The Atlantic’s "Next America: Higher Education" project recently highlighted IIE’s Generation Study Abroad, a five-year initiative to mobilize resources and commitments with the goal of doubling the number of U.S. students studying abroad to 6000,000 by the end of the decade.  "Right now, only around 10 percent of American college students study abroad. While people of color make up about 40 percent of each graduating class, they comprise just a quarter of those who go abroad. The numbers are especially...

Read more

On 17 May 2016, the Council of Europe formally adopted the Network and Information Security (NIS) Directive, a Commission proposal in response to increasing concerns about cyber-attacks and privacy breaches. Agreed by Member States on 18 December 2015, the Directive aims to ensure a higher common threshold of cybersecurity across the EU through three main measures: • Enhancing Member States' national cybersecurity capabilities by requiring Member States to define cyber-security strategic objectives and regulatory measures; • Creating a "Cooperation Group" to support...

Read more

Risk resiliency + risk agility = enduring success in PwC's 2016 Risk in review study. We live in turbulent times. Companies across industries have faced an unprecedented confluence of risks. It's no wonder that in PwC’s 19th Annual Global CEO study, 66% of CEOs saw more threats to their business than opportunities. To remain competitive, companies must pursue two parallel strategies: 1. Building agile and flexible risk management frameworks that can anticipate and prepare for the shifts that bring long-term success and 2. Building the resiliency that will enable those frameworks...

Read more

Property consists of two basic types - tangible and intangible. Intangible property is exempt in some US states, while almost all tangible property is taxable. Some states exempt all intangibles, while others exempt only certain parts of intangible property. In either case, the tax savings can be substantial. If you do business in a state that exempts intangibles, that value can reduce your tax burden. It is well worth the time to find out what is and what isn’t taxable...

Read more

The EU Economic and Financial Affairs Council (“Ecofin”) was expected to adopt the so-called EU Anti Tax Avoidance Directive (the “ATAD”) during its meeting held on 25 May 2016.  However, due to disagreements among the delegations of the EU Member States on certain measures included in the proposed ATAD, the aim of the meeting was no longer to adopt it, but to resolve the remaining political issues regarding the measures included therein and to agree on a general approach...

Read more