Fact File  

• Official name – Republic of Hungary
• Population – 10,037,637
• Official Language - Hungarian
• Currency – Forint (HUF)
• Capital city – Budapest
• GDP Per Capita – purchasing power parity $19,000

Formerly communist Hungary is one of the ten Eastern European countries that acceded to the European Union on 1 May 2004. Hungary is a landlocked state with many neighbours – Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia and Austria. It is mostly flat, with low mountains in the north. Lake Balaton, a popular tourist centre, is the largest lake in central Europe.

The ancestors of ethnic Hungarians were the Magyar tribes, who moved into the Carpathian Basin in 896, conquering the people already in the region. Hungary became a Christian kingdom under St Stephen in the year 1000. Hungary has played an important role as part of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire under the Habsburgs.

The Hungarian language is unlike the other neighbouring languages and is only distantly related to Finnish and Estonian. It is a member of the Finno-Ugric family of languages, unrelated to the Indo-European language family, which contains the major European languages. Hungarians list their surnames first.

The capital city, Budapest, which originally was two separate cities: Buda and Pest, straddles the River Danube. It is rich in history and culture and famed for its curative springs.

The country‘s main manufactured exports include machinery and transport equipment, foodstuffs and chemicals. Hungary is a highly musical country whose traditional folk music inspired its great composers such as Liszt, Bartók and Kodály.

Author: Tamás Bajor, Vienna Consult Kft., www.viennaconsult.hu

Doing business abroad always requires knowledge of the country, its people and their culture. In this article we focus on the geographic decentralisation of German industry and on football.

Germany’s main partners in the European Union France and Great Britain are politically and economically highly centralized. Paris and London are the centre of political and business life in their respective states. Germany in contrast is highly diversified. The reason has its roots in German history and especially the division into two states after World War II.

Germany is a federal state with 16 different states. The largest states are North Rhine-Westphalia and Bavaria with together over 35% of Germany’s population. The smallest are the capital Berlin and the old Hanseatic city-states of Hamburg and Bremen. The influence of the states on domestic politics is relatively strong. Consequently the federal parliament consists of two chambers. The Bundestag is elected through direct elections. The members of the Bundesrat represent the governments of the 16 federal states.

German industry is not centralised at all. Chemical industries are based predominantly in the west of Germany (Ludwigshafen/Leverkusen). Car industry is situated mainly in the south (Stuttgart/Munich) and in the northern town of Wolfsburg (Volkswagen). The biggest harbours are situated in the north of the country. Hamburg is the second biggest sea port in Europe and a big logistic hub. The centre of the fashion industry is Düsseldorf. The financial centre with headquarters of most German banks and of the European Central Bank is Frankfurt. Media and IT industries concentrate in Berlin and Hamburg. Foreign managers and business people should investigate the optimal location for their business plans before coming to Germany.

What does football (for Americans: soccer) have to do with business? Nothing, but it helps if you know whether your future business partner is a football supporter and which team he follows. Football is the biggest sport in Germany. The majority of male population in Germany follow the game. And the number of female supporters is growing.

The most successful club comes from Munich (Bayern). Main contenders in recent years were Werder (Bremen), HSV (Hamburg), Borussia (Dortmund), Schalke (Gelsenkirchen), Bayer (Leverkusen) and VfB (Stuttgart). And the Germans have a lot of pride in their national team.

It is always helpful if you ask the secretary of German partners you intend to meet whether his or her boss likes football and which team he follows. This knowledge might ease communication at an initial meeting. And if your German partner invites you to a game of his local football team you should not refuse this invitation even if the temperature is below zero. He will be honoured by your presence.

Author: Peter Scheller, Somann & Scheller, www.somannscheller.de

This is the first post from IAPA. In the future there will be blog-like information in this section. Everything around our claim “Audit, Tax and Accounting in Europe. And worldwide.”

You will find posts from Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

The information comes from dozens of Chartered Accountants and Tax Advisers from numerous European IAPA members. Have fun with their posts. Comments are deactivated but, please, feel free to contact any individual author or other member of IAPA for questions or further assistance.