A: I want to see Deloitte achieve strong growth in the region, underpinned by our integrated service offering, focusing on Hong Kong, China and Japan. I believe the business of Deloitte in the region will grow about 15 per cent over the next three to four years and we can double our business in the region in the next five to six years.

Deloitte has major expansion plans for Hong Kong and China. We intend doubling our number of people to 6,000 in the next few years as China continues to be a strategic market for us.

Q: What steps do you intend to take to ensure your firm is not involved in any corporate scandals during the expansion phase?

A: There are several measures we are going to take. First, we will continue with our quality and risk-management programmes. We also intend to continually improve the high level of ethical standards and professionalism practiced by our people.

While we like to see our people gain new clients, our strategy is not growth at any cost. We select clients that meet our acceptance standards and those for whom we are confident of meeting their expectations.

Deloitte will also invest a lot in training to make sure our people have the skills and knowledge to carry out their services.

Having said that, corporate scandals will not be prevented by accounting firms alone. It needs the combined efforts of governments, regulators, company management, boards of directors and others to deliver practices that meet high corporate governance standards.

Q: Under what circumstances would you advise your staff to reject a client?

A: Our policy is not to accept a client offer where we are not comfortable with our ability to meet their needs or we have concerns about past or present business practices.

Deloitte firms would definitely resign from being an auditor of a company if there were professional disagreements that would impact the outcome of an audit report and financial statements.

Q: Some accounting firms decided to close their consulting arms to avoid conflicts of interest, but your organisation did not follow suit. Do you think this will cause any conflict?

A: Deloitte made a decision to maintain its consulting practice, the only one of the big four to do so. We are now in the unique position of being able to deliver a broad range of services and perspectives to help businesses solve their issues. We believe that having a broad perspective also helps our people conduct better audits.

One way of avoiding conflict is not to provide consulting and auditor services to the same client.

Q: Why did you become an accountant?

A: I'm actually not an accountant. I started my career as a business consultant in a professional services firm. I studied engineering in India before completing an MBA in the US. I gained strong technical and analytical skills, which are invaluable when helping businesses solve complex problems.

Q: What are the best, and worst, decisions you have ever made?

A: I think the best decision I was involved in was to build a truly global consulting organisation operating across more than 30 countries. This meant setting up the processes and structure to ensure we could offer consistent services to our major clients, wherever they are.

On the worst decision, I think we can all learn from experiences gained.

Q: You were born in India, studied and worked in the United States and have now moved to Hong Kong. How do you compare the different markets?

A: New Delhi was a good city for me to grow up in and understand life, such as the importance of balance and right and wrong. New York and Hong Kong have similarities, both are very busy, fast and major global financial centres.

I like Hong Kong as it is multicultural and energetic and offers a lot of outdoor opportunities. In a few minutes you can get from the centre of the city to the mountains. Both my wife and I like the outdoors and hiking, and Hong Kong offers many opportunities for this.

Q: What do you like most about Hong Kong?

A: As a frequent flyer, I really like the convenience and efficiency of Hong Kong's airport. I also like the proximity Hong Kong provides and the scope of outdoor activities.

My wife and my two daughters would rank the shopping as one of their greatest likes.