The European Region of AGN INTERNATIONAL has recently celebrated its 9th annual congress in Vienna at the Radisson Blu Palais Hotel, a beautiful building that combines two old Palaces and situated in the centre of the city.

The number of attendees has been the largest ever, with 126 people, 75 of them being delegates that represented 45 firms from 27 different countries.  There were firms from Israel, Italy and Latvia that were attending for the first time.  The firm of Caramanti, Ticozzi & Partners in Italy have only been members of AGN International for a few months and sent four delegates.

It has been remarkable this time that many firms are not only being represented by the Contact Partner, but also by other partners and professionals of their firms. This has formed an audience composed of partners, auditors, accountants, tax advisors and lawyers amongst others.

The Congress started with a Welcome Cocktail on Thursday June 2, where people met old friends and colleagues.

The next day, a tour was organised for companions to visit the Hofberg (The Imperial Palace) that includes the Spanish Riding School and State Apartments, lunch at Demels (a traditional coffee house in Vienna) and a thematic tour concentrating on the lives of Mozart & Strauss.

Liam McQuaid of Duignan Carthy O’Neill in Dublin, chair of AGN Europe, welcomed everybody to the event, and also chaired all the sessions.

Delegates attended sessions programmed for that day, very much characterised by the contribution of personalities like Dr Hannes Androsch  (Founder of Consultatio Wirtschaftsprüfung GmbH & Co KG and former Minister of Finance and Vice Chancellor of Austria), who talked about Austria.  Dr Wolfgang Schwarzer of Schwarzer & Co (AGN member firm in Vienna) introduced Dr Thomas Karall (Chief Economist, Erste Bank Austria AG) , who talked about the Political and Economic Status of Austria.  Dr Gerhard Pichler of Consultatio Wirtschaftsprüfung GmbH & Co KG (AGN member firm in Vienna) introduced Dr Andreas Schieder (State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Finance) who talked about the Euro survival and concluded his session with an extended Questions & Answers.

In the afternoon, André Tabet (Wirtschaftstreuhand Group in Germany) and Richard Hempe (SH+C Group in Germany) did a presentation on “The future structure of the Audit profession in Europe” that was of great interest for members.

Finally, on day one, Mireia Rovira (AGN Corporate Comms Coordinator for AGN International) talked about Corporate Websites and also about recent developments on Social Media and Communications in AGN International.

After the Congress sessions had finished for the day the whole group was taken to the offices of Consultatio to visit and learn a bit more about the firm.  Following this, a dinner was organised at a traditional Heurigen (wine tavern) where everybody enjoyed local food and beverages that offered a warm and welcoming environment.

Saturday morning sessions started with the Annual General Meeting (led by Liam McQuaid) where delegates had the opportunity to vote on several internal decisions.

Studio Associato Caramanti, Ticozzi & Partners (Italy) then made a presentation about their firm, having recently joined AGN, and Ly Sillanurm (IMG Konsultant AS in Estonia) talked about Doing Business in Estonia.
After this, the traditional Tax session started, lead by Nancy Cruickshanks (chair of the Tax Task Force Committee).  Werner Kleinle (Wirtschafstreuhand Group in Germany) gave an Update on Cross Border Payroll, Mireia Rovira (AGN International) talked about the new Tax Surveys software and Martin Felenda (Schaffer & Partner, Czech Republic) and Nancy Cruickshanks talked about VAT.

The session then continued with a lively presentation on Real Estate covering 10 different countries.  This session was lead by André Le Prince and each country had a 5 minute presentation about Real Estate in their country.  Countries that participated were: Austria (Peter Kopp), Cyprus (Tommy Stephanou), Czech Republic (Martin Felenda), France (Jean-Lin Lefebvre), Germany (André Le Prince), Luxembourg (Karl Horsburgh), The Netherlands (Jeroen in’t Hout), Sweden (Magnus Lovén), Switzerland (Matteo Soldati) and the UK (Mike Luckett).  This was followed by a questions and answers session.

When all the technical sessions were finished it was time for the traditional ceremony to hand the AGN Flag from the hosts of the Congress this year to the hosts for the next year, in this case Rasul Murtazaliev and  Anton Kalanov, from Interexpertiza in Moscow, Russia.

The closure of the conference was of special relevance as Liam McQuaid handed over the chairmanship to Nancy Cruickshanks (Shipleys LLP in the UK), who has been in AGN since 2003 and actively involved in the Tax Task Force committee since 2003, becoming its chair in 2008).

In the afternoon, delegates and companions were invited to join a touristic tour around the old city of Vienna on the special nostalgic trams. The tour ended at the Belvedere Palace where one can see magnificent paintings, like “The Kiss” of Gustav Klimt.

The Gala Dinner cocktail was held at the Gloriette Restaurant (part of the Vienna Zoo) where delegates could enjoy the exceptional views of Vienna from the top of the hill, and under a threatening stormy sky! The dinner itself was held at the Tiergarten Restaurant (Orang.erie – part of the Vienna Zoo), with exquisite live music.

Special acknowledgements for their help and involvement to Wolfgang Schwarzer and Regine Reinhardt (Schwarzer & Co) and Gerhard Pichler, Peter Kopp and Josef Wurditsch (Consultatio).

The conference has been the most successful one in recent years and feedback from attendees has been very positive. Members have been able to meet each other once again and enhance their personal and professional relationships in a welcoming and professional atmosphere.