According to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), companies with regional operations in LATAM lost at least 25% of their invested capital over two years of the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving more than 2.7 million people unemployed.
These companies are not big multinationals with thousands of employees and lines of products or services. On the contrary, the ECLAC's data shows mostly SMEs, which represent more than 75% of LATAM's business sector according to regional statistics.
Under this complex scenario, and with an increasingly narrow economic perspective in LATAM, regional SMEs should consider the following from several perspectives: What should their next steps be to streamline resources, recover from the accumulated losses, and generate competitive advantages against their competitors?
One of the competitive advantages developed by DFV Asesores for its regional clients is the Centralization of Regional Operations from Costa Rica.
What is the Centralization of Regional Operations?
LATAM's financial, tax, and legal operations are similar among countries. For example, almost all of LATAM's tax policies are based on Spanish guidelines (in the case of Central America and some regions of South America). On the other hand, the tax policies of the countries in the Caribbean and Mexico follow the American style. The main differences have to do with tax compliance processes, not with the interpretation or application of the law.
For example, Panama uses tax printers to ensure taxpayers report all their income to the Directorate General for Revenue (DGI, by its acronym in Spanish). In contrast, Costa Rica implemented electronic invoicing as a control method so that the General Directorate of Taxation could supervise the correct payment of taxpayers' obligations.
We designed a plan given the need to optimize processes and resources for our regional customers called "Centralization of Regional Operations from Costa Rica," and it focuses on two aspects:
Delivering financial information in a timely and accurate manner
Providing peace of mind to our customers by building trusting relationships
Centralization of Regional Operations from Costa Rica is a business model that fulfills the legal and financial responsibilities that regional companies must understand in their own countries but doing so by managing all their accounting, financial, and consolidation processing from Costa Rica.
How does the Centralization of Regional Operations from Costa Rica work?
We manage the regional companies' accounting processing per country and their legal or corporate names through different processes and systems. This allows us to meet the need for accurate, up-to-date, and timely financial information (under the information quality and security criteria implemented by DFV Asesores). We deliver financial statements, agreements, management reports, solid financial information, forecasting, and budgets directly to the Board of Directors, acting as Regional Finance Managers.
Furthermore, we have broad experience in regional tax management (in the firm's work team and with advisors and partners throughout LATAM). We can assure you that your tax operations are being covered and you are up to date. This allows us to anticipate potential risks, analyze them, and prepare action plans to minimize or remove them. We can also apply different tax strategies to pay taxes efficiently without risking the company's national and regional fiscal position.
Centralizing regional operations from Costa Rica does not only focus on financial processes but also encompasses legal, treasury, payroll, compensation, and general management processing as well. Full control of the operation is achieved from a single country, facilitating decision-making, reviewing information, and process harmonization at a regional level.
How is Centralization of Regional Operations from Costa Rica implemented?
First, a complete diagnosis of each company's financial, tax, and legal situation in their own countries is required to determine the company's main risks and have an action plan to solve or minimize them. This is usually known as Due Diligence, but it is only applied according to the business operation's scale and the client's size.
Then we collect financial, and accounting information, auxiliaries, balance sheets, and account reports to feed the background information correctly and process the current information. Once this step is complete, the financial information conciliation process starts to ensure that we work with accurate historical data with adequate backup.
The third step is to prepare monthly reports that must be delivered to the Board of Directors or the members that the client indicates and with whom DFV Advisors will be in constant communication. Moreover, the monthly financial package is defined, and dates for meetings, periodic reviews, and deliveries are set.
Finally, once the previous steps are taken, we define strategies to enable the company to achieve its regional objectives, strengthening its resources and boosting its growth.
In which LATAM countries does the DFV Centralization of Regional Operations have advisors?
Nuestra lista de países actualmente (y creciendo) son:
Chile
Colombia
Panama
Costa Rica
El Salvador
Mexico
Estados Unidos
Republica Dominicana
What is the economic benefit of centralizing regional operations from Costa Rica?
Costa Rica's economic and political stability has proven to generate investor confidence. We help our clients save at least 15% on their operations thanks to this fact and the escalation economy process with which DFV Asesores manages their resources. However, beyond the savings from centralizing operations, the efficiency with which we deliver results maximizes our clients' resource management, allowing them to focus on real business objectives and not on their back-office or administrative management burden.
At DFV Asesores Empresariales, we are here to help you in every stage of tax compliance. Contact us at 4010-1076 or info@dfvasesores.com.