World Monitor Mag, Digitalisation WM_June 2019 web | Page 22
EXPERT OPINION
Digital future
Development of digitalisation in Kazakhstan, the strategic plans of
KPMG and the new Digital Committee in EUROBAK, all of that and much
more we discussed with Saken Zhumashev, Managing Partner of KPMG.
Saken, you are the managing partner of
KPMG in Kazakhstan and Central Asia.
How did your career start?
Saken Zhumashev,
Managing Partner,
KPMG in Kazakhstan
and Central Asia
I would like to start the story about my
career with the Polytechnic University,
where I studied as a programmer, back at
that time this specialty was called a system
engineer. I studied subjects like theoretical
mechanics, strength of materials, higher
mathematics, and programming. At that
time, IT was only being introduced to our
lives: if a person could install Windows on
a computer, then he was considered the
guru of IT technologies. In my last year at
the polytechnic, I heard about KIMEP. At
that time, it had just opened and issued
specialists in the field of accounting, finance
and management. I understood that after
graduating from KIMEP, you can get a job
in the Big Four companies, having already
purposefully traveled to Almaty to finish the
magistracy and join the Big Four. During my
second year at KIMEP I was invited to work,
and I decided to study and work in parallel.
Therefore, to specifically answer your
question, my career began with a lot of fun.
I studied in airplanes, went to projects in
the UK and the Russian Federation as well
as in the countries of Western Europe, and
at the same time tried to finish my studies
at KIMEP. It was the right kind of start and
set the tone for the next 15 years of work
in the big Four. All this experience from the
very start prepared me to become a KPMG
Managing Partner in December 2018.
Central Asia as a whole. Therefore, we are
now formulating a strategy not only for
Kazakhstan, but also for the entire region
of Central Asia. Our strategy is based on an
understanding of KPMG's global experience,
a deep understanding of the realities of
working in the post-Soviet region, and
clearly seeing our goal directly in Central
Asia and in Kazakhstan. What do we want
to do?
Our core business is auditing. This is an
established direction and basis of our
activity in Central Asia and in Kazakhstan,
in particular. In audits, we want to continue
to provide quality services at the highest
global level and, of course, we plan to
establish ourselves and become a leader in
this market, although now we are in fairly
good positions. We will continue to develop
this area, but not at a pace like the advisory
direction. Now we are focusing on advisory
projects, namely, on such promising areas
as ‘mergers and acquisitions’, digitalisation
and the direction associated with the
optimization of business processes in the
activities of various organizations. This
direction will be developed in KPMG in the
next few years at a very fast pace. We also
focus on tax and legal advice and we see
that people have an understanding that
disputes can be resolved in the legal and tax
arena and for this they need highly qualified
advice, specialists and support. The demand
for such services is growing; accordingly,
we will also continue to actively develop
this area.
What are the strategic plans for KPMG?
KPMG is a global company and today's
global trends affect our business in
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world monitor
The big Four are often told that this is
a forge of personnel, which prepares a
qualified and competent personnel reserve