January 2010
BDO Belgium, an established firm providing audit & assurance, accountancy & reporting,
tax & legal and special advisory services appoints a new CEO and COO.
Hans Wilmots (CEO) and Koen De Brabander (COO) will take up their new position on the
first of October 2010. They both were members of the Executive Committee for the past
10 years. The rejuvenation at the top, will be combined with an adjusted organizational
structure, aiming to better assist clients in navigating through BDO’s wide service
offering.
Hans Wilmots – CEO
Hans Wilmots is a Master in Roman Philology (KU Leuven 1989), which he further rounded out
with business economics (KU Leuven 1990). In 1996 he took his oath as Auditor and
Accountant. He started his career at BDO on 14 January 1991 and became a partner on 1
January 2000. Since 2001 he is a member of the BDO Executive Committee, responsible for
HRM.
As CEO, Hans will ensure that BDO Belgium continues its current growth path without losing
its human approach, whilst positioning the clients and employees will at the center stage. To
achieve this, BDO will be the professional and pragmatic sounding board for the client and a
nice working environment full of development opportunities for our staff members. The
quality of our service offering is our top priority, without of course renouncing our pragmatic
approach.
Hans Wilmots (CEO): “BDO will be a modern organization open to new ideas. Partners, staff
members and clients should feel proud that they are linked to BDO. What distinguishes BDO
Belgium is that it has a substantial growth potential to offer, nourished by the intrinsic
strength it radiates. We want to bring this strong message across to our potential clients and
collaborators in a clear way. Permanent attention to our branding & supporting and focused
marketing actions should significantly increase our brand recognition.”
Koen De Brabander (COO)
Koen De Brabander is Master in Financial and Business Administration (Accounting & Tax). In
1991 he took his oath as Auditor and became a registered auditor for listed companies. He
started his career at BDO in 1986 and became Partner in January 1996. Since 2000 he is a
member of the BDO Executive Committee, responsible for ICT.
As COO Koen will manage the central services of the BDO organisation. Together with the CEO
and other members of the Executive Committee, he will set out the strategy for the BDO
group in Belgium.
Koen De Brabander (COO): “The central services of BDO support the entire organization in
terms of HR, Finance, ICT and Procurement. An efficient and pro-active team will ensure that
all our professionals can keep a high focus on client tasks.
New organizational structure
From the 1st of October, BDO will have 4 Business Lines to support our clients.
Accountancy & Reporting: emphasis on transparent reporting
Hans Wilmots (CEO): “Accountancy” has been replaced with a more modern name, i.e.
“Accounting & Reporting Services”. By doing so, we want to underlign that “Accountancy”
will emphasize more on “Reporting”, and will create more space for special services that
used to obtain a little less focus in the past.
Koen De Brabander (COO): “BDO will focus more on the specific need of clients to also
consider budgets in their reporting, thus permanently comparing performance with the
expectations and figures from previous periods. Exactly that continuous follow-up will
become ever more crucial.”
Corporate Finance and Interim Management: potential growth centres
Hans Wilmots (CEO): Within the Business Line “Special Advisory Services” we developed next
a new service “Corporate Finance”, next to the existing special advisory service “Interim
Management”. This will allow BDO to guide its clients in every crucial moment in their life
such as IPO, expansion investments, (re)negotiation of the financial structure with banks,
searching for new capital providers, acquisitions in both directions, etc”. We are convinced
that these activities can become real growth centres in the future.
New compilation of the “Executive Committee”
To strengthen this adjusted structure, BDO has opted for a new management model in which
the four Chairmen of the Business Lines, together with the CEO and the COO, will be
responsible for day-to-day management in the “EXCO” (Executive Committee):
Koen De Brabander (COO): “By including the Chairmen of the Business Lines in all aspects of
day-to-day management, the communication lines are shorter, and take swifter actions.
Hans Wilmots (CEO): “In times where the world is changing rapidly, and companies seek
immediate answers to all types of practical questions, flexibility and short response times are
a great asset. With its new organisation structure BDO is ready for this new challenge.
Note to the editors : BDO stands for high standard and competent advice. Availability,
proximity, integrity, flexibility and a pragmatic approach are our
main values. In Belgium BDO has 450 Partners en staff spread over
the whole country. We work from 9 offices located in Antwerp,
Brussels, Ghent, Hasselt, Lasne, Liège, Namur, Roeselare and Wavre.
BDO is part of a strong international network with more than 46,000
Partners and staff active in more than 110 countries.
www.bdo.be
Contact Annick Deklerck
Communication Officer
Belgium
Tel +32 (0)9 210 54 10
Fax +32 (0)9 232 43 40
annick.deklerck@bdo.be