IAG International General Assembly
ROTTERDAM
30th May 2015
Minutes
Present: see list attached at end
1) Chairman’s welcome and Committee update
The Chairman welcomed all delegates. She mentioned the recent sad death of Hanjo Hillmann, a friend and colleague to many delegates, one of IAG’s most popular characters, and led the delegates in a minute’s silence to remember him.
She and the Vice-Chairman outlined recent developments and activities by the Committee.
2) Minutes of Hong Kong Assembly, 6th February 2015
The minutes from Hong Kong were reviewed and approved without amendment.
3) Host Firm Presentation
Jan de Rooij of Ten Holter Noordam made interesting presentations outlining details of his firm to the Assembly, and introducing the port and commercial centre of Rotterdam.
4) Accounts 2014
The Treasurer introduced the 2014 audited accounts, and offered to answer any questions. Nick Burnett asked what level of retained surplus the Committee felt it advisable to keep. The Treasurer answered that €100,000 would be the absolute minimum figure, but it would be preferable to have a substantial safety margin above that.
The Chairman then requested approval of the Financial Statements by a show of hands, which was unanimously in favour, with no votes against or abstentions.
5) Membership matters
Having asked the representatives of potential members to withdraw, the Chairman introduced a Committee statement about membership of IAG by firms who were also members of members of the Schindhelm alliance. Franz Mittendorfer spoke at length confirming the statement’s view of Schindhelm and explaining more detail about the alliance and its policies. A detailed discussion followed, including contributions from Thomas Roeskens, Rolf Ritzinger, Alois Hutterer, Denis Philippe, Stuart Haynes and Johannes Thoma. 1
The Chairman reiterated the Committee’s intentions, firstly to propose SDZ Schindhelm of Warsaw for ratification as members of IAG at the next meeting, and secondly to explore whether it was viable to create an agreement enabling the Schindhelm Shanghai office to be behave and be treated, for the purposes of potential IAG membership, as if it were an independent firm. A show of hands taken to support these intentions was overwhelmingly in favour.
The Chairman then proposed the ratification of Sallux Advisory, lawyers, of Seoul, South Korea, as members of IAG. This was approved unanimously, with no votes against or abstentions, and Sallux Advisory were accordingly ratified.
6) KSI update
Matt Meadows of KSI gave a short update on developments within KSI and in the IAG-KSI relationship.
7) Committee and Auditor elections
The Assembly was briefly addressed by all the candidates for Committee offices and places.
Following this, the count of a secret ballot showed that the following had been elected: - Daden Hunt as Chairman, in his second term on the Committee to 2017 - Iben Lindhardt as Vice-Chairman, and for a second term on the Committee to 2018 - Mitch Marinello as Secretary, in his first term to 2017 - Stuart Haynes as a Committee member, for a first term to 2018 - Rupert Neudorfer as a Committee members, for a first term to 2018 and - Andreas Hahn as auditor for the financial year 2015
8) Future meetings
Ioanna Kostoula and Marina Polyzou of Host firm Serafim Sotiriadis and Associates presented their firm’s excellent plans for the Athens Assembly in October.
It was announced that the first venue for 2016 would be Turin, to include an optional skiing day.
9) Any other business
The Chairman invited delegates to raise any items of other business, but none were raised.
She then thanked all delegates for their participation and declared the formal part of the meeting closed.
The Assembly then reconvened into Specialist Groups for short sessions.
See list of delegates present overleaf…
2 PRESENT Delegates
AUSTRALIA
PLN Australia John Ridgway Lawyers, Sydney IAG Committee Member
AUSTRIA
Dr. Allichhammer & Co Wolfgang Allichhammer Tax Consultants & Auditors, Vienna
Neudorfer Rechtsanwälte GmbH Wolfgang Zacherl Lawyers, Vienna IAG Committee Member
SCWP Schindhelm Alois Hutterer Lawyers, Linz Franz Mittendorfer
BELGIUM
Philippe & Partners Denis Philippe Lawyers, Brussels
BRAZIL
Buccioli,Craveiro e Braz de Oliveira Fabio Buccioli Advogados Associados Lawyers, São Paulo
CANADA
Pallett Valo LLP Anne Kennedy Lawyers, Mississauga, Ontario
CZECH REPUBLIC
Saxinger Chalupsky & Partner V.O.S Roman Solc Lawyers, Prague
DENMARK
Ellebye Lawyers Iben Lindhardt Lawyers, Odense C IAG Secretary Birte Veggerby
ENGLAND
Aaron & Partners LLP Nick Clarke Lawyers, Manchester Stuart Haynes
Birketts LLP Daden Hunt Lawyers, Ipswich IAG Vice-Chairman Nick Burnett Andrew Wood
Kingston Sorel International (KSI) Matt Meadows Accountancy Network, Worldwide
Ormerod Rutter Peter Orton Accountants, Droitwich, England Colm McGrory
FRANCE
Colbert Denis Simon Lawyers, Lyon Jean-Luc Dury Sophie Dechelette-Roy Cécile Dessapt
GERMANY
Maack & Company Birge Roemer Tax Consultants, Hamburg
THORWART Rechtsanwälte Steuerberater Alexander Frey Wirtschaftsprüfer Partnerschaft mbB Christiane Eifler 3 Lawyers, Tax Consultants & Accountants Nürnberg
Hahn & Partner Andreas Hahn Accountants & Tax Advisers, Hamburg
Appelhagen Rechtsanwälte Joachim Gulich Steuerberater PartGmbB Lawyers, Braunschweig
Fingerhut Rechtsanwälte Stefan Karg Lawyers & Tax Advisers, Munich Rolf Ritzinger
Küttner Rechtsanwälte Silke Seeger Lawyers, Cologne de Faria & Partner Thomas Roeskens Lawyers & Notaries, Wiesbaden Silke Giesa
HTG Wirtschaftsprüfung GmbH Stephanie Bschorr Accountants & Tax Advisers, Berlin-Mitte
Reiners Rogge Rechtsanwälte Clemens Rogge Lawyers, Dusseldorf Johannes Thoma
GREECE
Serafim Sotiriadis & Associates Ioanna Kostoula Lawyers, Athens Marina Polyzou
INDIA
ALMT Legal Sameer Tapia Lawyers, Mumbai, India
ISLE OF MAN
Maitland Richard Taylor Lawyers & Fiduciaire, Douglas
ITALY
Studio Alinovi Guiotto Ferrari Paolo Alinovi & Mattioli Cristian Tundo Tax Advisers & Accountants, Parma
LIECHTENSTEIN
Juricon Trust Company Establishment Rupert Neudorfer Lawyers, Trustees & Accountants Vaduz
NETHERLANDS
HOST FIRM: Ten Holter Noordam Advocaten Jan de Rooij Lawyers, Rotterdam & Dordrecht Kees Mijs Emiel de Joode
Van Hoesel de Blaey Peter Jan van Noortwijk Accountants & Tax Advisers, Ruby de Vries Rotterdam. (KSi Members)
PORTUGAL
Alves Pereira, Teixeira de Sousa João Pedro Alves Pereira & Associates Lawyers, Lisbon
SINGAPORE
DFDL Singapore Pte. Ltd Marcus Collins Lawyers, SE Asia
4 SPAIN
Fernando Scornik Gerstein Nayra Prado Marrero Lawyers, Madrid, Barcelona & IAG Chairman Las Palmas
SWEDEN
Rosengrens Advokatbyrå AB Katarina Hallin Lawyers, Gothenburg
Gunnard Holst Cederlöv Advocacy Mikael Holst Lawyers, Stockholm
SWITZERLAND
Staiger Schwald & Partner AG Natalie Peter Lawyers, Zurich
USA
Devereaux Kuhner and Chin, LLP Francis Custodio Accountants, San Francisco
Foulston Siefkin Harvey Sorensen Lawyers, Wichita
Novack & Macey LLP Mitchell Marinello Lawyers, Chicago IAG Committee Member
Shepherd Finkelman Miller & Shah James Miller Lawyers, Media, Pennsylvania, USA Nathan Zipperian Ron Kravitz
Spagnoletti & Co Frank Spagnoletti Lawyers, Houston
CANDIDATES FOR RATIFICATION
Sallux Advisory Limited Donghoon Yi Lawyers, Seoul, South Korea
PROSPECTIVE MEMBERS
SDZ Schindhelm Tomasz Szarek Lawyers, Warsaw, Poland
IAG Administration Office Christopher Whitamore
5