Andrew Le Cheminant, a director of Alex Picot Trust, attended this year’s event which took place in Rome and was held at the NH Virttorio Venito hotel, situated close to the historical centre of Italy’s most famous city. The conference with 160 delegates in attendance and drawn from 30 countries included out-of region members from Argentina, Australia, India, Pakistan, Taiwan, Hong Kong and the United States.
The opening reception included a special welcome from Kreston European Regional Secretary, Bent Kofoed and the business sessions commenced the following day with a welcome and introduction to the proceedings by Kreston CEO, Jon Lisby. Jon updated the delegation on Kreston strategy and Italian host firms, Bompani Audit and new member Kreston GV Italy gave an overview of the structure of their organisations and the business and economic environment in Italy.
Ingmar Pondes from Kreston Bonsen Reuling updated the audience on the VAT Special Interest Group conference before a division tax and audit breakouts.
The keynote speaker this year was Mark Lee, often described as the UK’s most networked accountant. In his unique style, Mark summarised how Kreston partners can stand out from those in other firms and his background as a keen magician formed the basis for some very entertaining aspects of his presentation.
The social programme included an energising team activity in which delegates worked together to solve clues while visiting some of Rome’s historical sites.
Jon Lisby said “Rome is undoubtedly a city which attracts and proved the perfect setting for the Conference which focused on strengthening relationships within the network and building on quality and international referral business”.
