A&M began considering entering the Australian market more than two years ago, yet its timing comes at an opportune moment for the firm. PwC is entangled in a tax leaks scandal, first reported by the Financial Review in May. The fallout has led PwC to sell its government consulting arm – rebranded Scyne – for $1 to private equity firm Allegro Funds.

And EY’s attempt to split auditing from its consulting business – dubbed Project Everest – failed as its audit partners feared it would have weakened the firm. The plan was aimed at freeing EY’s consultants from regulatory constraints around servicing the firm’s audit clients.

Free of conflict

While the firm cut its teeth turning around stressed businesses – A&M is well-known for restructuring bankrupt investment bank Lehman Brothers in 2008 – its approach in Australia is part of a global expansion from Europe and the Middle East to Asia-Pacific.

Locally, A&M wants a piece of private equity dealmaking, infrastructure, superannuation and the real estate sector. The consultancy, which could employ up to 100 people by the end of the year, also wants to tap into private capital providers, which are deploying record levels of investment locally.

Unlike larger professional services firm, A&M’s consultants focus on transaction advisory work and tax matters. They do not provide statutory auditing services. Its larger rivals generally cannot provide other services to audit clients, limiting the range of clients their consultants can advise.

Mr Willis and Paul Aversano, A&M’s global leader of its transaction advisory group, said Australia’s professional services market needed a shake-up beyond the big four, and both believe A&M’s approach – free of audit-related conflict – made it a viable alternative for companies.

“It is a major, developed market in need of a competitive alternative outside the big four,” said New York-based Mr Aversano, adding that A&M’s clients had inquired for some time whether the firm had a presence in Australia.

“We have some large global industry teams that Australia needs to be part of. For example, infrastructure, financial services … if you are in those industry sectors, you really need an Australian presence,” he said.

‘A true meritocracy’

The pair also hope A&M’s approach to remuneration can win over prospective candidates. Its staff own equity in the global business, including other divisions like restructuring. Mr Aversano said this method was designed to be counter-cyclical because the broader equity value of the firm was not over-weighted to one division over another.

Moreover, Mr Willis said A&M managing directors could earn more money than peers if they brought in more business than colleagues, irrespective of age and experience. Rivals typically considered their staff’s experience level when determining their variable remuneration.

“You can have a second- or third-year partner with more equity and a high-performing third-year partner with more annual compensation than a seventh- or eighth-year partner who may still be performing, but not as well as that second- or third-year,” he said.

“I cannot tell you how many times I have spent in my 15 years in the big four, where I heard ‘Oh, you are the top-performing person for your level, but this is all you can make economically’.”