BDO International, the world's 5th largest accounting network, announced today that BDO France SAS will be its new French Member Firm, effective 3 December 2007.

BDO France has six founding partners: Jean-Pierre Allouch, Vincent Baillot, Jean-Paul Papeix, François Rosse (previously with the firm ABPR), Michel Léger (of Léger & Associates) and Patrick Giffaux, who will merge their existing practices into a new entity.

With four offices in the greater Paris region, one in Burgundy and one in Provence, the firm has 16 partners and 167 staff.  The business plan is based on the significant growth prospects foreseen from the inward referrals generated by the BDO International network, as well as major new clients in the French market, an active merger policy and high level recruitment prospects.

The founding partners possess a true international culture and enjoy an excellent reputation in the French market. Their shared ambition is to grow and develop the practice to the highest international level and to offer the best quality services to large French clients with trans-national activities, as well as to foreign clients with businesses in France.

Jean-Pierre Allouch, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the new firm, says: “I am delighted to be part of this project that adds a new and credible firm to the six largest players on the French market”.

Michel Léger, Chief Executive Officer of BDO France, adds: “The new firm responds to clients’ need for more choice and to the demand by regulators for greater competition.  The BDO brand and access to the BDO international network gives our firm the necessary stamp of quality and reputation to compete effectively in today’s ever more globalised marketplace.”

Frans Samyn, Chief Executive Officer of BDO International, comments: “In BDO France we have found a group of partners whose exact wish is to fulfill our stated objective to deliver seamless and consistent client service in every major economy in the world”.

Note to editors:
BDO International is a world wide network of public accounting firms, called BDO Member Firms, serving international clients. Each BDO Member Firm is an independent legal entity in its own country. The combined total fee income of all BDO Member Firms was US$ 3.911 billion in 2006. The global network has 621 offices in 107 countries, and almost 30,000 partners and staff in the Member Firms provide business advisory services throughout the world.

For further information please contact:
BDO Global Coordination Office, Brussels, Belgium. Tel: (+32 2) 778 0130; Fax: (+32 2) 778 0143
e-mail: bdoglobal@bdoglobal.com