least, Growth. By this we mean growth in terms of headcount, revenue, awareness of our company, inquiries received and clients.

What impact, if any, has the market had on each business line?

Here, of course, a different impact can be observed for each business line. For example, for Accounting, it was digitalisation (processes and demands for automated data processing), while in case of the Tax division, it was the social media presence of competitors.

In turn, it can be said that each division has seen an increase in the demand for its services.

Plans for 2022

Like all companies, one of our top priorities is to increase our market share. In addition, it is very important for us to keep our existing clients satisfied and properly served. We are also planning to further develop our current services, as well as to implement new ones, thus expanding our portfolio to provide a more complex and professional service to our existing and future clients.

We place particular emphasis on employee satisfaction, as we consider it important to provide a suitable working environment, given that our employees are our most important resource.

Thank you to the management of Grant Thornton Hungary for taking the time to answer our questions! We hope that we have been able to give you an overview of last year’s performance, as well as this year’s objectives.

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