Yelena Epova

To answer the challenges of Atlanta’s increasingly global marketplace, an Atlanta accounting firm has built a multilingual staff highlighted by five Mandarin Chinese- and five Russian-speaking accountants. 

Habif, Arogeti & Wynne LLP is an independent member of Baker Tilley International, a 126-member network of accounting firms operating in 93 countries worldwide, and Habif also has staff members fluent in French, German, Korean, Spanish and Ukrainian.

“We’re very excited about the practice that we have. It’s fun to work with people with diverse backgrounds,” Brian Falony, the firm’s director of marketing, told GlobalAtlanta. 

Although he jokingly added that Habif is “like the U.N. under the same roof,” he made it clear that the firm’s decision to diversify its personnel is a serious response to Georgia’s growing importance on the world economic stage.

“As the marketplace becomes more global, particularly in the last five years, there have been tremendous opportunities with Georgia companies looking to expand their market around the world…as well as companies around the world looking to Georgia to do business,” Mr. Falony said.

With the 1996 Olympic Games giving Atlanta greater recognition and the Georgia capital becoming a more international city, it became evident to the firm that hiring accountants with expertise in other languages and foreign tax systems would be essential to its competitiveness. Mr. Falony said.

Recent hire Jian Nan Fu aptly demonstrates this broadened international focus.  A native of Changsha, the capital of China’s Hunan province, he not only brings the benefit of being a native Chinese speaker, but he also holds the distinction of achieving accounting degrees from universities in both China and America.

Habif representatives began courting him even before he acquired his American master’s degree at the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business in May. They interviewed him in Athens in June, and he was soon hired and put on a fast-track program to quickly become involved in the firm’s dealings with Chinese clientele.

Mr. Fu said he is from the same hometown and graduated from the same Chinese university as the CEO of Sany Heavy Equipment Co. Ltd., a major construction equipment manufacturing company that recently announced plans to invest $30 million in a manufacturing plant in Peachtree City.

Using this connection, he has been in talks with Sany’s U.S. representation and is currently trying to get them to work with Habif.

Mr. Fu, who worked for state-owned companies and foreign joint ventures in Beijing after getting his first degree, is already a CPA in China and is currently taking a series of tests that will allow him to gain that same title in America.  He is the only Chinese-speaking accountant on the Habif staff that also has experience with the Chinese tax system.

Although he said Chinese accounting is modeled after the American system and is thus easy to navigate for American accounting firms, he said the taxation system in the Asian nation could present complications to a firm that doesn’t have employees with his knowledge.

“I understand the Chinese accounting system and tax system, so I can help (Chinese companies) learn the American system as well,” said Mr. Fu, who also said that he would provide the same service to American companies wary of the complex tax system in China.

This scenario is growing more likely, according to Yelena Epova, one of the firm’s partners.

Ms. Epova praised Georgia’s tax incentives and convenient transportation as factors bringing international investment to the state, but she also said that her firm also has to be alert as a growing number of businesses look overseas.

“It’s not just international people that are coming.  We represent a lot of U.S. companies that are going global,” she told GlobalAtlanta.  “If you want to be successful, you almost have to go global.”

Ms. Epova speaks Russian fluently, and she said she has gained extensive knowledge about the Russian taxation system. 

Mr. Falony said that the firm will continue to be open to accountants who, like Ms. Epova, have lived in other countries and understand their nuances.