The representatives of Ascent Group presented Romania and the Republic of Moldova at a business conference in Sicily

Adela Cristea, managing partner of Ascent Group and Lia Bejenaru, manager of Ascent Group’s office in Chisinau participated a few days ago to a conference organized by Confindustria Catania.

The topic of the conference was: “Business Opportunities: Romania and the Republic of Moldova” being organized by Confidustria Catania in cooperation with Assoconsult Sicilia, Gruppo Strazzeri, Casa Italia Consulenza and Ascent Group.

The conference was attended by Sicilian business people interested by business opportunities in the 2 countries. Adela Cristea and Lia Bejenaru presented the legal and fiscal frame of Romania and Moldova as well as concrete business opportunities from different fields of activity.

Elena Ionescu was recently appointed as manager of Jordan Sheppard Romania. Jordan Sheppard Romania was established in November 2007 as a result of an association between the prestigious multinational company Jordan Sheppard Executive Search and the consulting group Ascent. The company offers high quality services in executive search and head-hunting to the companies interested in the improvement of the recruitment process for top and middle management positions.

2008 brought us many changes regarding both the level of some taxes and social contributions, and also the level of the minimum salary, on national economy level and also relate to some professional categories…

Considering these changes, the minimum salary on economy level in Romania has increased starting with January 2008 to 500 Lei, compared with 390 Lei in 2007. Based on the legislation changes brought by the Government Decision no. 1,507 issued on 12th of December 2007, the minimum gross salary on economy level will also increase again with July 1st 2008 to 540 Lei, in case that the main indicators on macroeconomic level, based on whom the budget is built, will be maintained (increase of the GDP, maintaining of the inflations within the estimated values, maintenance of the economic grow and work productivity).

Starting with January 2008 Bulgaria has a new 10% flat tax rate for individuals, replacing the 10%-24% tax rates in 2007.

The Bulgarian 10% corporate tax rate for 2008 remains the same as in 2007 and is positioning Bulgaria together with Cyprus among the lowest taxations within the European Union.

The VAT rate in Bulgaria for 2008 will remain 20%, the same as in 2007.

Exactly how attractive is Romania for the new comers of various industries we can anticipate by measuring the volume of FDI, before and after joining EU, as well as by considering the rhythm and dynamics of business on its territory during the last years.

And yet… how attractive is Romania for a new comer on the market? We could probably say that, apart from the legislation and political frame, taxation, reforms, level of corruption and other conditions considered by investors, what actually summarizes and concludes the relationship with the investor is the honoring of a psychological agreement…

Have you ever been in the country of it is impossible?

If you have never been, let me tell you something from my last journey’s diary in the country of it is impossible. My story starts with my entry into this country.

After a long but pleasant journey I have arrived to the country’s borders. I passed the check point for identity cards and asked a frontier policeman: From where can I buy a travel license stamp? The policeman threw my passport in hurry and replied: From here it is impossible! Then he made me a sign to move on.

2008 brought new changes regarding the taxes and duties. The latest news in the Fiscal Code refers to VAT, the income tax and excises.

VAT: The reversed taxation procedure for real estate transactions between legal entities persons, who pay VAT, was eliminated.

At the same time, the VAT exemption was eliminated for the following services: giving information and making reports for the insured persons, marketing and administrative services that derive from the insuring-reinsuring services, respectively the organization and the management of the IT system of the insurance companies.

Income tax: The limit regarding the non-taxable income from the pensions will increase, from 900 to 1000 lei.

Romania’s joining to the EU in 2007 led to new challenges for the road transportation operators. The authorizations problem doesn’t exist any more, but problems related to the management of the transportation companies appeared. These companies must find rapidly solutions for keeping the labor force and for a more efficient activity, especially by developing the provided services.

The fact that, on the Romanian market already appeared important transportation companies from the neighboring countries, who are transferring trucks in Romania in order to use the Romanian labor force paid at national standards, has created numerous dysfunctions on the labor market in this domain.

However, the lack of any minimum conditions for registering in the Operator’s Transportation Registry, determined the increase of the small operators’ number, with one-two trucks.

The idea of coaching has started to appear, even implementing in daily agitated companies’ lives, no matter if big, medium or small. There are different articles, TV shows, books debating even creating a media event on this theme. Indeed, it has a long time since is practiced and has good results “over the borders”. But human reticence makes us wonder: why coaching?

In actual fact this so-called reticence hides its dose of pragmatism: why choosing to invest enormous amounts of money in our employees? They really deserve this financial effort?

According to a recent study of the National Health Insurance Institution, IT experts stop paying the contribution to the health insurance, the contribution being paid by the employer. However, the employees will have free medical services, on the basis of a certificate from the employer.

This stipulation is part of a series of fiscal facilities for developing the IT industry.

According to the same stipulation the certificate that proves the quality of insured person for all the employees, will be released for the future by the National Health Insurance and not by the employer, as it happens now.

Ascent Group started recently a cooperation with the prestigious magazine Tonica (www.tonica.ro). Starting with the next editions of the magazine the HR department consultants of Ascent Group will publish opinions on topics related to career, presentation and communication skills, time management, work relationship management, employee motivation and many others.

The cooperation with Tonica magazine is a confirmation of the quality of Ascent Group consultant’s opinions and we hope that our articles will be appreciated by the magazine’s readers.

The National Agency of Fiscal Administration has decided that, starting with January the 1st 2008, taxes, contributions and other amounts owed by the tax payers to the general budget, are to be paid into a unique account.

The tax payers will use two payment orders for the State’s treasury, one for the obligations due to the state’s budget and the second, for the other obligations.

The amounts owed to the State’s budget will be paid into the unique account 20.47.01.01, and the fiscal debts to the social insurance budgets and to the special funds, into the unique account 55.02.

Every payment, for every tax, contribution and on other amounts owed to the general budget will be made distinctly.

National Bank of Romania (BNR) recently took the decision of increasing the interest with 0.5% , thus reaching up to 8%. According to specialists, this decision will have reduced effects on short term, including on the currency. But a new 0.25% increase is expected in February.

The interest increase will not influence the currency appreciation, but it can influence its depreciation and shows that BNR has decided to take measures to reach its inflation target.

One more year just passed by, our first year as citizens of the European Union, and as in any moment of evaluation we look back and try to understand what brought us the year that just passed, but specially we look into the future and try to understand what changes the next year will bring us.

2007 was our first European year, a year with many changes but also with many confusions. Many reforms were started, but unfortunately many others were slowed down.

The changes that the companies policies related to salaries will undergo in 2008, not only will attract and retain the employees, but they will also increase their loyalty.

This all happens due to continuous expansion of the companies, the increased deficit of personnel, and the increased personnel fluctuation (in 2007, the voluntary personnel fluctuation increased to 21% compared to 15.9% in 2006).

It is estimated that, in case the level of inflation will continue to increase in 2008, the salaries will also rise up to 15%.

In 2008, the average values of salaries increases for top management positions will be between 10% and 15%, for executive positions up to 11%, while the salaries for unqualified positions will rise up to 25%, because of the increase of the minimum salary.

Besides these increases, employers become more and more inventive in granting benefices in order to keep their employees’ loyalty:

After joining the European Union the Romanian State is forced to invest in the development of the railways infrastructure, by creating high speed railways that would unite Greece to the rest of the Europe.

The two European railways corridors that cross Romania are corridor IV, which makes the connection between Germany and Greece, and corridor IX, between Finland and Greece, their total length being almost 10.000 km.

The rehabilitation of the 2.000 km of railway in Romania, which will be part of the European railway system, will require over 10 billion Euro of investment, the goal being to reach a speed of maximum 140km/h in the case of trains for passengers and to respect the UE safety standards.

After the meeting between the Trade Unions, Employers Unions and the representatives of the Government that took place on Monday, to which the Minister of Labor and Family Paul Pacuraru, and the Minister of Economy and Finances, Mr. Varujan Vosganian took part, it was decided that starting with January 2008 Romania will have a unique minimum salary.

Therefore, starting with January the 1st 2008, according to the Government’s decision, the value of the minimum salary will be 500 lei. In case that the main indicators on which the State’s budget is built, respectively the Gross National Product, the inflation, and the level of the labor’s productivity are fulfilled, starting with July 2008 the minimum salary, at a national level, will be 540 lei.

Trade Unions and Employers Unions agreed to continue the negotiations regarding the additional act to the national collective labor agreement, for establishing the salary levels.

2008 promises to be a year full of surprises and innovations in the fiscal domain, at least this is what the Ministries of Economy and Finance that thought of a true economic revolution, promise us. Everything started since 2007, when the Government canceled all the company’s fiscal debts until January the 1st 2007, thus beginning a new stage, which, they hope it will be more productive. This Reform is called “Fiscal Amnesty”, and its main purpose is to help and promote the companies that cannot function normally because of the debts to the State’s budget. The purpose is to develop the local business environment, but also to increase the main economic indicators, thus creating the premises for attracting local and foreign investments.

Ascent Group became partner of Consulting Review magazine, publication dedicated to answer the needs of information, documentation and professional improvement in business felt by all the investors and managers in Romanian.

Starting with December, Ascent Group consultants will answer to the questions addressed by the readers of the magazine; respectively they will offer solutions on accounting, tax, legal and labor issues.

The selection of Ascent Group as partner of the Consulting Review magazine is an additional proves for the quality of the service our group tries to provide for its clients.

The National Institute of Statistics elaborated the revised version of the Classification List of the Activities within the National Economy (CAEN), in order to be compatible with the European classification list. The changes will apply starting with January the 1st 2008.

Thus, the activities within the national economy will be classified according to a new structure, compatible with the EU standards. The new codes system will be applicable within the EU, and Romanian companies will be able to take part in any European auction. Good news for the companies is that they will have much more options to register within different domains of economy.

Continuous personnel formation is a deeper and deeper need felt by any company our days. It represents not only an investment in people, but also a very useful tool to become more efficient, to solve easier the multitude of tasks we have to face every day, and not last, an important motivation factor for our employees.

Ascent Group is your partner in the process of personal and professional development of your employees, because, first of all, the value of a company is given by the value of its people.

Ascent Group brings a modern vision to the learning process, by emphasizing the benefits of “learning by doing” through exercises, role-plays and behavioral modeling. Our training programs have an interactive approach, are personalized and addressed to each client’s unique demands, to their visions and organizational objectives.

Until getting into the deeps of training area from a trainer perspective, I was many years in row a training participant. My luck – and now yours as a user of Ascent Group’s services – is that my first impressions on training were exceptional and the experiences I have been through and which are the basis of my trainer preparation were special, spectacular, and kind of life-changing! I have oriented towards this area because at that time I understood how great is to be a trainer, how you could change people’s lives, their interpersonal relationships but with themselves also, how you could help them become more for themselves and the environment they live their personal and professional life, and being aware of the long and troublesome road I have to travel.

When talking about the possibility of investing in the Republic of Moldova, there’s a first question that appears: How complicated, certain and advantageous is to place money in a country that finds itself in a process of economic transition?

A research made by World Bank and International Finance Corporation tried to answer this question, study that analyzed 178 economies in the world, including the economy of the Republic of Moldova, from the business environment point of view. Doing Business 2008 places Moldova on the 92nd place, a favorable position compared to the majority of the countries from Eastern Europe, being followed by Azerbaijan (96th place), Belarus (106th place) and Ukraine (139th place).

Ascent Group intends to expand it’s the territorial network in 2008 by opening new branches. Within our expansion plans for next year we included the opening of 2 offices in Romania, in Timisoara and Brasov, by March 2008. Regarding the expansion abroad, our main target goes on Serbia, Russia and Ukraine. Our regional development plans are based on the opening of own offices or in association with local partners, already existent consulting companies.

Currently Ascent Group has a network of 5 offices: Bucharest and Arad in Romania, Chisinau in the Republic of Moldova, Sofia in Bulgaria and Limassol in Cyprus.

Recently, I have participated at a start course in NLP (neuro–linguistic programming). For those unfamiliar with this term, I could give one of the „definitions”, sustaining that NLP: “is the applied amount of psychology knowledge, research of mind and language, and makes possible the teaching and learning of success communication and of thinking and action oriented towards objectives for personality development.”

I can also tell you it was quite an experience that I enjoyed a lot and has proved I do not know myself that well as previously considering. It has determined to ask myself about my own person and to realize that knowing me is a laborious process, but worth every penny.