A 300-mandate practice through a leadership transition
Ran a Paris accountancy practice of around 300 client mandates, €1.4 million in fees and eight staff through a change of leadership.
Client retention of 72%, against 65% expected.
Principal
Séverin Dupré-Gerhards
Principal, THOTH, London. Works in French, English and German.
Séverin Dupré-Gerhards is the Principal of THOTH, a London-based accountancy and corporate services practice. Trained in audit at EY, he brings close to seventeen years across accountancy practice, statutory audit and finance leadership in France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Luxembourg.
He trained through the French chartered accountancy route at the University of Strasbourg (MSTCF, DSCG), spent an Erasmus year at the University of Mannheim, and completed the profession's practical experience requirement between Paris and Germany. He then joined Mazars in Frankfurt and EY, where he was an Audit and Transaction Manager on the German Desk in Paris and then in Reading. He went on to lead the audit department of Duthilleul & Associés and to run ASIA Expertise, a Paris practice of around 300 client mandates, through a leadership transition.
Since 2021 he has worked in regulated financial services and asset management: the UK and Japan entity transformation programme at Clearstream (Deutsche Börse Group), group management control at Amundi, Co-Head of Finance and Executive Committee member at Amundi Intermediation, and Deputy COO at Amundi Energy Transition, covering Luxembourg fund structures.
THOTH is supervised by HMRC for anti-money laundering, is an HMRC-authorised tax agent and a Companies House Authorised Corporate Service Provider.
Credentials
QualificationFrench chartered accountancy route (MSTCF, DSCG)
FrameworksIFRS, UK GAAP (FRS 101/102), US GAAP, French GAAP, HGB, Lux, Swiss, Austrian and Japanese GAAP
AML supervisionHMRC, under the Money Laundering Regulations 2017
Tax agentAuthorised by HMRC to act for clients
Companies HouseAuthorised Corporate Service Provider (identity verification and filings)
Regulatory environmentsFCA, AMF, CSSF, BaFin
Professional indemnityProfessional indemnity insurance: being arranged
Data protectionICO registration: in progress
SystemsSAP and SAP Cloud, Oracle Hyperion, Business Objects, DATEV, Sage, Cegid, SQL
Secure data handlingControlled access, documented approvalsAligned with UK NCSC guidance
Security and supplier due-diligence information is available on request: data handling, access control, subprocessors, retention, incident response and business continuity.
Career
Four countries, three working languages, every side of the table.
- From 2021
Regulated financial services and asset management
UK and Japan entity transformation at Clearstream (Deutsche Börse Group), including FCA regulatory capital. Group management control at Amundi. Co-Head of Finance and Executive Committee member at Amundi Intermediation, a revenue perimeter of around €200 million. Deputy COO of Amundi Energy Transition, covering Luxembourg fund structures.
- 2019 – 2021
Practice leadership, Paris
Head of the audit department and member of the management committee at Duthilleul & Associés, an audit, tax and advisory firm of around 50 people known for its Franco-German work. Then led ASIA Expertise, around 300 client mandates and eight staff, through a leadership transition, holding client retention at 72% against 65% expected.
- 2016 – 2019
EY, Paris and Reading
Audit and Transaction Manager on the German Desk in Paris, then Audit Manager in Reading from December 2017, as part of the office's audit leadership team. Statutory audits under French GAAP and UK GAAP; group reporting under IFRS, HGB, US GAAP and Japanese GAAP; IFRS 9, 15 and 16 implementation reviews; coordination of a cross-border fraud investigation. Teams of up to 60 in peak season. EY US GAAP accreditation.
- 2012 – 2015
Germany: Ludwigshafen, Mannheim, Frankfurt
Forensic and advisory work at Alltreu & Treuhand; CFO advisory, bank financing and debt restructuring at VHP Dr. Vogt & Partner; then senior auditor on the French Desk at Mazars in Frankfurt, auditing German subsidiaries of French groups under HGB with IFRS reporting. Chartered accountancy training contract validated in 2014.
- 2009 – 2011
Chartered accountancy training, Paris
Statutory audit and tax litigation, financial analysis for works councils, then outsourced CFO and weekly group reporting for international groups under IFRS and US GAAP.
- 2001 – 2009
Strasbourg and Mannheim
Law, then the chartered accountancy route: MSTCF at Université Robert Schuman, DSCG in 2008. Erasmus year at Universität Mannheim in M&A, valuation and international tax. Placements included the French Banking Federation's anti-money-laundering working groups and the Federation of European Accountants in Brussels.
Selected experience
The situations clients bring, handled before.
Work led by the principal before THOTH. Client names are withheld; firms named are former employers.
Audit fieldwork halved with data analytics
As the office's lead for audit transformation, data and AI, developed an internal analytics tool and trained the teams.
On-site work on a healthcare audit cut from three weeks to one and a half.
An audit department's controls rebuilt
Redesigned review and internal-control procedures, and introduced data analytics into substantive testing, as head of audit.
The professional body's quality review was passed following this work.
Procurement fraud at a social landlord
False maintenance invoices, and commissions paid to one of the landlord's employees. Supporting documents and financial data analysed.
Control weaknesses identified for remediation.