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 20 world monitor The big Four are often told that this is a forge of personnel, which prepares a qualified and competent personnel reserve