Romania Better for Starting a Business Than Italy, Luxembourg, Sweden or Switzerland?

Online, December 2, 2013 (Newswire.com) - The latest World Bank Doing Business report suggests Romania now has a better environment in which to launch a business than Italy, Luxembourg, Sweden, Switzerland and other OECD economies.

With the report now in its 11th year, Doing Business 2014: Understanding Regulations for Small and Medium-Size Enterprises analyses the impact of regulations throughout the business lifecycle across 189 jurisdictions, ranking economies on the basis of 10 indicators including ease of starting a business, and paying taxes. Russell Bedford member firms have contributed to each of the report's Paying Taxes survey since 2009, contributing data on tax regulation, recent reforms, and the real costs of tax compliance worldwide.

While Romania's ranking for overall business friendliness remains unchanged (at 73rd out of 189), the country is ranked in 13th place for ease of obtaining credit, significantly ahead of Germany and Japan. It also shows improvement in a number of other areas, including contract enforcement, insolvency regulation and ease of paying taxes - moving up five places in this category, from 139th to 134th. Encouragingly, the report also suggests businesses are saving an average 16 hours per year in meeting their tax compliance obligations, down from 216 to 200 hours.

Andrei Badiu, partner in Russell Bedford member firm 3B Expert Audit SRL, commented: "It is highly encouraging to see Romania ranked among (and beating) our European peers. But our country's ranking on access to credit does not reflect the high cost of credit experienced in reality by SMEs. Also, 200 hours per year is still too much for any SME to be spending on tax compliance, and regulators need to pay far closer attention to the real costs of this for small businesses and entrepreneurs."

ENDS

Notes for 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 460 partners, 5000 staff and 280 offices in more than 90 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:

Kempton Bedell-Harper
Russell Bedford International
T: +44 20 7410 0339
E: info@russellbedford.com
W: www.russellbedford.com

Andrei Badiu
3B Expert Audit SRL
T: +40 21 211 74 59
E: andrei@auditor.ro
W: www.auditor.ro