Frank Keane facilitates growth, of world’s most powerful shopping search engine, in Ireland

On Thursday 22 September, Yroo, the world’s most powerful search engine for smart shoppers, announced that it will grow its Irish base with the creation of 33 jobs over the next 3 years. Yroo was introduced to ConnectIreland through Frank Keane, EisnerAmper Ireland’s Head of International Business.

Yroo is growing its new offices in Dublin, Ireland in order to build out global operations and support customers in more than 35 countries where the company currently transacts across North and South America, Europe, and Asia. Employee retention continues to be strong and hiring is at all all-time high, with 450 percent growth since the company’s founding less than 2 years ago.

Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Mary Mitchell O’Connor, welcomed today’s announcement saying: “This is another vote of confidence in Ireland and in the skills of the Irish workforce. It is so fitting that a company designed to harness ‘people power’ has decided to invest in Ireland. Ireland has developed extensive expertise in ICT generally and the greater Dublin area is now an ideal location for companies like Yroo who are involved in the competitive and dynamic world of eCommerce.”

Yroo’s Irish office will be responsible for management and international sales, business development, marketing, software development and customer support. To find out more about the announcement see the ConnectIreland blog here.

To find out more about EisnerAmper Ireland’s International Trade offering please click here.

Coffee morning in support of Irish Cancer Society

On Thursday, 15 September, EisnerAmper Ireland hosted a coffee morning to support staff member Anna Curley, Senior in our Tax team, who will be climbing Kilimanjaro in October to raise funds for the Irish Cancer Society. The Irish Cancer Society has provided a huge amount of support to Anna and her family during Anna’s younger sister’s illness and Anna is undertaking this challenge to make her contribution so other families can benefit from these services. The coffee morning was a big success with staff members generously donating both their baking skills and money, resulting in a total sum of €275 being raised.

All the staff here at EisnerAmper Ireland would like to wish Anna the best of luck with her fundraising and the Kilimanjaro climb. If you’d like more information would like to make a donation to her cause, please see her fundraising page here.

Junior Achievement Ireland celebrate 20th Anniversary

For more than five years, members of EisnerAmper Ireland have volunteered with the Junior Achievement Ireland (JAI) Programme. JAI is part of a worldwide organisation reaching out to 9.3 million young people each year, encouraging young people to remain in education while helping them to develop important skills needed to succeed in a changing world. The programme operates across primary and secondary level schools and fosters a spirit of enterprise within participating schools.

Junior Achievement is celebrating its 20th year in Ireland and last June they gathered a group of fourth class students from St James’s School, Basin Lane, Dublin 8 to celebrate. Over the course of a morning, the group of students, with help from volunteers, used their budgeting skills to establish what they considered to be of value and importance in today’s society in the form of their ‘Children’s Budget’. The students then presented their budget to Minister for Children, Katherine Zappone TD on Wednesday 14 September. A short video has captured the student’s work which highlights the value of corporate contributions to JAI over the past 20 years.

To read more about EisnerAmper Ireland’s contribution to JAI please see here and here.

Aer Lingus College Football Classic

On Saturday, 3 September 2016, American College Football returned to Ireland for the third time in five years when the Boston College Eagles and the Georgia Tech Yellow

Jackets lined out for the Aer Lingus Football Classic at the Aviva stadium. As co-founders of Ireland Gateway to Europe and reflecting our focus upon advising US and international companies doing business in and through Ireland, EisnerAmper Ireland was delighted to attend the event. Partners and managers from EisnerAmper Ireland brought 25 clients and contacts of the Firm to the game as their guests.

The game saw Boston College defeated by Georgia Tech 17-14 when freshman Dedrick Mills capped a 59-yard touchdown with a 4-yard scoring run with 35 seconds left. The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets were presented with the Keough-Naughton College Football Trophy. Despite the rain, there was a great atmosphere at the Aviva stadium and the experience was enjoyed by all in attendance. The game was aired live on ESPN to an audience of 1.4 million US viewers and was attended by 40,000 fans that traveled from across the US and Europe for the game. Highlights from the game can be seen here.

For more information about EisnerAmper Ireland’s focus of advising US and international companies please see here.

“A Smile for Ryan” Golf Classic

On Friday 5 August, Ray Kelly, David Gaule, Cian Collins and Aidan Lundy, from EisnerAmper Ireland’s Financial Services team played in a charity golf classic in Laytown & Bettystown Golf Club to help raise money for “A Smile for Ryan”. Ryan Coyle is a two-year-old boy from Duleek, Co. Meath, who was diagnosed in January 2016 with stage 4 Neuroblastoma, a childhood cancer that most often affects children under five. 60 – 70% of children with neuroblastoma cancer relapse after going into remission and therefore Ryan’s parents are aiming to raise €300,000 to send Ryan to the US for a treatment called DMFO. This is the only treatment currently available to prevent a relapse. A total of 28 teams took part in the golf classic which raised a total of €11,833. Well done to Ray, David, Cian and Aidan and to everyone that helped make this event a huge success.

If you would like to take part in future events, please see the charity event page or alternatively if you would like to make a donation please click here.

EisnerAmper Ireland crowned winners in tag rugby

The EisnerAmper Ireland tag rugby took to the pitch in UCD on Wednesday July 19 to compete for a division 2 title in the 2016 Heineken Tag rugby summer league. The tag rugby league has been running since 18 May, taking place every Wednesday evening on the all-weather pitches in UCD, with 16 teams taking part.

The league consisted of three phases, grading, round robin and knock out, to determine the teams that would face each other in the final stages. EisnerAmper Ireland encountered the Clonard Avengers to compete for the coveted Division 2 Plate Final and after a tense 40 mins were delighted with a one point win over their opposition. Congratulations to the team.

EisnerAmper Ireland meet with Chinese entrepreneurs

On July 18 2016, Frank Keane, Ian Wilson and Hao Wang presented to a delegation of Chinese entrepreneurs, from the distinguished Tsinghua University Entrepreneurs Club, at The Croke Park Hotel in Dublin . It was an opportunity to showcase Ireland to the Chinese delegation and give an insight into EisnerAmper Ireland’s areas of expertise and history of assisting clients internationalising from China.

The presentation covered the topic of Internationalisation and findings of an Internationalisation study carried out by EisnerAmper Ireland in late 2015. The results of this study are available here.

To find out more about our International Trade offering please click here.

Docklands 5km run

On Thursday 7 July, members of EisnerAmper Ireland’s running club successfully completed the Docklands 5km run.  The 5km race was organised by Crusaders Athletic Club.  The route took participants from the South Docks at Lime Street towards the City Centre to the Matt Talbot Bridge, then crossed over to the North Quay before travelling back down to the 3 Arena, where it looped back down the North Quay again towards the Matt Talbot Bridge, crossing the Bridge again and back to the South Quay.  All proceeds from the race are being invested into providing sporting facilities within the Docklands Community in Irishtown Stadium.  Well done to all involved.

A trip back to 1916

On Thursday 23 June, members of EisnerAmper Ireland’s Advisory and Service Excellence Teams enjoyed an afternoon of culture in Dublin city. The afternoon began with a 1916 Freedom Tour. Staff boarded their military style tour truck at St. Stephen’s Green where they were met by their tour guide and driver who were both dressed in uniforms of the period. The tour took in the sights of all the key 1916 battle locations including O’Connell street, Mount street bridge and The Jacob’s factory. The tour guide told the story of the battle as it unfolded at each location and entertained the group with less known stories, including the ceasefire that occurred in order to feed the ducks in St. Stephen’s Green. At the end of the tour staff were dropped off at the Sussex Restaurant for some traditional Irish cuisine, followed by live music in O’Brien’s.

Skydive for MS Ireland

On Sunday 22 May 2016, Clodagh Byrne, Senior in the Firm’s International Business department, took part in a charity skydive to raise money for MS Ireland. For three months prior to the skydive Clodagh raised over €2,000 in sponsorship, a large portion of which was donated by the Partners and her colleagues in EisnerAmper Ireland.

MS Ireland is the only national organisation providing information, support and advocacy services to the MS community. They work with people with multiple sclerosis, their families and carers and a range of key stakeholders including health professionals, students and others interested in or concerned about multiple sclerosis.

EisnerAmper Ireland’s views on UK’s EU referendum result, in conversation with CNBC

David Montgomery, Partner and Head of Risk & Regulatory Advisory at EisnerAmper Ireland, shared some thoughts with Jon Marino, a reporter for CNBC.com, on the UK’s EU (Brexit) referendum.

Now that the UK has voted to leave the EU, providing clarity as to their direction of travel (subject to the UK government triggering Article 50), market uncertainty will now focus on how that exit will be negotiated, how long it might take and what will happen in the UK, the EU and global marketplaces over the short and medium terms.  While there will be uncertainty and volatility, we expect there to be opportunities for jurisdictions like Ireland to provide market routes for global firms into Europe that have traditionally gone through the UK. Ireland is well placed to support the UK by providing and maintaining a route for UK firms to the EU marketplace with minimal interruption and low frictional cost.

Banks, insurers and investment firms within the UK already have well-developed contingency plans that will now be implemented.  The fact that the European Central Bank licenced the Irish supervisory framework for use in their Single Supervisory Mechanism is a strong selling point for the high regard in which the Irish regulatory system is held internationally.  This is expected to result in an increase in applications for authorisation to the Central Bank of Ireland, as many such corporates have been examining this possibility for some time while also scouting for office space over the last year.

The article was published on CNBC.com on Friday 24 June.  The referendum took place on Thursday 23 June, the result being in favour of leaving the EU (51.9% of the vote with 17.4 million votes).  Markets around the world have been shocked by the result.  Select here to read about the key considerations for businesses in the wake of the leave result.

To read more about Brexit and to download our Brexit guide please select here.

British referendum on EU Membership (Brexit) Result

Now that the UK has voted to leave the EU, there are many political matters that will require decision-making and negotiation at a European Union and UK level. How long it might take, what form it might take and what the end result might be is at this point unknown. However, as the withdrawal mechanism in Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty will take at least 2 years from the date of formal notification to the European Council, despite the uncertainty business will continue, as usual, on a day-to-day basis.

Key considerations

Although politicians have much to consider, businesses currently based in the UK or those who were previously considering the UK as a route to EU markets also have decisions to make at a strategic, tactical and

operational level. At this point, key areas to consider include:

1. Structure – the rationale for, and structure of, your international operations (e.g. cross border compliance issues, accessing EU markets in the most cost effective manner possible);
2. Tax – implications arising from the point at which the UK ceases to be a member of the EU (e.g. repatriation of profits, holding company structures and VAT); and
3. Regulation – issues affecting the structure and movement of finance, financial services and providers including legislative requirements, applications for authorisation and dealing with supervisory authorities (e.g. central banks and other regulatory authorities).

How we help

As a firm of specialist accountants with a focus on three markets; Financial Services, International Business and Government, we advise global financial services providers, life sciences and technology businesses, and their advisors on all aspects of doing business in Europe through Ireland.

We are experts in the provision of Audit, Tax, Advisory and Outsourcing services. Our approach is to provide established international companies and start-ups with the strategic insight, local knowledge, ideas and support necessary to facilitate their overseas expansion into Europe via Ireland. This is what we do every day.

The decisions businesses now face require multiple service delivery solutions. We are fully integrated into the international trade ecosystem. As a founding member of Ireland, Gateway to Europe, we work closely with industry leaders, entrepreneurs, service providers, trade bodies, Irish and international law firms, and government bodies such as Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland.

For more information please visit www.eisneramper.ie or call our Brexit Advisory team on +353 1 2933400.

EisnerAmper Ireland is the Irish owned member of EisnerAmper Global, a specialist network of independent member firms operating via global financial trading hubs.

To read more about Brexit and to download our Brexit guide please select here.