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Wadid Rizkalla & Co.
Public Accountants and Consultants
Serving the market since 1939

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Wadid Rizkalla & Co. is a member of Polaris International as the only Egyptian member of the this network. Polaris International is a worldwide network of independent public accounting and consulting firms providing a wide range of high quality business-related services to clients across the world.

Network Statistics

The key geographic and size statistics for Polaris are:

	Number of Firms	Turnover in EUR m
Europe, Middle East, Africa (EMEA)	84	207
North America	31	88
Latin America and Caribbean	20	16
Asia Pacific	22	18
Total	157	329

Network Management

The main management body is the International Board of Directors, which is responsible for determining Polaris’s strategy and direction and establishing policies and standards. The International Board is made up of the President, the Vice President, the Immediate Past President and the Treasurer/Secretary, together with the four Regional Chairmen.

Regional structures

Polaris is organised into four regions:

● Europe, Middle East and Africa (“EMEA”);

● North America;

● Latin America;

● Asia Pacific.

Each region has a Regional Chairman and a Vice Chairman and a Regional Board of Directors. The Regional Board is responsible for developing PIA within its Region, consistent with the policies established by the International Board.

The EMEA Region is particularly strong and active having, amongst other activities, won three major Framework Audit Contracts with the European Commission. This practical experience of working together internationally to meet client requirements has been extremely positive, creating a greater understanding and appreciation of the skills and talents within the Region. EMEA members are highly committed to these projects.

Membership requirements

Polaris has clearly established criteria for membership. Prospective firms must meet minimum quality, professional and size criteria as laid down by the Board of Directors. These criteria are:

● quality of the firm (technical skills, management, reputation, personnel, range of services);

● a commitment to moral, ethical and technical standards;

● commitment and contribution to Polaris IA International;

● participation in conferences and other network activities;

● the firm and its partners must be, and must maintain, membership of appropriate recognised professional bodies.

It is also a condition of membership that every member firm must attend at least one meeting every two years. At the present time, there is an International Meeting held annually in May and each region also holds its own meeting, typically in October/November each year.

These meetings deal not just with administrative matters, but also with international accounting and auditing developments, practice management issues and marketing opportunities.

In this way, Polaris is much more than just a directory of accounting firms. There is considerable interaction between member firms, particularly in Europe, and one of the strengths of Polaris is the close personal connections that have developed between the member firms.

Professional standards

Polaris demands, and maintains, high professional, technical and ethical standards of all its members.

Prior to joining the network, prospective member firms must undergo an inspection by an experienced reviewer from a current Polaris member firm to establish that the prospective member has clearly defined quality control standards and working papers in place to meet, not only local country requirements, but also generally accepted international audit standards. In this way, member firms are able to refer clients to other member firms with confidence.

Thereafter, under the current rules of Polaris, member firms are required to accept an independent quality control inspection known as a “peer review”.

The peer reviews focus on nine quality issues covering:

● independence;

● assigning staff to audits;

● consultation;

● supervision;

● recruitment of professional staff;

● professional development;

● promotion and advancement;

● acceptance and continuance of clients;

● inspection and review/internal quality control procedures.