MGI Malta director specialises in corporate finance

See article about the graduation in the Times of Malta (Also available in PDF)

Franco Azzopardi is known among his colleagues for his sheer determination and discipline, probably the result of decades of passionate karate training, competing at world-class level, and coaching athletes that achieved gold and silver in European Championships. His own personal best was of 6th place in the World championships and 4th in the Europeans. All this he managed to dovetail in his busy work schedule as Partner and Director at MGI Malta, a local firm of Certified Public Accountants that has the ambitious aspiration of becoming the best place to work with, from amongst the mid-tier firms. Driven by the strategy of MGI to go that extra mile in the field of corporate finance, Mr Azzopardi decided to study for this specialism himself.

After three gruelling years of tugging at his time, sleeping an average of four hours a day, and struggling hard not to compromise any of his commitments, he finally graduated Master of Science in Finance with the University of Leicester (UK) on the 27th January. He passed the exams and assignments at the first sitting and he researched Professional Service Firms as part of his dissertation, which was titled ‘Strategic Pain Points: Towards developing competitive advantage for the Small and Medium-sized Accounting Practice’. In his writings, Mr Azzopardi explored new ground relating to Single Costing Rates and Single Revenue Rates as derivations of the EVA? concept (Economic Value Added as coined by Stern Stuart & Co cited in Weaver, S. 2001). The main objective of his research was to simplify and calibrate the dash-pod of instrumentation traditionally used by accountancy firms (and other professional service firms), to manage their business. He critically diagnosed the drive-train of the economic engine of accounting firms, highlighting interesting alternatives to the adage that ‘time is money’. Mr Azzopardi also tested the hypothesis that strategic management practiced by small and medium-sized accounting firms (SMPs), lacks sophistication, and that by addressing critical strategic points, SMPs could add to that competitive advantage necessary for superior performance in today’s business environment.

Mr Azzopardi is an accountant and registered auditor by profession. He had attained his accountancy qualification in 1985. He worked for Deloitte (at that time, Deloitte Haskins and Sells), in Malta, and in Rome and Turin, Italy. His responsibilities then included the management of the larger audits including Corinthia Group, Middle Sea Insurance, Fiat-Allis, General Motors Italia and Riv-SKF, amongst others. He also gained experience in Financial Due Diligence work carried out for SKF (Sweden), and special purpose investigations for Microsoft Corporation. He was at that time promoted to manager status. In 1990 he joined Mr George Farrugia, then a sole practitioner, with the objective of founding a top mid-tier accountancy firm. Since then this firm, MGI Malta, achieved its original objectives and confidently states today, that it is a forerunner amongst the local mid-tier sector of Certified Public Accountants. The latest specialised assignment relating to corporate finance entrusted to MGI Malta, was a Financial Due Diligence on Maltacom plc that was requested by a large Dubai corporation. The MGI team led by Mr Azzopardi and supported by the Birmingham office of MGI, worked closely with representatives from UBS Investment Bank, Linklaters and GVTH, a leading local firm of lawyers. The latter firms were responsible for the Legal Due Diligence and for the financial modelling part of the bid.

At the time he started his readings, Mr Azzopardi was Partner and Director at MGI Malta, responsible for the development of the professional tools of the office, the quality control, and the risk-management functions in an industry that is highly regulated and inundated with incessant changes. He was also Vice-Chairman of the new Kunsill Malti ghall-Isport (sport council formed by virtue of the Sport Act 26 of 2002), President of the Traditional Karate Federation of Malta, and National Coach of the same federation. In 2003 he was appointed Chairman of the Sport Council by the Minister of Sport, and decided to resign from the office of President of the Federation so as to avoid the possibility of conflicting roles with the Sport Council. In 2005, apart from finishing his studies, Mr Azzopardi also competed in the European Championships of Traditional Karate and managed to place 4th in a team event with another member of the MGI team, Omar Azzopardi, gold medallist in the 2001 Europeans. The team was partly sponsored by MGI Malta.

Mr Azzopardi has also pioneered a transformation exercise at MGI over the last few years, with the support of his partners George Farrugia and Nick Falzon, and the rest of the MGI management team. To facilitate with the transformation, MGI also engaged an MSc in Business Administration graduate from Sweden, Jakob Kegel. The current focus of the firm is on refining its culture and environment to become the best SMP to work for.

More information on the firm and the opportunities it offers, are found at http://www.mgimalta.com