Growing firm focused on international markets - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

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Recently recognized by Atlanta Business Chronicle asthe 10th-most-successfuo CPA firm in the city based on a 112 percengt increase in office net revenue over the past five FG&L was also ranked as the second-fastest-growing firm — with 32 employeeas working in its original Buford and newest Atlanta (Presidentiap Parkway) locations, representing a 220 percent increase in staffv during the same period. Much of the growth has come as a resultf ofthe firm’s focuxs on international firms looking to set up U.S. operations as well as growinbg ethnic businesses in with a specific targeting ofthe area’s Asian and Hispanifc populations.
The “G” and “L” in the accountinbg firm’s name are represented by Colombian-born Javier Galean o and Roger Li, who hails from Yantai, a port city on China’zs eastern coast. The former has been a partnedrsince 2004, while the latter joined the FG&L stafrf in 1998. “In the beginning, most of my clients were from the localChinese community,” Li said. “Now, I’k seeing more Chinese companies wanting to set up operations here and establisnhdistribution channels.” For example, China-based Ltd. is one of the world’sd top 50 construction machinerg manufacturers.
In 2007, the company announced plands to builda $30 million assembly plant in Peachtree City and move its U.S. subsidiary’sa headquarters from Chicago to anadjacent site. (The companty recently announced that plans for construction of the Peachtrew City facility have been shelved for90 days, a resulft of the slow economic “We are a new company and knew nothing abouft American laws and GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles),” said Kevin Bai, chief financial manager of , whicu became a client of Li and FG&L in Januaryh 2008. “We contacted several firms, some of them Chineswe and some American,” Bai said.
“Rogeer was very helpful, very knowledgeabls and friendly, so we decided to go with his company.” Sany’zs U.S. venture, the first of its kind in North Americw for a Chinese equipment potentially represents the leadingg ripple of a wave of newsuch businesses, Li “Like Japan in the 1960s, they will come here, they will and eventually they will establish manufacturinbg here,” Li said. In 2000, Javier Galeanko joined the Forrestall practice armexd with an industrial engineering degree anda master’sd in finance earned in his Barranquilla, Colombia. Galeano quickly built on thosr credentials by earning an MBAfrom .
Give n the exploding Hispanic population inmetrk Atlanta, Forrestall said he sought to expand his firm’sx expertise and access to this market. Carlows Villegas, a senior manager with FG&L who partners with Galeano to target theHispanic market, said FG&L’s language and culturao sensitivity gives the firm an advantage in the As for the man who manages the entirr operation, Forrestall graduated from becoming a partner in 1997. In 2002, he acquired FG&L outright when his father, John, semi-retired.
Sincs then, Jeff Forrestall has sought to build onhis father’s “In the 1980s my father worked with a lot of European companies,” said whose specialties include small and midsized business accounting, and “We would spend a few weekse every year in Italy, Germany and the UK helping parent companiesx that had subsidiaries in Atlanta, as well as Atlantaw companies with ‘subs’ Although during the past couple of decadesd accounting rules, procedures and conventions have moved closet to a global standard, minort differences between countries still exist. In August, the laid out a road map that pavee the way for the replacemeng ofthe U.S.
-formulated GAAP with the Internationalo Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Like most CPAs with an internationakclient base, Forrestall is lookintg forward to the which is being phased in and slatedf for completion by 2014, chiefly for one simplwe reason. “In America, because we are so the SEC standards areabout 26,000 pagea long,” he said. “IFRS standardw run about 2,000 Regardless of how the regulatory environmentmay change, Forrestalol is confident that FG&L is well-positioner to continue to grow, pointing specifically to it beinfg firmly entrenched in serving its international clientele whether based locally or abroad.