Stronger auditing
The next wave of expansion in Estonia took place in September 2010, when the firm, which had been renamed Rimess Baltic, merged with the audit firm Alliott Kangust. The goal of Aivar Kangust, the owner of this two-employee audit firm, was similar to that of Raul Koni, who wanted to join a larger firm to gain better access to industry know-how and to ensure the professional development of both himself and his staff.
Aivar Kangust explains: “There were a few companies on the horizon that I talked to about a possible merger, but I didn’t have a long conversation with anyone except Rimess. The reason is very simple: people have to get along. Whether or not you get along with someone becomes clear in the first few meetings. I had known the Rimess partners at the time, which is to say Eva, Mati, Raul and Janno Greenbaum, for a long time, and when I raised the idea of a merger in 2010, we quickly came to an agreement. The fact that Rimess was the biggest company in terms of turnover after the Big Four also played a role in deciding in favour of Rimess.”
Sworn Auditor Aivar Kangust describes Grant Thornton Baltic using three adjectives: evolving, ambitious and fun.
As audit services accounted for around half of the turnover of Rimess Baltic in Estonia and the Audit Department employed around 25 people, the addition of Kangust, an experienced chartered accountant, as a partner gave the Audit Department more strength. Nor is it insignificant that Kangust had nearly a decade of experience as an audit manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers.
