UANI Calls on U.K.'s Nexia to End Business in Iran

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 8, 2013 
Contact: Nathan Carleton, [email protected] 
Phone: (212) 554-3296

UANI Calls on U.K.'s Nexia to End Business in Iran
Accounting Campaign Continues Following Pullout of Grant Thornton, RSM, Crowe Horwath

New York, NY - Today, United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) continued its Accounting Campaign by calling on the British accounting network Nexia International to end its business in Iran.

Nexia maintains a member firm in Iran, Behrad Moshar Certified Public Accountants. At the same time, Nexia is represented by multiple member firms in the U.S. which have received more than $85 million in U.S. government contracts since 2000.

Last month, UANI announced that the first three firms targeted in its Accounting Campaign--Grant Thornton, RSM, and Crowe Horwath--have in response ended their business in Iran, a development reported by the Financial Times, Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal, Daily Telegraph, AzerNews, and economia.

In a letter sent to Nexia, UANI CEO, Ambassador Mark D. Wallace, wrote:

... As one of the world's leading professional services networks in accounting, tax and advisory services, Nexia's ongoing business activities in Iran raise a number of serious questions and concerns.

            Nexia openly maintains a member firm in Iran, Behrad Moshar Certified Public Accountants. As a member firm, Behrad Moshar is an integrated member of the global Nexia brand with access to other global Nexia firms, skills training, technical guidance, and other tools. Behrad Moshar states that it offers professional services to medium and large-sized Iranian and international firms active in the fields of oil and gas, finance, and construction, among others. UANI strongly believes that Nexia should not enable the provision of such vital professional and financial services to the government of Iran, Iranian firms, and foreign companies in Iran at a time when the international community is working to economically isolate the regime in response to its nuclear program, support for terrorism and gross human rights violations.

            Nexia should also consider how its Iran business dealings could affect its extensive business in the United States. Nexia is represented by multiple member firms in the U.S., including CliftonLarsonAllen LLP of Milwaukee and CohnReznick LLP of New York City. The two firms respectively rank as the tenth and eleventh largest professional services networks in the U.S., with combined revenue of more than $1 billion in 2012. Both CliftonLarsonAllen and CohnReznick provide services directly to federal, state, and local government entities in the U.S. According to USASPENDING.gov, CliftonLarsonAllen has received $19,750,996 in U.S. government contracts since 2012. Before its merger into CliftonLarsonAllen, Clifton Gunderson LLP received $39,456,251 in U.S. government contracts since 2000. Similarly, before its merger into CohnReznick, Reznick Group, P.C. received $27,523,265 in U.S. government contracts since 2003. In total then, CliftonLarsonAllen, CohnReznick, and their forerunners have received more than $85 million in U.S. government contracts since 2000. ...

UANI launched the Accounting Campaign in March, highlighting the practices of international accounting networks and associations that maintain member or correspondent firms in Iran.   

The campaign is an extension of UANI's successful 2010 campaign towards three of the "Big Four" accounting firms reportedly active Iran. In response to UANI's campaign, KPMG severed ties with its Iranian member firm, and PricewaterhouseCoopers and Ernst & Young informed UANI that they had previously discontinued business relationships in Iran.

Click here to read UANI's full letter to Nexia.
Click here to learn more about UANI's Accounting Campaign.

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