MARA INTERNATIONAL CONSULTS

The world is musing over the potential impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Forrester predicted “A greater than 300% increase in investment in artificial intelligence in 2017”, and Sundar Pichai CEO of Google wrote in 2016 that; “The last 10 years have been about building a world that is mobile first. In the next 10 years, we will shift to a world that is AI first”.

Only 12 months ago you could buy a Bitcoin for about $600; now the same thing would cost you around $12,000. In December, that figure was $17,000. Bitcoin is one of the so-called ‘cryptocurrencies’ but the most successful by far: its market value has at times been greater than that of Disney or IBM. In fact, Bitcoin is bigger than the total currency supply of Denmark!

The largest and arguably most powerful ransomware attack the world has seen started to infect IT systems on Friday 12 May. The ‘WannaCry’ virus threw organisations in the UK, US, Russia, Germany, China and more into meltdown: 157 countries were involved in the attack. We’ve since seen additional ransomware attacks at the end of June and in August. Digital threats are now a day-to-day reality that organisations must face.

A key theme of the World Economic Forum in Davos was the impact on the world of economic and corporate globalisation. President Xi of China opened the Davos with a speech praising the merits of global free trade. But on Friday, US President Trump finished the week calling for a protectionist approach for American businesses. We sought the views of the AGN Global Business Voice panel on these themes, and in particular their views on the impact on national businesses (those whose markets are mainly within national boundaries).

In this edition, we asked our global panel of SME business advisers - “where is the recession?”. The AGN Global Business Voice (GBV) panel comprises of 44 senior accountancy and business advisory professionals, from leading financial advisory and consultancy firms across the world. In June 2019, the economic expansion of the US reached its tenth anniversary and the longest period of sustained economic growth on record.

Interesting comparisons from year to year give an insight into trends. These surveys are:
• Corporate Tax
• Gift & Inheritance
• Parent Companies
• Salaries & Social Security Tax
• Self Employed Tax
• Value Added (VAT)

As COVID-19 drives businesses to embrace remote working, the use of social media is expanding. However, many SMEs across the world are unaware of the associated business risks.

In this edition of the AGN Global Business Voice, we take a look at how SMEs deal with their social media activities – through the lens of our panel of 46 business advisers/firms across the world.