CRI听力:Leading accounting firm confident about China's improved business environment

China's efforts to improve the business environment over the past five years have made it more attractive for global giant enterprises like the UK-headquartered EY, or Ernst & Young.

The leading accounting firm is now trying to further profit from China's implementation of its "Going Global" strategy.

In 1981, EY became one of the first multinational professional service firms to set up a branch in Beijing.

Since then, the trajectory of its business in the world's most populous country has continued upwards.

Titus von dem Bongart, tax partner of EY in China, has spent the past 20 years in China, and has witnessed the country's rapid economic growth and its opening up process.

He says China's economic development, especially in recent years, has had a positive impact on his company.

"We are very happy with the performance of EY in the last five years. They have had the free trade zone concept which has been developed, seeing further release of the negative list and further improvement there. There is freer access to China for some of our clients, so we can help them in a better way and more foreign companies are coming." 

Today, EY has 26 offices in the Greater China region, employing around 16,000 staff and advising investors regarding relevant audit, tax and finance issues.

In the 2017 fiscal year, the company has seen a 13-percent rise in the revenues from business in the region.

Bongart says it's also notable that more and more Chinese enterprises are exploring foreign markets encouraged by the progress made by the Belt and Road Initiative, which ties more than sixty countries together across Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Europe in economic and cultural cooperation.

He believes this will provide a new promising market with huge potential for his company that used to serve foreign clients.

"One Belt, One Road of course is a very significant initiative of the Chinese government. It has a very significant change also in the direction of our clients because it's now more and more Chinese companies who are looking for advice and we are able to help them with investment plans out of China. And this actually is coming back to the strength of EY because we are a global firm, we are in all countries the Chinese companies want to invest in and we can help them doing the business. They are all setting the business in the first place and then doing it in a more efficient way going forward."

EY is planning to employ more qualified personnel in China.

In another far-reaching move, it is planning to launch its first innovation center in China and the 14th worldwide next year in Shanghai, dedicated to serving cutting edge scientific and technological research and development.

Bongart says his company has strong confidence in the future of the Chinese market.

"When you look at the past 20 years, I have pleasure being in this country. There has always been a subject to speculation and concern on how China developed and when we look back at all the 20 years, China has always managed to keep a stable growth and keep it stayed on track for further development and to put it very simple I'm very confident that China will stay on that track."