Finance News by Mazars Romania February 2023

Tue | 28.02.2023

Accounting/audit/tax

New reporting obligations for digital platform operators, by Mazars

DAC7 has been transposed into domestic legislation through Government Ordinance no. 16/2023, with Romania being among the first states in the EU to transpose DAC7 regulations, along with Austria, Denmark, France, Hungary, Croatia, and Belgium.

Mazars’ tax experts prepared a material regarding this subject, that has the main following conclusions:

The activities subject to reporting must be carried out in exchange for consideration (paid or credited);
The first reporting deadline for the operators of digital platforms is 31 January 2024;
For the non-fulfillment of DAC7 reporting obligations, penalties between RON 20,000 and RON 100,000 may be imposed.

„The main purpose is for the tax authorities within the Member States to analyse how the revenues obtained by individuals or legal entities from the sales performed through the platforms were declared and taxed.”, mentioned Liviu Gheorghiu, Tax Director, Mazars in Romania.

Read more info HERE.

Dealmaking in CEE remained resilient in 2022 despite unprecedented regional and global headwinds – Mazars’ study

Mazars released a new report, in association with Mergermarket, which reveals that dealmakers in the CEE region have adapted rapidly to the tougher environment that emerged in 2022.

Main conclusions:

M&A in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) is down on stellar 2021 but remains at a higher level than any other year on Mergermarket record.
The number of transactions in the region equals 846.
The total value of M&A activity reaches €39.2bn, according to the reported data and taking into account the criteria set out in the methodology.
Despite the global challenges, CEE has strong fundamentals and should remain attractive for international investors in 2023.

Despite the unfolding events that occurred in the past year, the Romanian M&A landscape has shown significant resilience in 2022, registering an increase in reported deal volume to 76 transactions, up 17% from 2021. The disclosed value of transactions reached €1.4bn, from €2.7bn recorded in 2021, when one transaction accounted for almost half of the total value of the year, namely ExxonMobil’s sale of a 50% stake in the offshore XIX Neptun Deep Block concession, located in the Black Sea, to natural gas firm Romgaz for €914m. But because only 13 of the 76 transactions disclosed the deal value, the total actual M&A market value is certainly much higher for 2022.

Romania ranks among the top 5 M&A markets in the region, both in terms of value and volume of transactions, gaining more and more visibility to international investors as well as developing a strong local investor base. „In Romania, the M&A activity was strong, especially in the second and third quarters of the year. If we had had more predictability and a clear strategy for the expected energy crisis towards the end of 2022, the positive trend could have continued in the last quarter of the year as well.”, mentioned Răzvan Butucaru, Partner, Financial Services & Advisory Leader, Mazars in Romania.

Read more info HERE.

Mazars’ record global revenues confirm strength of its international, integrated, multidisciplinary strategy

Mazars released its global financial results for the 2021/2022 financial year, highlighting double-digit year-on-year growth of 16.4%, reaching €2.45bn in fee income. The increase in revenue comprises strong growth across all regions and services, both audit and non-audit

Main conclusions:

Year-on-year growth of 16.4%, including 13.3% organic growth, demonstrates the strength of Mazars’ integrated partnership model.
Highest growth since 2007 confirms Mazars’ position as a leading international audit, tax and advisory firm in a concentrated market.
Double-digit growth in all regions and all service lines suggests the relevance of, and confidence in, Mazars’ international development and balanced multidisciplinary strategy.

„I echo our CEO; we are meeting a growing demand for technology and sustainability services. Our team has opened exciting new jobs for tech-savvy professionals, and at the same time, we are building a team of auditors and consultants to cover the ESG reporting requirements. Once again, we have extended our investment in people, and their personal and professional development, as the required set of skills, is constantly changing.

ESG is here to stay and companies need to realise that by taking on sustainability commitments, they can distinguish themselves with consumers and other stakeholder groups. Some privately owned businesses, especially the small ones, are not yet required by the authorities to comply with ESG standards, but if they wish to have a future-ready company, they must support and implement the ESG factors. In Romania, at the moment, ESG is driven by big companies, but it is not enough. No matter the industry or the size of the company, every leader should prioritise and implement the ESG goals as soon as possible.”, mentioned Dino Ebneter, Country Managing Partner, Mazars in Romania.

Read more info HERE.

Five practical ways to step up your sustainability transformation, by Mazars

For the C-suite leaders, one of the most important resolutions for 2023 is to make sure that their businesses become more “future-proof”, and they can easily achieve this important objective by integrating sustainability into their core operations.

Mazars prepared a material on this topic, which contains a set of questions every business leader should answer, as an effective first exercise to understand their companies’ progress, and also to add some new action plans to their “to-do” list.

Read more info HERE.