PwC establishes new agri team in Australia

PwC has hired a team of agribusiness experts to head up its newly-established specialist food and agribusiness advisory team.

According to a statement, Greg Quinn, Ben Craw and Tim Lee – previously of PPB Advisory – will be the three new partners leading the team.

“With this new specialist advisory service we offer our food and agribusiness clients and capital providers an end-to-end service which can integrate financial and commercial advisory, accounting and audit and tax and legal advice led by partners with deep sector expertise, a passion for agriculture and strong connections to rural Australia,” PwC deals leader Troy Porter said.

The firm has identified Australia’s agriculture sector as being crucially important to the country’s future economic growth. “The sector’s growth potential is enormous,” Porter said, adding that by 2050 Australia has an opportunity to capture an additional $0.7 trillion to $1.7 trillion in agricultural exports.

In addition to setting up a new advisory team focused on the agri sector, PwC also announced the launch of a new food safety assurance product.

The firm’s new International Organization for Standardization service provider will specialize in advisory services related to compliance with ISO standards, and training for compliance officers in large businesses.

The new business unit will be led by Peter Chandler who has more than 30 years of experience in the food safety industry, the firm said.

“These services are adjacent to the existing work we do with clients in the food and agribusiness sectors to help build trust and confidence about food products,” PwC assurance partner Peter Buchholz said. “Peter has extensive market leading experience and we’re delighted he has come on board,” he added.

Chandler joins PwC from inspection and certification company SGS Auditing Services, where he served as national operations manager from November 2002 until last month, according to his LinkedIn profile.

The new ISO business unit will complement PwC’s recent acquisition of the Auditor Training Center, Australia’s largest independent ISO Training Organization, according to the statement.

“The complementary skills of training and certification enable PwC to meet the demand for ISO Services and our projections are that training and certification will be significant part of our Australian and regional business within two years,” Buchholz said.