In Case You Missed It: UANI's Accounting Campaign Covered by the Financial Times, Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal

In Case You Missed It: UANI's Accounting Campaign Covered by the Financial Times, Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal FT: "Grant Thornton and Two Other Accounting Firms are Pulling Out of Iran, Creating Further Difficulties For Foreign Companies Still Operating In The Country"     Three Accounting Firms Pull Out Of Iran By Geoff Dyer Financial Times April 26, 2013 Grant Thornton and two other accounting firms are pulling out of Iran, creating further difficulties for foreign companies still operating in the country. RSM, a UK-based firm, and Crowe Horwath of the US have joined Grant Thornton, one of the second-tier international accountancy firms, in leaving Iran after coming under US political pressure. The firms are the latest in a long list of international businesses which have left Iran in recent years amid strict economic sanctions that have been imposed on Tehran in an effort to influence its nuclear programme. For the campaigners who are trying to squeeze the Iranian economy, internationally-respected auditors are an important target because they provide the sort of independent scrutiny that some multinationals require in order to maintain operations in foreign countries. The "big four" accounting firms pulled out of Iran in 2010. "It sends an important message when accountancy firms decide that it is too risky to do business in Iran," said Mark Wallace, the head of United Against Nuclear Iran, a lobby group. "Without respected auditors, it makes it much harder for other international companies to continue doing business there." Grant Thornton, the UK-based firm, said that it was terminating its relationship with Rymand & Co, an Iranian accounting firm, and said it would not conduct further business in Iran. RSM said it would cease working with Dayarayan Auditing & Financial Services, while Crowe Horwath said it would cut ties with Hoshiyar/Behmand & Co. ... Click here to read the full article. McGladrey's accounting network will drop Iranian firm By Jim Hammerand Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal April 26, 2013 Advocacy group United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) said it has succeeded in getting global accounting firm network RSM International to cut ties with an Iranian firm. ... UANI said RSM agreed to end its relationship with Dayarayan Auditing & Financial Services Firm in Tehran as of April 30. Chicago-based McGladrey, formerly headquartered in Minneapolis, is RSM's only member firm in the United States. UANI CEO Mark Wallace, a former ambassador to the United Nations, asked RSM and McGladrey to sever the network's relationship with Dayarayan in March. He applauded RSM's decision Friday. "If Iran is too risky for the world's leading accounting firms, then all businesses have a duty to disclose any and all Iran work to shareholders, investors, and regulators - and make plans to leave. Anything less is irresponsible and a failure to disclose material information under relevant law," Wallace said in a news release. ... The campaign also targeted Chicago-based Grant Thornton, which has an office in Minneapolis. Grant Thornton likewise agreed to stop doing business with an Iranian firm, UANI said. UANI has previously led campaigns to get companies such as General Electric Co., Caterpillar Inc. and makers of construction cranes to cease business operations in Iran, as a way of pressuring the regime there into changing its nuclear program. Click here to read the full article. Click here to learn more about UANI's Accounting Campaign. ###  United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) is a program of the American Coalition Against Nuclear Iran, Inc., a tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. The prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran should concern every American and be unacceptable to the community of nations. Since 1979 the Iranian regime, most recently under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's leadership, has demonstrated increasingly threatening behavior and rhetoric toward the US and the West. Iran continues to defy the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the United Nations in their attempts to monitor its nuclear activities. A number of Arab states have warned that Iran's development of nuclear weapons poses a threat to Middle East stability and could provoke a regional nuclear arms race. In short, the prospect of a nuclear armed Iran is a danger to world peace. United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) is a non-partisan, broad-based coalition that is united in a commitment to prevent Iran from fulfilling its ambition to become a regional super-power possessing nuclear weapons.  UANI is an issue-based coalition in which each coalition member will have its own interests as well as the collective goal of advancing an Iran free of nuclear weapons. The Objectives of United Against a Nuclear Iran Inform the public about the nature of the Iranian regime, including its desire and intent to possess nuclear weapons, as well as Iran's role as a state sponsor of global terrorism, and a major violator of human rights at home and abroad; Heighten awareness nationally and internationally about the danger that a nuclear armed Iran poses to the region and the world; Mobilize public support, utilize media outreach, and persuade our elected leaders to voice a robust and united American opposition to a nuclear Iran; Lay the groundwork for effective US policies in coordination with European and other allies; Persuade the regime in Tehran to desist from its quest for nuclear weapons, while striving not to punish the Iranian people, and; Promote efforts that focus on vigorous national and international, social, economic, political and diplomatic measures. UANI is led by an advisory board of outstanding national figures representing all sectors of our country.

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