UHY appoints a new member in Jordan, extending coverage across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region

Jordan firm, Arab Auditors, Amman, joins the top 20 network, UHY

Global accountancy network, UHY, has expanded its coverage in the Middle East and North Africa region with the admittance to membership of Arab Auditors, of Amman, Jordan.

The firm, which provides services to small to medium-sized businesses, is 15-strong including partners. Sixty per cent of its turnover is from audit, 30% from tax, 5% from bookkeeping, and 5% from other services. The firm is currently planning to expand service offerings to include IT advice. Industries represented by clients include: confectionery, retail, hotel and agri-chemicals, contracting and shipping sectors are also among its specialisms. Languages spoken within the firm are Arabic and English.

Arab Auditors is an active member of the Jordan Association of Certified Public Accountants (JACPA) Omran Tillawi was recently elected as Vice President in the current Council following a three year term as Secretary and Nabil Haddad is a member of the Continuous Training Committee and the Legal Committee related to JACPA.

Managing partner, Omran Tillaw said: ‘We are pleased to join UHY, as like us they are a service oriented organisation, with an attitude and willingness to add value to clients and to look after their interests. Sharing these values as well as providing the worldwide reach we need to fully support our clients with increasingly international business interests makes UHY the ideal network for us.’

UHY International Chairman, John Wolfgang, comments: ‘We welcome Arab Auditors into our network. The Jordanian Government is pushing ahead with large infrastructure projects to support the new central business area, the Abdali district; the planned rail link to the industrial city of Zarqa; the renovation of Amman’s Queen Alia airport, etc. Jordan and its capital city are set to compete with the other capitals of the Middle East, despite the worldwide downturn. Arab Auditors strengthens UHY’s presence in the Middle East as well as extending our coverage across the MENA region where we have members in: Egypt, Israel, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and United Arab Emirates.’
 

Global accountancy network appoints new member in Guatemala
 

UHY, a top 25 global accountancy network (by revenue), has appointed UHY Pérez & Co as their member firm in Guatemala, strengthening the network’s coverage in the Central and Latin Americas region. The firm is the third member to join the region this quarter, following Brazil and Puerto Rico.

The firm was established by former colleagues from the central tax collection institute in Guatemala, the Superintendencia de Administración Tributaria, in January 2003. Since then the seven-partner firm has grown to a team of 30, based in Guatemala City.

The firm has a wealth of experience in banking, insurance and bonds companies, manufacturing, agro-industry, commerce, and specialized industries including cement, sugar, mills, chemical and telecommunications. Their principle services are financial auditing, outsourcing of internal auditing, tax consultancy, management and legal consultancy and accounting. Their areas of expertise include tax administration, public sector, customs and the development and implementation of technology.

UHY Pérez & Co. ’s clients span across Central America, the Dominican Republic, Mexico and the USA. The ambitious firm plan to expand further into Central America, but first need to concentrate on strengthening their presence in their local market, as Managing Partner, Omar Josué Pérez Rosales, explains:

“We wanted to join the UHY network of accountancy and consultancy firms for a number of reasons. Our main priority was to improve and expand the services we offer to our existing clients in Guatemala, followed closely by attracting new international business from Latin America and beyond. We also wanted to ensure that any firm we worked with across borders would meet our own high standards of client service; this quality is assured through the UHY network and their membership of the Forum of Firms. Having undergone extensive research, we concluded UHY would give us the support we needed to grow into the agile, global-reaching firm we want UHY Pérez & Co to be.��?

John Wolfgang, chairman of UHY commented:

“I am delighted to welcome UHY Pérez & Co to UHY. The firm has worked extensively with both the public sector, which dominates Guatemala’s economy and accounts for around 85% of GDP, and the private sector, as many industries are undergoing privatization and beginning to look to international trade for growth. The appointment of the UHY Pérez & Co in Guatemala, and the recent membership of firms in Brazil and Puerto Rico, means UHY is becoming stronger than ever in the Central and Latin Americas region.”
 

UHY Business Outlook 2009 Survey

Resilient businesses manage the current crisis
 

UHY International, a global network of independent accountancy and consultancy firms, publishes the findings of its recent survey: the UHY Business Outlook survey for 2009.

Survey respondents

Respondents to the UHY Business Outlook survey 2009 come from a mix of business size, sector and location, however 75% are businesses with turnovers of USD 25 million or less, 56% are based in Europe (Continental and East) with 44% from the rest of the world. Business services, manufacturing and finance and insurance are the major sectors represented (30%, 20% and 14% respectively.)

Key findings

Given this respondent profile, it is interesting that the survey findings present a ‘business as usual’ picture for many respondents – the current economic situation is affecting their business predominantly to only a moderate degree, however some issues are expected to adversely affect them in the future.

The following key points summarise the detailed findings:

Confidence levels and business impact
 

• Overall respondents seem able to maintain current operations; however their confidence in their ability to maintain their future plans for the business is reduced. Therefore achieving revenue projections, maintaining current staff levels and funding capital expenditure and acquisitions seems less likely this year

Compensating opportunities
 

• Over 60% of respondents see two key compensating opportunities for their businesses given the current economic climate: with over 60% regarding weakened competition and more easily available talent in the market place. In order to take advantage of these opportunities respondents are most likely to develop and launch new products or services and/or increase sales, however their plans around acquisition or expansion are less likely

Outlook for the future
 

• Respondents have split views as to when there will be economic improvement for their countries: 36% are optimistic and expect to see improvement this year, however the majority (48%) do not expect to see improvements until 2010. But 17% are more pessimistic and do not expect improvement until 2011 or beyond

• As seen previously throughout this survey it is the plans for expansion, on this occasion into emerging overseas markets, that are being reconsidered with 31% of respondents rating an expectation to do less this year and only 11% saying they expect to do more.

UHY International Chairman, John Wolfgang, comments:

“From the survey results it is evident that many businesses remain upbeat despite the downturn in the global economy. Managers see challenges ahead in terms of financing and cost-cutting. Most companies do not predict an increase in sales, but do not expect a massive contraction in sales either. It is their medium term plans for the future that are being put on hold although many seem poised to take advantage of market opportunities that may arise due to weakened competition or exceptional talent becoming available.”
 

In early January 2009, UHY clients around the world were invited to participate in an online survey. The purpose of the survey was to assess the general sentiment of businesses around the world given the current economic climate and as the impact of the credit crunch begins to take hold on many economies. Please click here to download full report; a summary of key findings follows below.

Survey respondents
 

Respondents to the UHY Business Outlook survey 2009 come from a mix of business size, sector and location, however 75% are businesses with turnovers of USD 25 million or less, 56% are based in Europe (Continental and East) with 44% from the rest of the world. Business services, manufacturing and finance and insurance are the major sectors represented (30%, 20% and 14% respectively).

Key findings
 

Given this respondent profile, it is interesting that the survey findings present a ‘business as usual’ picture for many respondents – the current economic situation is affecting their business predominantly to only a moderate degree, however some issues are expected to adversely affect them in the future.

The following key points summarise the detailed findings:

Confidence levels and business impact
 

Overall respondents seem able to maintain current operations; however their confidence in their ability to maintain their future plans for the business is reduced. Therefore achieving revenue projections, maintaining current staff levels and funding capital expenditure and acquisitions seems less likely this year.

Compensating opportunities
 

Over 60% of respondents see two key compensating opportunities for their businesses given the current economic climate: with over 60% regarding weakened competition and more easily available talent in the market place. In order to take advantage of these opportunities respondents are most likely to develop and launch new products or services and/or increase sales, however their plans around acquisition or expansion are less likely.

Outlook for the future
 

Respondents have split views as to when there will be economic improvement for their countries: 36% are optimistic and expect to see improvement this year, however the majority (48%) do not expect to see improvements until 2010. But 17% are more pessimistic and do not expect improvement until 2011 or beyond.

As seen previously throughout this survey it is the plans for expansion, on this occasion into emerging overseas markets, that are being reconsidered with 31% of respondents rating an expectation to do less this year and only 11% saying they expect to do more.

UHY Chairman, John Wolfgang, comments:

“From the survey results it is evident that many businesses remain upbeat despite the downturn in the global economy. Managers see challenges ahead in terms of financing and cost-cutting. Most companies do not predict an increase in sales, but do not expect a massive contraction in sales either. It is their medium term plans for the future that are being put on hold although many seem poised to take advantage of market opportunities that may arise due to weakened competition or exceptional talent becoming available.”

UHY is a cohesive international association of member firms providing accounting, tax and consultancy services across the globe. With offices in 240 major business centres and 81 countries, with over 6,800 staff, generate an aggregate income of US$625 million (2011) ranking UHY International among the top 25 international audit, accounting and consultancy networks.