PrimeGlobal Named Association of the Year 2022 at IAB Awards ¦ Winning in Business with Advisory Culture.

Griffiths + Associates, being a member of PrimeGlobal, is delighted to share with the fantastic news that PrimeGlobal has been named Association of the Year 2022 at the International Accounting Bulletin Digital Accountancy Awards.This is a highly competitive and prestigious award with all top associations submitting entries. The independent panel recognized PrimeGlobal’s remarkable performance across a number of fronts, from their commitment to Environment Social Responsibility and technology (as part of a new global agreement, PrimeGlobal and Xero collaborate to advocate for cloud technology) through to the new branding campaign that reflects the increasing advisory nature of the member firms. The judges commended Prime Global for its shift to advisory work. This shift is evidenced by maximum participation in Prime Global learning programs over the past year, including Developing Advisory Mindset, Data Analytics Bootcamp and Leadership Training.As we can see, recently increasingly the focus on an advisory culture comes to the fore. What exactly is the advisory culture? Why is the Accounting Association focusing on it and supporting a transition to advisory services? To understand it, our firm will be pleased to share our own experience about developing an advisory culture and about new advisory services we already have introduced.Everyone knows that an advisory culture directly relates to a firm’s corporate culture, being at the core of how things get done around the workplaces. Why is it so important? Because it directly affects company performance on key metrics, employee retention, innovation, and client service.Griffiths + Associates can boast low staff turnover; our team consists of the international sophisticated experts possessing vast experience and seniority. The firm continues to successfully develop its business despite the crisis caused by Covid-19 pandemic, where many small to medium businesses have failed. You may ask why?The answer points to the firm’s core – its mission focuses on the following aspects:- its people being the most important asset,- a client-centric approach, and- quality being the key to success.And this is not mere lip service, as the firm’s professional achievements are excellent confirmations of this.

• A new step in the company development showing the level of quality of our services – Griffiths + Associates acted as reporting accountants on the bond issue. Our Accounting Department has successfully fulfilled its purpose. The department is led by Director Anton Magro, who started his career in Griffiths + Associates as Accounts Executive. He has obtained two degrees, one in Business and Computing, another one being the successful completion of the ACCA qualification. Now Mr. Magro is a Director and one of the shareholders of the advisory company.
• Peter Griffiths, a forward-looking Manager professionally able to move with the times, in 2019 before the pandemic, adapted a workflow for remote work. He introduced e-flow of documentation allowing work remotely and optimizing a paper-less environment, new professional software for Audit and Legal Departments, new communication systems among employees, individual corporate laptops, expanded company's online presence via new corporate website. Peter has always encouraged the team to improve on one’s self and their qualifications, and participate in webinars, professional meetings including events provided by Prime Global. Defining the firm’s priorities on the way forward, the focus turned on expanding on quality, core services.
• One of these directions is Tax Advisory Services. It's hard to imagine a well-functioning tax system without capable tax advisers. By advising clients-taxpayers on how to comply with their legal obligations, tax advisers serve an important public interest. And this is not a piece of rhetoric, this is the global reality of tax, in which tax legislation is constantly under revision. Constant changes in tax legislation and regulations, interpretation difficulties, and the application of the law in practice, seriously hinder well-informed tax compliance and demand action. For these reasons, it is so crucial to assist people with the interpretation of the legislation and tax structuring. This is a basis for successful business and this is only way to achieve full tax compliance and reduce risks. In this regard, it is important to mention that the firm adheres to principles to garner a responsible tax practice, bringing to life the Company's values in a way that is meaningful for the every-day situations of tax professionals, without disregarding to ensure an appropriate balance between loyalty to the system and loyalty to the client. It means that on the one hand, Griffiths + Associates professionals are focused on building a clear understanding of clients' needs, providing them with bespoke tax advisory solutions, and on the other hand, they support a relationship with tax authorities aimed at building mutual trust and respect which will enable constructive dialogue and responsiveness by all parties. Thanks to this advisory culture, today Griffiths + Associates is well-recognized as the adviser for sophisticated clients with complex international portfolios.
• An equally important direction is AML services; this is another top priority. In the business world, compliance is extremely important factor which aims to ensure law and regulations implementation, helps to meet requirements and governance guidelines, and thus providing credibility to the sector and aids in building trust. In our reality, the success of the business depends directly on what compliance management system a company will choose, as this system is the basis of a company and properly built systems pave the way to not only satisfy the minimum legal requirements but most of all to benefit from the advantages of being within the realms of conformity. In this context, Griffiths + Associates helps clients to develop an effective compliance management system, and our special digital solution is a part of this, with different options, starting from basic screening services, to dedicated high-tech platform available for subject persons to use, to full-service platform including automatic risk assessment and online data management system. In view of the difficult times being experienced at the moment, making our service as convenient as possible, affordable for the clients, we are offering the services on extremely favourable terms. Another our focus of compliance is advisory services helping our clients to be in line with local regulations, which arise as a result of EU directives. Adherence to local policy is crucial as regulations require to monitor customers and transactions and report suspicious activity. Failure to comply may encounter hefty fines, damage a brand significantly and loss of ratings, temporary or permanent closure of a business and even criminal charges. This may sound a little abstract, but there are also very concrete examples of what we do. For example, let's talk about registering and reporting the beneficial owners of commercial partnerships. The purpose of the Register of Beneficial Owners is to improve corporate trust and transparency in Maltese-registered commercial partnerships, as spurred by EU and international regulatory changes. The Authorities in Malta formulated extensive guidance document, setting out an overview of requirements in terms of the Companies Act (Register of Beneficial Owners) Regulations, describing what information does the commercial partnership need to file in order to comply with the BO Regulations, what are the statutory forms to be submitted in relation to the Register of BOs, what supporting documents do commercial partnerships need to file with the Malta Business Registry, etc. "The interpretation of the legislation is a matter on which the Malta Business Registry cannot advise, and individuals will need to form their own view on compliance...This guidance document is intended for general information purposes only. It should not be used in relation to any specific company without independent investigation into the structure of the company in question or without any verifications. Those making use thereof or relying thereon assume all risk and liability arising from such use or reliance." So, this is exactly what we do, this is our advisory culture - we properly interpret the legislation and help our clients to be in line with local regulations, showing that compliance is a necessity and opportunity, not just a burden and something that avoids fines.
• Also, speaking about our advisory culture and internal processes what we have developed to support our advisory work, it should also be mentioned about Griffiths + Associates participation in different online events - exhibitions, forums, brokerage events, etc. The rise of Covid-19 had event organisers to explore alternative digital spaces with online exhibitions and a rise in virtual reality. The online space has become very meaningful, and if before Covid-19, the digital space was treated as an additional option for expanding an audience, now when the situation has changed the digital audience comes to the fore. Along with this, our advisory culture is also changing; this is a new format how to deliver effective online presentations from office and home. We pay a lot of attention how we can make our presentations more interactive.

We would like to end our introduction with the thought that every firm has a corporate culture - the values, attitudes, methodology, and standards that reflect a company’s DNA. The truly inspiring firms have corporate cultures that propel them to innovate and stand out. And our aim is to be one of those inspired firms. We already firmly established as a leading Malta accounting firm, our services raise the bar - we combine expertise, innovation, and personalized service to provide effective solutions, and we don't plan to stop here, we continue to grow.Partner With Trusted Accounting firms in Malta. For exceptional advisory services, give our office a call at +356 2738 3631 or email us at info@griffithsassoc.com.