Ireland edges ever closer to becoming one of the world’s top 10 business locations

LONDON - Nov. 10, 2014 - PRLog -- The Republic of Ireland has again edged ever closer to becoming one of the world’s top 10 highest-ranked business locations, moving up four places to 13th place in the latest edition of the annual World Bank Doing Business report.

The latest report, Doing Business 2015: Going Beyond Efficiency, examines the compliance burden on entrepreneurs in 189 jurisdictions worldwide.  Russell Bedford member firms have contributed to each of the report’s Paying Taxes surveys since 2009, contributing data on tax regulation, recent reforms, and the real costs of tax compliance.  Responding to criticism of its methodology in recent years, the 2015 edition reflects a number of changes, no longer ranking countries’ performance solely on their aggregate scores in various categories, but also in terms of their ‘distance to frontier’, reflecting each country’s progress in moving towards accepted norms of international best practice.

On this basis, achieving a score of 80 per cent in terms of the reforms necessary to deliver the ideal regulatory framework, Ireland would appear, again, to have one of the world’s best environments for business, maintaining the same ranking, 13th place.  While the country’s performance on tax reform is less good, reflecting an increase in the total rate of profit tax from 11.9 to 12.4 per cent, it does, nonetheless, remain the sixth most favourable tax environment in the world.

Tony Carey, managing partner of Russell Bedford member firm Cooney Carey, commented: “It is deeply gratifying to see the Republic of Ireland where it belongs, among the world’s leading business environments.  Any increase in business taxation is always a regressive step but, taken in the context of the greater tax burdens many of our European peers are having to impose, it is clear that Ireland remains one of the most attractive investment locations in the world.”

ENDS

Note to Editors

For more information about the World Bank’s Doing Business reports, please visit www.doingbusiness.org

About Russell Bedford International

Established in 1983, Russell Bedford International is a global network of independent firms of accountants, auditors, tax advisers and business consultants.  Ranked amongst the world’s leading accounting and audit networks, Russell Bedford is represented by some 600 partners, 5000 staff and 290 offices in more than 100 countries in Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific.  Russell Bedford International is a member of the IFAC Forum of Firms and a member of EGIAN, the European Group of International Accounting Networks and Associations.

Contacts:

Tony Carey

Cooney Carey

T: +353 1 677 9000

E: info@cooneycarey.ie

W: www.cooneycarey.ie

Kempton Bedell-Harper

Russell Bedford International

T: +44 20 7410 0339

E: info@russellbedford.com

W: www.russellbedford.com