JHI Referral Programme: Creating Global Business Opportunities for Members

October 3rd, 2011

JHI strives to provide its member firms and their clients with a variety of programs and services to help drive business locally and internationally. In addition to these benefits, JHI offers its members the ability to participate in its Referral Programme, giving members the opportunity to conduct business globally and create long term partnerships.

Recently, JHI facilitated an important business partnership between Ruby Stein Wagner in Canada and Li, Tang, Chen & Co. in Hong Kong. According to Joe Havas, partner at Ruby Stein Wagner, the primary reason the firm joined JHI in 1978 was to enable them to continue serving clients involved in businesses with worldwide reach. “Initially, our membership in JHI allowed us to refer our clients to the small JHI membership in Toronto, New York, Israel and France (via London, as there was no representation initially in France). As JHI membership grew, we were able to accommodate our clients’ needs in practically all of the major commercial centres of the world.”

For Li, Tang, Chen & Co., the programme provides the firm with a global network for business development and exchange of information, introduces clients to the above average professional services from fellow members of JHI and the ability to work with overseas companies which require specific professional cross border services, according to Raymond Chan, a partner at the firm.

This referral started with Ruby Stein Wagner’s client, General Woods & Veneers Ltd., a Montreal-based, family owned manufacturer and distributor of hardwood, decorative veneers and other wood products. “At one point, the company had several manufacturing facilities in North America and Europe, as well as distribution centres around the world. In the late 70s, they obtained a contract to build a turnkey manufacturing plant in the People’s Republic of China, which led to various other commercial ventures in Asia,” said Havas. “As the Asian economies modernised in the 1980s, they needed to have a representative office in Asia, and Hong Kong was the obvious choice.”

Ruby Stein Wagner contacted Li, Tang Chen & Co., and Eric Li and his team began setting up the necessary corporate and banking structure. According to Havas, the firm has been providing administrative accounting support and annual audit services to General Woods & Veneers (Asia) Ltd. ever since.

In regards to his experience with the programme, Havas said, “JHI members around the world are keenly aware of the importance of providing the same service levels to inbound referrals that the clients are used to receiving from their local accounting firms. The occasional lapses in service can always be quickly resolved by a phone call to the JHI representative partner.”

Both firms agreed the programme is a valuable benefit of JHI membership. “We wish to share with other members our experience of the professional skills in dealing with the client and the factors of success in obtaining the business through the JHI Referral Programme,” Chan said.

Havas added, “As the world becomes ever more open, and communications costs fall, even the smallest clients are in a position to offer their services to a global audience. This will inevitably lead to growing interactions among JHI member firms, and the value of the Referral Programme will continue to be an increasingly valuable benefit of JHI membership.”