Mark Earley

Mark Earley is President of the Tecma Group of Companies. He has worked in Mexico operations for over 26 years in various areas of responsibilities allowing him to become a Mexico accounting expert, as well as well-versed in the country’s Customs as it pertains to the maquiladora industry and NAFTA. He is bilingual and bi-cultural. This gives him the ability to deal directly with Mexican governmental agencies and external consultants in Spanish or English. Through his extensive stays and living in Mexico, he has gained a broad understanding of the various geographic regions, and the relative strengths of each.

Mark has gained a wealth of Knowledge in international accounting as it pertains to the United States and Mexico through working in the maquiladora business. As a Mexico accounting expert, he has established and worked in a variety of entity structures and knows the do’s and dont’s of running accounting for a Mexican operation. He has expertise in managing Mexican Accounting from the U.S. Parent and the Mexican Operational sides.

His belief is that, “Structuring the accounting function and internal controls at the outset is vital, as it sets the stage for compliance with internal and external organizations. In dealing with an international operation, the number of requirements and agencies drastically increases as product, technology and money is moved across international lines.”

Mark’s Mexican tax experience includes planning, accounting and preparation. He has been involved with numerous legal and tax structure setups to take full advantage of legislation, programs and regimes in the U.S. and Mexico. His focus has been on overall multi-country income tax and the interaction required between international entities. He has provided council regarding the alternative cash flow flat tax (IETU) in Mexico, and has been involved from the institutional Mexico business development phase to ensure that tax matters are considered when making the decision to move south of the U.S. border.

Earley stresses that, “It is not only important to understand the tax implications of Mexico, but the consolidate effect on the foreign Parent entity”. Legal and tax structures, billing entity, custom treaties, transfer price, different tax rates, etc all come into play when determine how to structure the Mexican operation. As tax is dynamic, especially in Mexico, annual tax planning is required to ensure that the legally minimal taxes are being paid overall”.

Mark began to develop an expertise in Mexican Customs in the mid 1980’s. His proficiency extends from fiscal responsibility to materials management. His knowledge of Business Enterprise Resource Planning systems and related MRP sub-systems is beneficial is setting up logistics to and from the Mexican operation, taking into consideration the added complexity of cross-border movements. He has been involved throughout his career in utilizing favorable regimes and programs to eliminate and/or reduce duties and expedite shipments through the border.

Mark points out that, “The NAFTA allows more products to qualify for favorable duty treatment, but drastically increases logistic administrative cost of compliance. With NAFTA, the cost of failure to follow customs requirements moved from a revenue loss to non-compliance base, with compliance being required at the time of shipment with no reconciliation process available to correct difference.”

As an individual who is a Mexico accounting expert, and is knowledgeable in Mexican Customs issues and tax implications of the NAFTA, Mark is a valuable asset to the Tecma team and to the clients it supports.