Anniversary Message

January 1, 2006 marks the 10th anniversary of the foundation of AGN International. Those firms who founded the organization in 1996 have seen a dramatic change not only in the size of the organization (from 122 firms with US$458 million turnover to the current level of 199 firms with just over US$1 billion turnover), but also a considerably enhanced level of professionalism within it. The resources now made available to member firms are substantial and will continue to be built up.

On behalf of the International Board of Directors, I would like to thank the members for being part of this organization and contributing to its success over the last ten years. The Board is continually putting in place strategies to take our organization into the future and bring even greater benefits to the membership, and with members' continuing help, the success levels achieved in the last ten years will be surpassed with ease.

Nicholas Blake
Chief Executive Officer

AGN International History

HISTORY :

AGN International was created from the merger between CKL International and IAA (International Accounting Associates), two previous international accounting organisations. Discussions between these two organisations started in mid 1995 and agreement was reached to merge in October that year. All the member firms of both international associations were invited to become members of AGN with effect from January 1, 1996 when the organisation started its operations.

GROWTH :

At the time of commencing operations, AGN comprised of 122 firms whose combined turnover amounted to some US$458 million. At the end of its first ten year period this number has grown to 199 firms with related turnover of US$1,012 million.

THE BOARD :

The Board of Directors of AGN is responsible for setting the policy of the organisation. The first meeting of the Board was held in Miami, Florida on March 18 & 19, 1996. At that time the Board comprised of twelve persons and Mr. G. de Saint-Gérand of Jean Arthuis et Associés (a French member firm) was elected Chairman. Subsequent chairs have been as follows :

Currently the Board comprises of nine persons, the reduction of three being effected in 1998 to streamline the workings of the Board and more accurately represent the strength and commitment of individual regions.

NOTABLE EVENTS :

As from January 1, 2002 the member firms of TAG International (another international accounting association) were invited to join AGN; this resulted in some fifty firms being admitted.

The development of regionalization within the association: In 1996 four geographic regions existed, which comprised of Asia/Pacific, Europe/Africa/Middle East, Latin America and North America. In 2003 a separate region called Middle & Near East was created and the name of this region was subsequently changed in 2005 to West Asia & Africa. Regional organisations have created structures to guide and set the activity of AGN strategies within the region. Regional chairs over the years have been as follows:

The International Board has encouraged regional organisations to expand their activities so that member firms within the region can be more involved with AGN activities.

Expansion of meetings: the primary meeting for AGN members is the World Congress. It is the gathering of representatives from member firms throughout the world to meet and discuss technical, practice development and social aspects of their lives. To support the international flavour, the World Congress is held in differing locations each year, but with the over riding principal that every third year it is held within the North American region. The locations for these meetings have been as follows :

The largest North American based meeting was held in the first year of operations when some 276 persons attended. The largest non North American meeting was held in 2002 in Berlin when some 206 persons attended.

To compliment the annual World Congress, annual Regional meetings are held to discuss regional activities and provide technical resources. Again, in order to emphasise the international aspect of our organisation and to support many individual member firms, the locations of these meetings are changed annually.

In addition, own language meetings are held between member firms – for example there is
an annual German Speakers Member meeting and just recently, a French Speakers Member meeting has been held as well.

Across business lines meetings are held in respect of taxation services and also audit services; these are normally held on a regional basis.

Professional Standards: high quality has always been an expressed wish of the International Board and a number of Operating Guidelines relating to this concept have been in existence since the start of operations. A peer review system, on both a pre-admission and cyclical basis, has been undertaken within the organisation to ensure that Professional Standards are of the highest level. In 2004 the International Board approved a new structure for Quality Assurance, which involved the creation of Quality Assurance Committees on a regional and worldwide basis. One of the first acts of the World QuAC was to review the current Quality Assurance manual and update and streamline its functionalities into a module format. The emphasis of the review was also changed to ascertain the strengths of individual member firms and make those more publicised within the organisation as a whole.

Communications and Publications: during the last ten years, the volume of information now freely made available to members has increased dramatically. The organisation now publishes two newsletters – the “Worldwidelink” covering in-house information and the “Business Brief” dealing with taxation and business opportunity related matters. The primary marketing tool of the organisation is the annual World Directory, which is still published in hard copy format. In 1996 AGN’s first World Directory comprised of 80 pages and this in 2006 has exactly doubled to 160 pages. Supporting this piece are a number of other publications such as the “Introduction” brochure (Corporate brochure) and “Spanning the Globe” (an abridged version of the full Corporate brochure) – both these documents are produced in multi language versions. Member firms are updated about activities within the organisation thru an e-mail based monthly update and also they receive copies of the minutes of each Board meeting. Technical information is disseminated to members both in hard copy and thru the website and other electronic based means. The AGN Audit Guide, which summaries and follows promulgations issued by the International Federation of Accountants (ie International Standards on Auditing), is updated annually and for taxation related matters, member firms now receive a daily update from an international tax facility based in The Netherlands.

In the last five years, the AGN website (www.agn.org) has been developed into the position where now it holds a very large amount of information, both professional and membership based, which is easily accessible by the membership. In addition, the European region has developed its own website, which is linked directly with the International one and together these form an enormous database of information accessible to all.

Marketing: a number of marketing aids have been issued to the membership over the years including such items as the AGN Marketing Guide, lobby signage, AGN worldwide location map and mouse mats.