Accuracy: the irresistible rise of an achiever

Set up in Paris in November 2004 by CEO Frédéric Duponchel and six other partners, all from former Arthur Andersen teams, Accuracy was one of the first firms, outside the Big Four, to specialize in financial consultancy services. ‘Providing figures to help the management decide’ is how the founders define their services.

A UNIQUE POSITIONING

Not only do they provide figures to help out in the decision-making process, but, as Frédéric Duponchel insists, they have to grant the right and accurate numbers, to act professionally and in a totally independent way. The founders play the specialization card rather than the size one. Whatever their pool of expertise: transaction, arbitration and dispute resolution, decision-making or companies in difficulty, the firm’s partners are always a subtle mix of skills and profiles. And over the years, Accuracy has managed to balance its four areas of activity.

Whether the consultants come from an audit, financial or legal background, their unique combination corresponds with the firm’s strengths. Working together, suiting the specific needs of each client, they make sure to avoid any isolation between pools of expertise.

As an example of a transaction team, working on behalf of a particular client, it comprises EBA experts - assessing the markets’ size, the position of competitors, the evolution of prices, and may also include financial due diligence in connection with a buyout.  If the same client is then faced with issues concerning post-acquisition litigation or breaches of commercial contracts, Accuracy can undertake damage assessment.

Tailor-made and expert teams are a true hallmark of the firm.

Another unique feature of the firm is the special commitment that its seven founding partners have made: they cannot sell their shares. ‘We’re not attempting a capitalistic coup,’ says the CEO, who goes on to explain that, ‘the idea from the outset was to construct a model based on pure partnership and sharing, which means there is just one revenue figure for the whole firm which is not broken down to revenue per partner.’ Thirty five partners later, the organizational model remains the same. ‘All our partners are Accuracy Worldwide partners, sharing the value created each year. We have absolutely no idea of local partnerships. There are no detailed individual performance indicators and partners cannot sell or transfer their shares, which means the firm’s future and its values are safeguarded,’ says Frédéric Duponchel.

AN ENHANCED SECTOR-SPECIFIC APPROACH

The financial advisor is involved in many cutting-edge industries, such as aeronautics and aerospace, and has also implemented an enhanced sector-specific approach.

Accuracy has a reputation for its work in more than 12 sectors: retail, energy and utilities; infrastructure and construction; aeronautics, space and defence; real estate; manufacturing; media and entertainment, and banking. Some sectors were recently added to this list, such as digital e-commerce, transportation, agribusiness and oil & gas. The firm, in this new approach, also features more generalist consultants, able to deal with various sectors.

The firm works with market leaders in all these sectors, with major listed groups accounting for about 60% of its client base. Next come private equity investors and family offices, which also represent a significant proportion of the firm’s client base. The lawyers have the ability to recommend the firm, and, as the management concedes, they are key prescribers.

A UNIQUE QUALITY SERVICE

To provide its clients with the best possible service, Accuracy combines these various expertise pools and a sector specific approach to offer a response that is perfectly tailored to their needs. ‘We offer our clients a global service based on a multi-disciplinary approach,’ says Frédéric Duponchel.

Accuracy’s consultants offer a whole range of skills which are highly pertinent to their clients’ needs. Financial experts, engineers, assessors, economists, industry specialists, former receivers — Accuracy’s experts work together to provide a highly-efficient service.  In cases related to disputes, the firm can therefore provide both economic and financial experts who are able to testify before tribunals. Among the 37 partners Accuracy has today, 20 have already testified, notably within the frame of arbitration proceedings around the world, before arbitral tribunals sitting inter alia in Stockholm, Paris, Geneva, Hong Kong and Singapore. Of course, consultants are not professional witnesses, and for that matter, they are trained. We set up training in the form of a mock cross-examination session during which consultants are faced with lawyers and arbitrators.

And it is precisely with these very technical proceedings, such as construction or oil & gas arbitrations, that the uniqueness of Accuracy comes to the fore as it combines both delay and quantum experts working together, further evidence of the special character of this integrated multi-disciplinary approach.

Client relations are based on proximity and the ability to listen and respond. To ensure an appropriate and rapid response, the firm boasts a ratio of one partner for every five consultants, which ensures the close involvement of the most experienced consultants. In advising its clients, Accuracy offers a ‘commando-style’ approach: sending the right people to the right place at the right time to respond effectively and efficiently to its clients’ needs. This approach also enables the firm to maintain client loyalty.

A WELL-KNOWN HR POLICY

The firm is also aware that in addition to securing and maintaining the loyalty of your clients, you have to do the same for your consultants. No glitz and glamour here – what the partners want is to build long-lasting relationships based on a high standard of market ethics.

This is one united firm, wherever the Accuracians are based’ repeats Frédéric Duponchel. The consultants may work on different cases in various offices, according to their expertise, not to mention the cross-border engagements the firm has – such as Franco-German or Germano-Dutch, that naturally mixes nationalities. On the top of that, many consultants in every office may come from other countries – six Germans work in the Paris office, for example.

This means that Accuracy places the highest importance on training. Learning seminars are regularly organized for consultants to enable them to improve their skills and expertise. The ‘Accuracy School’ which takes place twice a year in various locations, is particularly designed to welcome newcomers – which have undergone a very strict selection process – to the firm. Its goal? To facilitate further integration as one single firm, independently of their own office. Another specific aspect is that the firm also counts on ‘Senior Advisors’. Not employed by the firm, they are either former CEOs or members of executive boards of listed companies and give us precious insights.

Ever since its foundation, the firm has striven to actively promote internal communication and the proactive, permanent provision of information, and it has always involved employees in its business plan in order to establish a participatory approach.

Although the selection process is very strict – the candidates “get to” meet eight people during the recruitment phase – Accuracy cultivates a mix between ‘high standards and consideration,’ as its CEO puts it.

Thanks to this HR policy, Accuracy has an employee turnover rate of around only 5% a year. Better still, it has, for eight consecutive years, been ranked as one of the three ‘Best Places to Work’ in France by the Great Place to Work Institute.

INTERNATIONAL EXPANSION

Growth is not restricted to the Paris office. By expanding its international presence, Accuracy has both improved its services for existing clients and attracted new ones.

Accuracy has kept up the impressive rate of international expansion of one new office a year, beginning with Madrid in 2006, and the firm now offers total coverage of continental Europe with offices in the UK, Germany, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands. Expansion has been so rapid that, in 2012, French employees accounted for only 50% of the total, compared with 85% in 2008.

The Spanish office is emblematic of this international success (see accompanying interview with Eduard Saura, the Managing Partner of the Spanish office), even though the enthusiasm is not restricted to Spain. Accuracy opened a new office in April 2016 in Singapore, and has every intention of continuing its international expansion the opening of offices in Dubai and Hong Kong is already on the agenda. Throughout this expansion, the quality of work remains a top priority for Accuracy.

E.S.