 Dear
colleagues,
The winter in Paris was rather mild and without any snow, but during the months of January, February and March 2007, I had the chance to see lots of snow in the course of my activities for AGN: in Ukraine (Kharkov), Belarus (Minsk) and Austria (Kitzbuhel).
The first two locations relate to new membership in AGN. In the Ukraine and Belarus, in Eastern Europe, good and prospective firms sent their applications and their practice review will soon be undertaken by Milos Petrovic from Belgrade, who, besides his excellent skill as an auditor, is a fluent Russian speaker.
Thus we might soon have a Russian speaking group in AGN, which might occasionally organize Russian-speaking meetings in the same way as the yearly successful German speaking event (last year Karl Horsburgh was the host).
Other new memberships or practice reviews should be mentioned in Germany (Munich), Liechtenstein, The Netherlands (Eindhoven) and Romania (Bucharest). Also, Slovenia was upgraded to full member and Hungary is under process.
On the other hand, unfortunately the region lost a couple of its larger firms and we are now actively looking for representation in Belgium. Should one of you be in contact with a substantial Belgian firm please let us know.
In March, I had the chance to review a good sized and fast growing firm in Istanbul, Turkey—now admitted as full member. We do not know yet if this firm will join the European region or the West Asia and Africa region – another open question.
Finally, among the newly established firms I had the opportunity to visit, I understood that their wish, besides becoming members of an international organisation, was to improve their knowledge of international audit standards. This can be a new task of the Audit Committee now chaired by Liam McQuaid.
The second snow (besides my skiing holidays in Tignes) was in Kitzbuhel for the International Board meeting.
On this occasion, with the help of the healthy air or the mountains, it was acknowledged that the AGN organisation would operate as an association and not as a network. To make short a very long story, it results in a simpler and safer life for AGN members and the central organisation.
The image of the association remains the same. The main extra requirement will be to abolish the use of the Common Name Facility (this applies to about 10 firms in the European region). All these matters will be explained and discussed in detail in Athens at the European meeting on the 8th and 9th June, 2007, under the sun and without snow.
As for the European Board meeting, one was held on 30th November, 2006, in Stuttgart in the offices of Werner Kleinle Chair of the Business Development Committee. We bore in mind “value for money”. The costs of running the region have been stabilised, but as a result of the departure of some members, the basis of allocation of these costs to the current membership have had to be slightly increased.
The next European Board meeting will be held on 19th April in Cologne in the offices of Franz Meller, one of the newly appointed Board members. Among other topics, we will review the AGN Association practical implications, discuss and finalise the Athens regional meeting program.
In Athens, the various committees will be happy to report briefly on their activities and future plans and hear your suggestions. How to work efficiently together is indeed an essential topic.
I am looking forward to seeing you in Athens, and not so long after that, in Amsterdam, at the end of September, for the international meeting held this year in Europe.
In the meantime, please receive all my thanks for your continuous support.
François
Martin
Caderas Martin
Paris, France
francois.martin@caderas-martin.com
|
.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .