To better serve the international needs of our clients, RBZ is a member of Jeffreys Henry International (JHI), an association of public accounting firms that has a membership roster in excess of 125 member firms in over 50 countries providing audit, tax and business consulting services in a wide range of industries for clients doing business across international borders. This past year, RBZ and another JHI-member firm, Webb Group, located in Melbourne, Australia, established a program to exchange professional staff during each firms’ “busy season.”

Exchanging staff internationally is unique to local firms and few, if any, local firms have developed this type of program in Southern California. Webb Group selected a senior accountant from their audit practice, Rita Messaike, to be the first participant in this inaugural international exchange program that took place from February through early April 2008. Rita served a variety of audit clients. Best of all, while the weather was blazing hot in her hometown of Melbourne, Rita enjoyed the mild winter of Southern California while living in Marina Del Rey.

Upon her arrival, Rita said she was most curious about “driving on the Los Angeles Freeways” because of the traffic and because Americans drive on the “wrong side of the road.” Rita noted that the RBZ office culture did not fit the preconceived stereotype about accounting firms, rather, “Staff and partners interact and work together more than I expected. They also know how to have fun.”

“My brief tenure at RBZ proved that accounting principals and auditing standards are very similar between the countries and it is amazing that I was able to practice my profession while being over 7,000 miles away from home. Participating in this program has been an incredible personal and professional developmental opportunity for me and I hope to take back what I have learned from my unique experience at RBZ to my firm in Australia.”

To complete the annual leg of the exchange program, RBZ sent Michael Bossi, Manager, to work with Webb Group. We look forward to hearing about his adventures!