IPBN Head of the Fiscal Board and Co-founder of IPBN member company TaxLibris, Pedro Teixeira, was initially just an investor in the accounting firm project. Ten years later, he decided to jump in and manage it operationally. The project was always a boutique accounting and consulting firm with specialized business services for international clients and/or international trade. The main focus was on international taxes and accounting, and, due to the previous Founders' experience in multinational environments, customized services were developed.

When asked about his current projects in Portugal, Pedro told the IPBN, "In the last 5 to 7 years intensive digital transformation was carried on within the organization. Nowadays, there are several running projects in RPA (Robotic Process Automation), AI, and Digital Document workflow. It pushed us to set up new and value-added services for our clients as well as to increase the quality of the client experience."

Pedro plans to discuss more about this topic in the third panel discussion of the upcoming IPBN Dublin Innovation Conference on June 20 at the GEC. This panel discussion will highlight key themes regarding doing business in Portugal through the lens of investment and tax incentives with Pedro Teixeira, IPBN board member and Senior Partner at Tax Libris, and Geoffrey Graham, Chair of the IPBN Board and Senior Partner at EDGE International Lawyers. You can read more about the panelists here. 

TaxLibris plans to open in different territories (like Ireland) in the future. Nevertheless, they prefer to have specialized support. The firm believes that spreading its nets too wide could jeopardize the quality of service they are used to offering, however, the team is certain that it is ready and willing to investigate any options for expansion, as long as the main purpose and values of Taxlibris can be maintained.

With over 25 years of experience, TaxLibris, with Pedro at the helm, still has a start-up philosophy and approach. Pedro said, "Minds are open like a parachute (as we express in our site main page). It has been an enriching experience, especially due to the diversity of our worldwide clientele."

When it comes to innovation, TaxLibris maintains that it is the firm's middle name. "We were the earlier adopters of digital archives, AI tasks, RPA, and Document Management processes. All of them generate bigger productivity, better workload balance, and higher add value to our clients," Pedro said, "especially considering that Portugal went through an incredible business transformation in the last 10 years on innovative business models and strategies."

He continued, "The fact that we have more and more foreign investment, it supported new ways and visions to do business. The country also invested intensively in the last decades in education. The Portuguese young generations are quiet entrepreneurs with innovative spirits. This trend pushed companies to follow the wave to retain talent as well as keep developing new tactics. Taxlibris is investing a lot of time and resources in this job. Due to the low average age of our Team (30 years old), we are challenged to keep going."

According to Pedro, although many layers of business support developed significantly in the last decade, the country still has a complex regulatory, legal, tax, and compliance framework. He said, "It is therefore essential to be duly supported by expert local consultants if you want to have a soft landing. At Taxlibris, we are committed to guaranteeing it to our Corporate clients and giving them peace of mind in the compliance environment."

Overall, Pedro maintains that there is no such thing as a shortcut. Any new market or new product will challenge us all to do better, and accounting services are not exempt from this trend. In closing, Pedro said, "Never give up! You need to have the right people around you. Maybe that is your team or external staff, but they need to be positive and good people." 

Don't miss this exciting opportunity to explore and connect! Registration for the event is open here with further details about the conference and timetables for each panel. We very much look forward to seeing you all in Dublin! The conference is open to IPBN members and non-members and is free of charge.

For any questions or further information, please contact Arnold Delville, IPBN General Manager, at arnold.delville@ireland-portugal.com.