Stockholm, the north European city that is on 14 islands and where the sun is up 20h per day during summer months, has been the location chosen to host the 13th Regional Congress of AGN EUROPE.
It started on the 12th of June with a Welcome Cocktail that took place in a room with a view that looked across at the old town and everybody could appreciate the daylight in the evening hours. 93 delegates and companions representing 37 firms met old colleagues and friends and had the opportunity to meet representatives from some new member firms.
On Friday 13th, while companions had a tour to see Drottningholm Palace, the delegates attended the conference where there were speakers from AGN member firms and also professionals with very different backgrounds.
The conference commenced with an introduction to Sweden, starting with a speech about doing business in Sweden (Gert Frejs and Berith Ehrenpohl, partners of the AGN Swedish firm that hosted the conference, FREJS REVISIONSBYRÅ AB, and followed by a more relaxed point of view of the country: Colin Moon, (external speaker) talked about the culture of the Swedish and made very interesting points about different cultures in Europe and the difficulties and misunderstandings with communication. This was all done with a very sensitive touch of humour.
The conference continued with an exposition of IFRS for SME’s, taken by Liam McQuaid, and this was followed by an update on the committee’s activities and objectives.
Back to economic issues, Michael Clark (Head of Anti Money Laundering HM Treasury) talked about The UK strategy with Financial crime and money laundering. This was followed by a debate about Money Laundering in different European countries, and delegates took an active part in this session, sharing their experience and knowledge.
Geert van Grimbergen was given the opportunity to talk about his firm, Bluestone Accountants (Netherlands), as they had recently joined the Association and this was his first attendance at a European Congress.
The conference closed for the day with the Annual General Meeting, where Nicholas Blake (Company Secretary of AGN Europe) updated the members on the financial position of the region and members could have their say and vote.
On Saturday 14th, Wilhelm Gerster (Thöny Treuhand AG, Liechtenstein), Dragos Doros (Bostina & Associates, Romania) and Steven Vyvey (Vyvey & Co, Belgium) made small introductions about their firms as they have joined AGN recently.
After the introductions, it was the turn of the Tax Session that would last until the end of the conference. The Taxation session included: Trusts in Switzerland (Ricardo Biaggi), The impact of UK new rules for non domiciliaries (Mike Luckett), Latest Developments in Luxembourg (Fred Thomas), Interesting EU Court Cases (Magnus Lovén), Salaries Survey in the website (René Verbruggen and Nancy Cruickshanks) and closing the Session, Steven Pope (Deputy National MTIC Coordinator, HM Revenue & Customs), talked about Carousel Fraud.
The closure of the conference was lead by François Martin, chair of AGN INTERNATIONAL – EUROPE Ltd, who thanked all delegates for their assistance and participation and announced that next year the conference would be held on the sunny island of Mallorca (Spain).
In the afternoon, delegates and companions were invited on a touristic tour around the city, which gave them the opportunity to enjoy the sites of Stockholm.
The gala dinner was celebrated at the Swedish National Museum, where an inside garden with a crystal cupola allowed members to enjoy a peaceful evening with the blue sky above their heads.
This conference has been one of the most successful ones in the last years and members had a nice time meeting with their AGN colleagues, meeting new ones and having fun at the same time that they were doing business and went home with new contacts and information…. And all this, around the magic flavour of such an extraordinary place.
