Early years SyCip, Gorres, Velayo, and Company was founded in 1946 by
Washington SyCip in
Manila, providing services to businesses recovering from the
Second World War. SyCip's childhood friend,
Alfredo M. Velayo, and
Vicente O. José, an accountant with experience in tax work, were taken in as partners in 1947 to form SyCip, Velayo, José & Company. The firm managed their first overseas assignment the following year.
Growth The firm embarked on its first overseas engagement by working out a merger with
Henry Hunter Bayne & Co. (HHB), which started its practice in the then-American controlled
Philippine Islands in 1906. In 1953, Thomas Farnell, a senior partner of HHB, decided to return to the
United States and sell his firm to
Filipino accountants Arsenio Reyes and Ramón J. Gorres. After a series of negotiations between the two and SyCip, the firms merged to form SyCip, Gorres, Velayo & Company.
Victorias Milling Corporation In 2000, the country's local accountant's professional body reprimanded SGV, then an Andersen affiliate in the Philippines, in relation to its audit with
Victorias Milling Company. SGV withdrew audit reports worth three years after it was found out that it certified them without checking, which were later determined to be fraudulent.
Ernst & Young affiliation SGV distanced itself from Arthur Andersen in 2002, after the latter became involved in the
Enron scandal. Previously the Ernst & Young affiliate in the country was Punongbayan & Araullo. As of December 2016, SGV & Company remains the biggest accounting firm in the Philippines, auditing about half of 304 publicly listed companies in the
Philippine Stock Exchange. SGV has been receiving stiff competition from rival firms, KPMG
R.G. Manabat & Co., Reyes Tacandong & Co., Isla Lipana & Co., and Navarro Amper & Co. all established by former partners of the SGV. ==References==