By Andrew Lee of The Star (Kuala Lumpur), Friday, July 16, 2010

KUALA LUMPUR: DFK International, a consortium of independent accounting firms and business advisers, views the “green market” as its major growth driver.

As such, it would focus on sustainability and renewable sectors, going forward, said president Michael Tovey.

“Despite the economic difficulties that the world is facing, there is still funding available for high-quality projects, particularly in these sectors.

“We are very interested in working with companies that are engaged in green activities,” he told StarBiz at DFK’s annual conference on Environmental Sustainability (Going Green) in Kuala Lumpur.

Tovey cited the cooperation between the United Kingdom and India on renewable energy and biofuel as an example.

He said Asia-Pacific was high on DFK’s priority list in terms of growth prospects.

“We have some ambitious development in the region that we would like to see (it taking shape) in China, India and South-East Asia,” he added.

Last year, DFK achieved a revenue growth of 10% despite the global financial crisis. It posted record results in the financial year 2009 with a combined fee income of US$1.05bil.

“We have members who have performed incredibly well in growing their businesses. At the same time, the company also recruited some new high-quality firms.

“In doing so, we have managed to grow 10% in terms of revenue when many other associations were shrinking due to financial difficulties,” said Tovey.