Cross-border commuter by profession

Korbinian, anyone who reads your name or hears you speak thinks: Where does he come from?

I was born and grew up in the Bavarian Forest. Right next to the ski piste.

And how does someone from Lower Bavaria get to the Basel tri-border region?

In a roundabout way. After leaving school and completing my compulsory military service, I studied law and economics in Augsburg. During my studies, I spent six months in Australia. Love brought me to the Basel region. My wife is a tax consultant and runs her own law firm. I have been working as an auditor at PwC Basel since 2010. We live with our two daughters in the German municipality of Grenzach-Wyhlen. So I'm a classic cross-border commuter.

What do you do at PwC Basel?

I am an audit partner and head the Assurance division for the Basel and Northwestern Switzerland region. I also head up the Swiss-German Business Group, in which we network the Baden-Württemberg-Bavaria and Switzerland regions and can offer our clients cross-border (auditing) services. It helps in my job that I have already travelled around the world a bit. I also had to demonstrate this flexibility during my secondment in Stuttgart.

What's it all about?

From 2018 to 2020, I worked on secondment at PwC Stuttgart. I didn't move during this time, but continued to travel home to the Basel region. It was never an issue that my wife and children should follow my career plans and move the centre of their lives to do so. I always enjoyed coming home from my professional trips.

So you not only commute effortlessly between two countries, but also between your family and a demanding job. How does that work?

With a lot of self-organisation. And with the right attitude. Family has always been part of my professional development. I worked part-time for five years to have time for my young daughters. That requires the courage to communicate that you have limited work capacity. You simply can't manage a 100 per cent portfolio with a 60 per cent workload. It takes just as much courage to admit this to yourself. For me, it's important to experience the development of my children and my wife's interests. As a man, I wanted to set a good example. After all, taking a career break is usually left to women.

How does your cross-border expertise benefit your customers?

I am an accredited auditor in Switzerland and Germany. This means I can offer cross-border knowledge in one person. What I don't know, I get from the PwC network. This is interesting for many Swiss companies with foreign trade activities in the EU and Germany in particular. But vice versa for foreign companies with activities in Switzerland.

Where do you get the power for all this?

First and foremost with my family. I also recharge my batteries by doing sport. I like travelling by road bike. I've already crossed the Alps by bike in one day. That's 7,000 metres in altitude and at least twice as many kilocalories. Even as a boy and a keen footballer and skier, I was very ambitious. I always wanted to win. Over time, I also learnt how to lose. That's why I now value endurance sports such as road cycling. You have to overcome many inner and outer limits and surpass yourself. It's a constant process of winning and losing.

How does this athletic endurance come into play in your work as an auditor?

Every day. At PwC, I mainly look after medium-sized (family) companies in north-west Switzerland. Family businesses in particular are designed for the long term, usually over several generations. They focus less on short-term profit maximisation and more on the long-term survival of the company. This is where staying power definitely pays off, especially when it comes to building personal relationships.

In what way?

I see good relationships as the foundation of professional success. I can only provide my clients with sustainable support if I build long-term, trusting relationships with them. Especially in family businesses, the people in charge change less frequently than in listed companies. We realise how important strong relationships are in pressure or crisis situations. Or when there is a mandatory change of audit firm. Good contacts hold up even in challenging times; they give us security. That's why it's important to me as a young partner to build up a strong network. It's a kind of investment in my future.

What do you see as a prerequisite for good relationships?

Authenticity. Only when I remain authentic and open do stable and good relationships develop. I enjoy working with people and have learned an open and honest dialogue in my family. Because when I am myself, I can set a good example for my children. It's similar in my job: only as an authentic sparring partner can I convince a potential customer of my personality and be a reliable counterpart in the subsequent collaboration.

Let's talk briefly about this collaboration. How would you describe it?

For my customers, a lot depends on my reliability. They must be able to rely on what I conclude, recommend or promise. After all, they make decisions based on them that may have far-reaching consequences. In a family business, even for generations.

If you had a free hashtag for your personal "That's Assurance" campaign, what would it be?

#Reliability