Lawler, a leading Australian mid-tier accountancy and business advisory alliance, this week joined PKF, currently ranked the 12th largest global accounting network.

On 3 March 2014, five Lawler firms (in eight locations) joined four existing PKF firms to represent PKF in Australia. The global PKF network includes 300 member firms across 400 locations, in around 125 countries.

Norm Draper, Chairman of the Lawler Alliance said the decision was about continuously improving the breadth and quality of their services.

“The world is shrinking and as our clients’ businesses grow and increasingly operate globally, our services and relationships need to keep pace,” Norm said.

“PKF is one of the world’s most respected and globally recognised accounting brands.”

PKF International Asia Pacific COO, Graeme Blockley, said that Australia is an important player in their strategy to be a top-ten global network.

“We are delighted to welcome Lawler to the PKF network to build our presence in Australia, particularly in the key east coast markets,” Graeme said.

“Their impressive growth record over the past five years and commitment to providing an outstanding client service makes them a great fit.”

Following on from this, at the end of the month, the Forsythes Assurance & Risk team will join the PKF Lawler Audit & Assurance team.

Martin Matthews, Partner, Forsythes Assurance and Risk said that the move is about offering opportunities to their staff and continuing to improve the scope of services to their clients.

“The broad PKF Lawler service offering will ensure that we are providing the most effective and specialised service level possible at a local, national and international level,” Martin said.

“Our team brings established expertise in external, internal and IT audit, as well as risk management. This, together with the resources now available to us as part of PKF, will add significant depth to our locally-based Assurance Team.”

“The union of our audit team with PKF Lawler will not impact other business units within the Forsythes Group in Newcastle,” he continued.