MGI Worldwide members called on as global thought leaders as Saudi Arabia and Turkey firms contribute to International Accounting Bulletin edition

As always, it is exciting to see that MGI Worldwide members continue to be called upon to contribute to global thought leadership publications, and April was no exception! We are proud to see Hassan Masoud from Al-Hamli & Partners Co., in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; and both Ilker Eke, from MGI Bağımsız Denetim A.Ş.and Veysel Ekmen, from Vizyon, in Turkey, feature in a recent edition of the International Accounting Bulletin (IAB).

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia looks to boost foreign investment 

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has been working hard to re-invent its economy by boosting inward foreign investment and developing the SME community in a bid to decrease the economic dependency on oil-based exports. As seen globally though, one major factor, is the difficulty in recruiting and retaining staff.

MGI Worldwide member Hassan Masoud from Al-Hamli & Partners Co. explains:

There is also a strong push to get more women into the profession – since 2016 women have been allowed to start their own businesses, travel abroad without a guardian's permission and drive. The result is an increase in Saudi female participation in the workforce, up from 19% in 2016 to 33% in 2020.

Depreciation of Turkish Lira impacts national economy

While Turkey's economy rebounded quickly from the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, rising inflation and the depreciation of the Turkish Lira is causing serious economic problems. The government is gambling on foreign investment to create a stronger economy, as it tries to outpace inflation with growth.

Ilker Eke, senior auditor at MGI Worldwide member firm, MGI Bağımsız Denetim A.Ş. comments in the article:

"The unexpected increase in price pressures has been one of the most important problems in the global economy. The drawback of the Lira's volatility is that it becomes hard to estimate cost and profit margin, which makes it hard to agree on fees that satisfy both parties.”

MGI Worldwide member Veysel Ekmen, chairman at Vizyon, also speaks of the economic situation facing Turkey:

"For the last couple of years, Turkey, like the rest of the global economy, suffered from the negative effects of the pandemic, but it also benefited from the weakness of supply chain as a result of its strong production infrastructure, open economy and geopolitical location. Now, war between Russian and Ukraine has become a significant risk factor for the Turkish economy. Turkey is in a difficult position as it has strategic trade relations between both sides of the war.”

Despite the difficult environment, Veysel concludes that there are opportunities for firms looking for growth and that e-commerce and financial technologies have become much more important in Turkey.

For more information about the Saudi or Turkish economy and accounting industry

Visit the Al-Hamli & Partners Co. website here or their firm profile page here.
Visit the MGI Bağımsız Denetim A.Ş. website here or their firm profile page here.
Visit the Vizyon website here or their firm profile page here.

Rankings

We’re thrilled to announce that our member firms in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Turkey are ranking highly against the other top accounting associations! 

In Saudi Arabia our member firms are ranking a fantastic 14th for fee income and 12th for staff data. Our member firms in the UAE are raking 12th for both fee income and staff data while member firms in Turkey rank at the 11th position for fee data and 13th for staff data.

MGI Worldwide with CPAAI would like to congratulate our member firms in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Turkey who are responsible for helping achieve these fantastic results.

MGI Worldwide with CPAAI, is a top 20 ranked global accounting network and association with almost 9,000 professionals, accountants and tax experts in some 400 locations in over 100 countries around the world.