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Dear Colleagues,

It was a pleasure to meet most of you at the well-attended international meeting in the beautiful city of Buenos Aires.

Due to work and deadlines in our Paris office, I regret I could not participate in the pre-Congress tour which was attended by 50 delegates from 17 different countries. From what I heard from many of you, it was a great event, starting from Rio de Janeiro, continued in Paraty and concluded with a visit to the spectacular Iguasu Falls.

Furthermore, together with the sightseeing it gave a great opportunity to mingle informally with members of various countries and continents, exchange ideas and get to know each other better.

In Buenos Aires, one essential topic should be kept in mind from this meeting: the presentations by Dr. Horst Schaffer of the AGN Strategic Plan, which could be summarised as follows :

Coverage and Quality = Confidence
Growth in Confidence = More Business

It is what we are trying to achieve in AGN Europe through the committees.

• The newly established Education Committee chaired by Liam McQuaid held an IFRS training day in Prague on 12 th September 2008. There were 13 attendees representing 9 AGN member firms.
• The Membership Development Committee, which I have the honour to chair, held a meeting in Paris on 17 th October 2008. A programme of Member Visits which does not test or gauge quality levels of standards in any way was discussed. Three member visits under this programme have been organised before the end of the year and a further five firms have been selected for a visit in 2009.
• The Tax Committee chaired by Nancy Cruickshank met in Copenhagen on 22 nd November 2008.
• The Business Development Committee, chaired by Werner Kleinle is following the -Clan issues in Brussels.
• The IT Committee, together with Mireia Rovira, is developing and improving the website.

As for coverage, new companies have recently become full members in Bucharest, Sofia, Hamburg and Paris.

Completed application forms have been received from a prospective member firm in London and the AGN association wishes to reinforce its representation in some major cities in Europe wherever appropriate.

In my experience, when visiting the firms in Europe the reasons for applications to AGN are as follows (of course different in importance according to the firm and the country) :

• Local recognition as a member of an international entity resulting possibly in more local work of importance,
• Possibility to refer clients worldwide, thus giving a strong and reliable image of the firm,
• Receiving new clients from other AGN firms (in my opinion, the cherry on the cake …)
• Improving quality through training in IFRS, international taxation and exchanging management experience.

As you all know, the German speaking meeting was organised in Stuttgart on 17 th and 18 th October 2008 with a record of 35 attendees.

European Board meeting will be held on the 9 th January 2009 in Paris. The next in order, among other topics, to prepare the budget for 2009.

The next European Congress will take place in Mallorca from 11 th to 13 th June 2009.

Winter has already begun in Europe and so we can all start to dream of meeting again in the sun.

In the meantime please receive all my thanks for your support during the past year and my best wishes for peaceful holidays and a successful new year.

François Martin
Chair, European Region
Caderas Martin
Paris, France
francois.martin@caderas-martin.com

AGN Works! SERCA describes its worldwide referral activities

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Membership in an international organization is very important for a professional operator, and specifically, for an audit firm. It gives the opportunity to follow clients in their activities abroad, providing them with specific professional services in foreign countries.

This is particularly important when an audit firm is appointed as auditor of consolidated financial statements of a group with established subsidiaries in foreign countries, with the consequent need to have an audit of local entities' financial statements.

Many Italian manufacturing companies have foreign subsidiaries all over the world. The parent companies need that their foreign entities are controlled by somebody who is able to ensure that everything is going well, and the group auditors need to be sure about local accounts fairness.

In our experience, the capability to provide this kind of service is considered really important by Italian companies when they select an auditor, and is a fundamental success factor for our audit proposals.

High quality services provided by local AGN members represent the best way to make our organization and its fellow firms grow even closer together, and to improve the AGN International image all over the world.

SERCA takes this occasion to summarize and review activities and important results of some of its international clients in 2008:

Giovanni Bozzetto Group

Giovanni Bozzetto Group is an organisation with a first-rate position on a world-wide scale in the chemicals for the construction industry, water treatment and detergent sectors, with an international network of production plants and efficient sales structures. The Group is based in Filago (near Milan), employs about 440 workers and its consolidated 2007 turnover was about 115 million Euro.

In 2008, three fellow AGN firms were appointed as new auditors in the following foreign subsidiaries:

Sharrard, McGee & Co., P.A . (Greensboro), for Bozetto Inc. USA, North Carolina, Greensboro

Bati Yeminli Mali Musavirlik ve Bagimsiz Denetim A.S . (Izmir), for Bozzetto Kimya SA. Vetic. A.S. Turkey, Tire - Izmir

Kanto, Tony, Frans & Darmaway (Jakarta), for PT Bozzetto Indonesia, West Java

Important: Bozzetto Group is present in other foreign countries and we should like very much to refer professional opportunities to our AGN members operating in those countries.

Tecnowind Group

Tecnowind Group is the second largest European manufacturer of cooker hoods. The Group is based in Fabriano, employs about 500 workers and its consolidated 2007 turnover was about 95 million Euro.

In 2006, the Group started up the Chinese production site “Lux Home Electrical Appliances”, located in Huzhou, where specific hood models are produced.

Our fellow AGN firm, China Regal CPAs (Beijing), was appointed as auditor for the Chinese subsidiary Hyzhou Luxhome Electrical Appliances CO Ltd China, Huzhou City, Zheijang Province

Brawo Brassworking

Brawo Brassworking S.p.A. is an Italian company owned by Almag, the second biggest Italian and third biggest European manufacturer of brass bars. Brawo specialises in hot stamping non ferrous metals and is a reference company in world markets, for its production and technological capacities.

Brawo Brassworking is based near Brescia, employs about 430 workers and its consolidated 2007 turnover was about 100 million Euro. Since 2008 the Group is present also in Canada with a Company recently acquired: Brawo Brassworking LTD CANADA, Burks Falls Ontario

Adams & Miles LLP (Toronto), has been appointed as auditor. As the Group is present in other foreign countries, we are working to have the opportunity to refer professional assignments to our fellow AGN firms operating in those countries.

Lucefin

Lucefin is an Italian group which is today one of the major producers of cold-drawn steels and has production units and sales offices both in Italy and abroad. Lucefin Group is based near Brescia, employs about 290 workers and its consolidated 2007 turnover was about 185 million Euro.

The Group is present in Czech Republic with a Company recently established: Trafil Czech S.R.O., Czech Republic, Kladno. We are working to secure a contract for our fellow AGN firm, Shaffer & Partner (Prague) to be appointed as new auditor for the Czech subsidiary:

SERCA thanks these AGN colleagues and encourages all members to improve our professional relationships within AGN International.

AGN German-Speaking meeting attracts 35

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The German Speaker's Meeting was organised by the member firm in Stuttgart, Wirtschaftstreuhand Group, and the number of attendees was 35 from Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Holland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland.

This Meeting is still valuable and an advantage for all participants. The main topics were:

The first day closed with a visit to the office of Wirtschaftstreuhand GmbH and a dinner in the restaurant CUBE which gave a spectacular view on the night-time City of Stuttgart.

The presentations and the discussions were very helpful for all attendees and gave new insights into cross border business in Europe.

The Meeting closed on Saturday with a discussion of future activities and the promise from Becker Büttner Held to organize the 2009 meeting in Berlin.

Dr. Jürgen Riegl (Wirtschaftstreuhand Group)	Karin Eichhorn (Consultatio - Austria)
WP Steffen Rapp (Wirtschaftstreuhand Group)	Riccardo Biaggi (Fiduciaria Mega)

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AUSTRIA
New CONSULTATIO service centre in Vienna

SH+C's new offi ces in Regensburg

The AGN International Ltd member firm of Consultatio, a member of AGN since 1996, has moved into its new head office at Karl-Waldbrunner-Platz 1, and offers 500 m of state-of-the-art office space to foreign companies looking for an Austrian location. Contact details below:

GERMANY
SH+C holds 2008 industrialists´ forum

“During these weeks is the last time that any influence can be made on the design of the company's operating profits for the current year”, the tax adviser Matthias Winkler explained at the beginning of the SH+C industrialists' forum. Besides this, a variety of changes, which have already been decided on and which will have an effect as from next year, would have to be taken into consideration now in the company planning.

Because of the impact on medium-sized companies, over 40 representatives of regional companies and banks attended the industrialists' forum organised by the tax consulting company SH+C Wagner Bumes Winkler GmbH.

The topics under discussion also included the reform of the inheritance tax – a very delicate subject for many people – and arrangements on the balance-sheets at the turn of the year.

The accountant Richard Hempe explained the changes caused by the reform to private limited companies [GmbH] which came into force on 1st November 2008.

He referred here to the facilitation of starting up a private limited company, and also spoke of the introduction of a new business enterprise which also permits the smallest firms to claim a restriction of liability. In addition to this, Hempe referred to numerous arrangements for improving the balances of a company at the end of the year, thereby giving the banks documentation of good equity capital and liquidity equipment.

NETHERLANDS
Bluestone Accountants & Belastingadviseurs B.V.

On 29 September 2008, we were informed by the AFM (Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets) that Bluestone was being granted a licence to perform statutory audits. This concerns a so-called non-OOB licence. ‘OOB' stands for Organisaties van Openbaar Belang [Public Interest Entities]; the non-OOB licence means that Bluestone may now carry out audits at medium-sized and large companies but not at listed companies, credit institutions and insurance providers.

This licence is only granted to a limited number of firms. In order to be eligible for a licence, a firm of accountants must demonstrate that it fulfills the (strict) criteria of the WTA ( Wet Toezicht Accountantsorganisatie - Act on the Supervision of Auditors' Organisations), such as:

The licence is therefore regarded as a mark of quality for audit practice. Thanks to the licence, Bluestone will be able to continue to compile annual accounts for clients requiring a statutory auditors report. Needless to say ‘quality' continues to be a permanent point of special attention for us. We will carry on expanding our service in the future, to ensure that we can continue to provide the same high quality level of service to our clients.

LUXEMBOURG
HT Group S.A. is the parent company of:

SH+C and Schaffer & Partner recognized

This is a company which provides IT and other types of consulting services. SH+C and Schaffer & Partner both made the final list of the 145 best tax advisory offices in Germany, which was published in the August 2008 issue FOCUS-Money , a leading German financial magazine.

The offices were evaluated based on the tax knowledge, know-how, quality of service, specialization and business success.

FOCUS-Money together with the European Institute for Tax Law, asked more than 10,000 German tax offices to participate in the survey. All German tax offices could participate as the magazine and institute had published the polling before. More information is in the internet at the SH+C website: www.shc.de and at the Schaffer & Partner website: www.schaffer-partner.de.

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