GHENT, 4 October 2024 - PIA Group, Belgium’s third largest accountancy and advisory group, continues to expand rapidly. Less than a week after the previous announcement, PIA Group chairman Steven Brouckaert has the pleasure of welcoming yet another new accounting agency to the PIA ranks. With Avisem from Lint, PIA Group is bolstering its presence in the Antwerp region with a family business that guides its customers in a unique, individual way.
Making sense of the numbers
The story of Avisem starts some thirty years ago with its foundation by Marijke Deruytter. As a lecturer in accounting and taxation at Karel de Grote Hogeschool, clarifying business figures and tax matters is second nature to her. Marijke says on the subject: “At Avisem, we take the time from day one to break down the numbers for our clients so they truly understand them. New customers often say “no one has ever gone over the numbers like that with me”.”
Family-oriented
Avisem likes to describe its personalised approach as Balanced advice. It’s a philosophy that appeals to many liberal professions, medical professionals and IT consultants from the southern edge of Antwerp. Therefore the agency’s rapid expansion comes as no surprise. Over the years, Marijke has surrounded herself with freshly graduated students but her husband Geert Deseure, controller at a multinational, and her son Stijn also joined the firm, making it a family business. Today Avisem employs 12 staff.
Support needed
“The collaboration with PIA Group is a logical next step in Avisem’s growth trajectory”, says Stijn Deseure, who heads up the agency in Lint together with Marijke. “Our individual approach requires great focus. As a fast-growing agency we are confronted with an abundance of additional work: HR, fleet, IT, ... That is why we were on the lookout for a partner who could unburden us. We immediately felt that PIA Group could offer us what we needed and was also the best fit in terms of vision.”
Don’t fix what isn’t broken
“Providing accounting agencies with support so they can focus on their customer portfolio is at the heart of PIA Group’s approach”, says Steven Brouckaert. “Our branches have access to support in the areas of HR, IT, Operations, Finance and Sales & Marketing. We take care not to change the DNA, work methods and entrepreneurship of the agencies and the name stays the same as well. Our motto is don’t fix what isn’t broken. More even, unburdening Marijke, Stijn and their staff will only strengthen Avisem’s financial approach.”
Extra services
Nathalie Calle, CEO of PIA Group Belgium, adds: “One of the major assets for Avisem’s customers is that they can now also call on PIA Advisory. Our experts can assist them in a broad range of areas: legal, VAT, CFO-as-a-Service, corporate finance, wealth and succession planning, M&A, and digital transformation. The fact that a single group harnesses all of these competencies guarantees a 360° strategy that fits in perfectly with Avisem’s personalised approach.”
Continuity assured
Stijn is now a partner in PIA Group and continues to lead Avisem with Marijke like before. “We are happy we can guarantee the agency’s future for our customers and staff”, says Marijke. “For us that was also a key factor in joining PIA Group. You never know if something might happen to us.” Meanwhile Steven Brouckaert continues to convince agencies of the benefits of a collaboration with PIA Group. More additions to PIA Group are expected over the next few weeks.
About PIA Group
In a market of scale-ups PIA Group aims to develop into a leading player in accountancy and advisory services while preserving the personal connection between employee and customer. That is why our growth is based on a continuously expanding group of enterprising partners. Thanks to the mutual interaction between these partners and our teams of experts, entrepreneurs benefit from an individual up-to-date service in every PIA branch, as well as know-how that makes a genuine contribution to their professional success and personal happiness. PIA Group was founded in Belgium by Steven Brouckaert in 2012. The group is active in Belgium and the Netherlands and boasts more than 60 branches and close to 1,700 employees, realising a turnover across both countries of more than €250 million at the end of 2024.
www.pia.be
www.avisem.be
For more details on this press release feel free to contact Stefan Knecht, stefan.k@pia.be, +32 495 54 60 82.
