Interview with Chris Biggs, Partner at Theta Global Advisors

Theta Global Advisors LLP is an advisory and consulting firm that specialises in: Accounting Advisory, Deal Support and Systems & Transformations.

At Theta, we are disrupting the market for ‘large-firm’ services by providing clients with independent services focusing on quality, expertise, experience and a hands-on way of partnering with our clients.

We also provide our team with a real work-life balance and the opportunity for them to work flexibly around their home lives, creating an alternative career path to that provided by the large-firms. With this approach we have been able to attract a fantastic calibre of talent and expand our services across the world, working with some of the world’s most valuable companies.

How did Theta Global Advisors start?

Theta was set up in 2016 as a disruptive alternative to big firms – we provide the same skill and experience but in a far more agile and hands-on manner at a far better value point.

I worked for 2 years in Washington DC for the World Bank Group applying IFRS and US GAAP to their project entities and then moved to PwC when I came back to the UK. At PwC I was a Director in the accounting advisory group advising both financial and non-financial sector clients on general GAAP, financial instruments, structured finance and asset finance. I saw a clear gap in market to offer something different to the traditional Big 4 offer and that’s when I set up Theta.

We are now into our fifth year and have had incredible growth and our team currently numbers 14 and we are continuing to recruit. We have been engaged by clients including FTSE100 leading retailers and global household-name private companies.

My role is split between overall firm strategy, developing opportunities and relationships and making sure we have the right talent (we have a very talented ex-Big 4 team) who can personally grow with us. I love employing people with an entrepreneurial spirit which comes through in how we approach business development, client challenges and offering the market something disruptively new.

How has the need for Theta Global Advisors evolved during the pandemic?

With the regulations changing both in the UK and the US and additional scrutiny of audit firms for quality and non-audit services the need a truly independent alternative to those big firms and auditors has increased. We are offering a highly-tailored approach to medium and large companies who need genuine value from their service providers and in the gap the large firms are leaving, we are able to fulfil complex and strategic projects for our clients in both a timely and unique way.

With the business being built from the ground up as a highly mobile, Cloud-based enterprise, we haven’t had to adapt at all to lockdown working conditions and in fact, have probably increased our productivity. This has been one of the reasons we have been so successful during the pandemic as we created a future-facing business model which has served this period incredibly well.

What can we hope to see from Theta Global Advisors in the future?

Like all professional services firms, the current environment is difficult – however, we have a very clear strategy of growth and are continuing to hire great people and engage with ever more clients who would have previously engaged the Big 4.

As a sign of our growing strength in the market we are currently launching a dedicated ‘Systems Implementation’ capability to support clients across a range of transformations and ERP changes – I’m very excited by how we are continuing to grow and widen the services we provide to our clients.