AHTES

AHTES is a fiduciary firm based in Charleroi, registered as a company with the ITAA, with further offices in Brussels and Jodoigne. It was launched in 2010 by John Brocal and Jean-Charles Degand, both Certified Accountant & Tax Advisor ITAA. The first holds degrees in law and business administration and started in financial audit at Ernst & Young in Brussels and Madrid. The second is a Solvay business engineer who came from Deloitte, then developed start-ups and new activities within large groups. That double background explains the firm's positioning: financial management sits alongside the accounting.

The name comes from the word the Tuareg use for the desert acacia, a tree that keeps a whole community alive in harsh conditions. The team brings together more than twenty people who, according to the firm, add up to over 500 years of experience: advisers, file managers, assistants and a head of the Jodoigne office. Work is organised around five values gathered under the acronym PHARE: proactivity, people, ally, results and expertise.

The core of the service covers a company's legal obligations. AHTES keeps the books, prepares and files the annual accounts, ensures compliance with tax, VAT, legal and social obligations, and tracks changes in regulation. Business owners can hand over the administration and keep their time for their business.

On the tax side, the firm works on director remuneration, designing a package for it, on bringing profits back into the private sphere with minimal leakage, and on legal structures. It also deals with the authorities and anticipates changes in the field. The stated aim concerns private wealth as much as the company's tax performance.

At the start-up stage, AHTES helps to set up a company, obtain financing, convince an investor and get operations ready, and it handles the administrative steps. Once the business is running, the work turns to the figures: putting performance indicators in place, controlling cash flows and defining the company's economic equation, as part of an economic and financial intelligence approach.

Finally, the firm presents itself as an ally at the key moments of an entrepreneur's journey. It supports internal growth, the organisation of a takeover and the strengthening of internal control. It also steps in when a crisis has to be faced, when negotiating with financial partners, or when selling, handing over or closing a business. Its typical client remains the SME owner, whom the firm says it wants to know beyond the balance sheet and the tax return, as someone with ideas to advise over the long term.

The firm's internal management lies with Didier Trifaux, administrative and financial director, while Gianfranco Mauro heads the Jodoigne office.