Corporate Services

A wide variety of services are provided by accountants and auditors. In many countries companies must prepare accounts and in many of these countries the accounts must be audited (usually subject to a given threshold). The following is an outline of accounting services but most details are provided in the country specific section of each product.

Taxation
One important area of advice concerns the application of the many forms of tax which can be applicable to a business, especially one operating internationally.

Wealth can be stored in many forms and it is usually possible to hold wealth through a corporate vehicle rather than holding it directly. The advantages of a holding vehicle can be numerous and may include the reduction of tax, the avoidance of duties on death, the protection of wealth in the event of legal action and the geographical diversification of assets to take advantage of economic stability.

Any body of people whether or not incorporated can open a bank account. This article covers banking for trading and holding entities such as limited companies and trusts. This article covers corporate banking, for personal banking please see our main article. A bank account alone should not render the holder liable for tax except on income arising from the funds on deposit (i.e. interest) which in most cases is paid net of tax.

Intellectual property can be protected for a number of years upon demonstration of its originality. Apart from a temporal restriction intellectual property may be registrable over different geographic regions such as by state, by county or over several countries.

Patent
A patent is issued to prevent others using, copying, making, distributing or importing a protected invention.  

Certification of Documents by Lawyer, Accountant or Auditor
The most basic level of certification is by a lawyer, accountant or auditor. This is likely to be suitable for the country where the certifying person is located.

Nominee services are also known as mandatory services and sometimes as “bare trusts”. A nominee is a person who holds an asset in name only for the benefit of another person. Unlike a trustee a nominee has no discretion about the use of the asset and can only act in accordance with instructions from the beneficial owner.