Focus Primexis
Interview with Olivier Touchard at BFM Business

In an interview with BFM Business, Olivier Touchard, Chairman of Primexis, underlined the pillars of Primexis’ success: cutting-edge expertise, a tailor-made approach for each client, mastery of the latest digital tools, particularly in terms of artificial intelligence and automation, and a CSR approach firmly anchored in the firm’s strategies.

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Nicolas Doze: Olivier Touchard, you are the chairman of Primexis, an independent financial consulting and accounting firm. You work with mid-cap entities and large groups, particularly in the real estate, banking and insurance sectors. You assist your clients in fields such as accounting, taxation, controlling, payroll and human resources. Primexis is among the Top 30 French firms in terms of turnover. Is this a good description? 

Olivier Touchard: It’s perfect! We have a distinctive characteristic: we offer financial consulting and specialized accounting. Every word is important. Financial consulting consists of assisting our clients in concretely executing their projects. We do not come in beforehand but directly in  practical implementation, whether it’s for information systems, accounting standards or organization projects.  

In general, we intervene after a phase of strategic and organizational consulting. Our role is to support the client in the execution. This means that our engagements are often long-term. We truly integrate the client’s teams with a clear objective: achieve concrete results when implementing the project.  

ND: In a previous interview with Stéphane Soumier (B Smart), you described yourself as the “Usain Bolt of multinationals’ accounting and finance.” As you said, you excel in very specific fields, in particular, in the operational aspect. Is that what drives you to set this performance obligation? 

OT : Yes, absolutely. As a matter of fact, we don’t cover all sectors. Contrary to other firms who position themselves as “full service,” we prefer to focus on what we do best. It’s this specialization that allows us to assist our clients over the long term. There are subject matters that we do not work on, and we clearly say so. If it does not match our expertise, we won’t accept the engagement. 

ND: In the case of a multinational company that already has its own chartered accountants and uses other firms, why would they look for you specifically? Imagine a company with 250,000 employees worldwide, listed in Paris, New York and elsewhere. Why would they choose Primexis? 

OT: There are many possible reasons. The first is our sectorial expertise. You mentioned real estate, banking and insurance. Our clients in these sectors are looking for experts who know their business, who speak their language, and who perfectly understand the regulations specific to their field.  

The second reason is our technical expertise. For example, we are widely recognized for account consolidation and preparing consolidated accounts for large groups. This is a specialty in which our clients know that we can immediately intervene with no learning curve. As soon as we arrive, we are operational, ready to take action thanks to our know-how, and we know how to adapt to the context of large groups. After 45 years in this market, we know these environments inside out.  

ND: You would like to highlight three major challenges. The first two are integrating artificial intelligence and automation. 

OT: We might think that these subjects have already been widely discussed, but they have a profound impact on our traditional accounting profession. Numerous tasks in this profession can now be handled by generative AI. The software publishers we use are in the midst of a revolution to integrate AI tools into their solutions. This is radically changing the way we approach work with our teams to show them that their jobs are not threatened.  

ND: We often hear that the accounting profession will disappear…

OT: That is completely false. I fight that idea. The profession is not going to disappear; the contrary actually, we need more and more accountants. They are not the same accountants they were 20 years ago, and their added value has changed. The real challenge for us is to transform our approach, which is an ongoing challenge at Primexis.  

ND: Does automation go hand in hand with this?

OT: Yes, absolutely. Automation, in particular via RPA, started 15 years ago. It is not new, but it has sped up with the arrival of generative AI, which adds a new dimension. The system no longer just reproduces what it has been taught, but also learns on its own. This is a crucial issue in the entire profession, not just for our firm.  

ND: At Primexis, are your teams worried or curious about these developments?

OT: Not worried. It’s more of a question of knowing where to start and how to use AI in a relevant way. The only real worry is the security of data. Whoever has the data holds the firepower. We must ensure that the data we use with AI is protected and that its confidentiality is guaranteed.   

ND: Another topic that you are busy with is CSR. Does this concern you internally at Primexis as well as for your clients?

OT: Yes, in two ways. We first started with ourselves, saying that, before offering CSR engagements to our clients, it was important to look at ourselves internally. A year and a half ago, we started our major CSR project to improve all our practices: environmental, with reducing CO2 emissions, and also societal and social. For example, we launched a philanthropy program, which wasn’t the case a year and a half ago. We are also working on gender equality, wage gaps and all of the CSR pillars, whether they are social or environmental.  

ND: Are you well on your way?

OT: Yes, I think we have made good progress, and above all, we’ve successfully involved all our staff in this project.  

ND: Are you now able to produce extra-financial reporting? Some of your colleagues still seem hesitant.

OT: Yes, we know how to do it. Not only do we produce this reporting, but we also provide software and tools to help our clients implement them.  

ND: A final topic that is close to your heart: you completed your first strategic plan in 2023 and launched the one for 2024-2027. What are your objectives?

OT: Our priority remains growth, an objective that we had already set in our previous strategic plan, and which we achieved a year ahead of schedule. We needed to reach 50 million euros in turnover by 2024, but we achieved that in 2023 while developing our planned offerings. For the future, we hope to maintain our position among the Top 30 French firms. Our clients have become more and more important and asked us for more and more services. By 2027, we are aiming for a turnover of 75 million euros, representing growth of over 50%. We also plan to expand our college of partners and directors. We are a partner-owned company.  

ND: What you describe is a really good message for the young people who think that accounting is an outdated sector that doesn’t know how to reinvent itself. 

OT: Far from it! Accounting is a very attractive profession and an extremely booming market. It’s like unemployment insurance! In Europe, demand is such that there is a real shortage of candidates. This phenomenon is not unique to France; I’ve observed the same situation in many European countries. It’s an exciting, well-paid profession where there’s never a dull moment.  

ND: You have to admit that the challenges you face are, in a way, challenges the world is facing. 

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The interview is available on the Primexis Youtube channel.