Resident Group Finance — Panama
A registered office is not a headquarters. We make it one.
Under SEM — and Law 526 from 2027 — a Panama seat holds only if genuinely run. We are the resident finance function that makes it real.
01 The Problem
A Panama headquarters now has to prove it’s real.
Without real substance, the seat doesn’t hold.
02 The Gap
A licence is not a finance function. A registered agent is not substance.
Law firms file the licence.
Accountants keep the books.
A resident agent signs.
No one runs the group’s finance.
ARXA becomes that function.
Our Position
A structure you can’t stand behind is a liability. A company genuinely run is an asset — and that is our work.
03 The Answer
What a genuinely run headquarters looks like.
This is the finance function we run — on the ground, in Panama.
Qualified finance people, resident
Real capacity on the ground.
Decisions taken and minuted here
Governance with a documented trail.
Consolidation produced locally
The numbers made here, not imported.
Board-ready reporting and controls
A managed group, evidenced.
Presence proportionate to activity
Real, adequate, defensible.
One accountable finance owner
A function, not a filing.
04 Readiness Review
Know exactly where your substance stands — in three weeks.
A fixed-scope engagement that tells you, on the facts, where you stand.
Finance function assessed against SEM and Law 526.
Consolidation and treasury reviewed.
Headcount and operating-spend adequacy tested.
Board-ready gap analysis and 90-day roadmap.
Fixed scope · two to three weeks.
Board pack
Group — monthly summary
ARXA
Confidential
- Consolidated revenue
- $48.0M +6%
- EBITDA
- $10.1M +4%
- Operating cash flow
- $7.4M +9%
- Net debt
- $24.2M −3%
Agenda
- 01 Group performance
- 02 Treasury & covenants
- 03 Financing pipeline
- 04 Risks & controls
Illustrative — figures indicative.
05 Services
A resident finance office — and the mandates that matter.
Group KPI dashboard
Q2 · consolidated
Group revenue · LTM
$48.0M
EBITDA margin
21%
Net leverage
2.4×
Cash conversion
92%
Revenue by entity
Illustrative — figures indicative.
The Office
- Group reporting & consolidated statements
- FP&A, budget & forecast
- Cash-flow & treasury
- Banking relationships
- KPI dashboards
- Board packages
- Weekly / monthly CFO cadence
- Financial strategy
Recurring and resident — produced from Panama.
Mandates
- Substance & finance readiness
- Valuation
- Financial due diligence
- Debt raising & bank financing
- M&A support
- Post-merger integration
- Financial modelling
- Investor & lender reporting
Scoped and priced per engagement.
Reporting fluency
Fluent in every standard your group reports under.
Cross-border groups rarely live under one standard. ARXA consolidates across all four — from Panama.
Consolidation — revenue ($M)
Group view
Illustrative — figures indicative.
06 Who we serve
For headquarters that have to be real.
SEM & EMMA licensees
Headquarters that must be staffed and run in Panama.
Groups facing Law 526
Preparing for the FY2027 substance tests.
Panama-HQ operating groups
Real Latin-American operations, run from Panama.
PE funds & family offices
Portfolio finance and oversight for Panama holdings.
07 The Principal
On the ground, at the level the structure requires.
Led by a finance executive from a Big Four audit practice and one of Europe’s largest restructuring funds. Reporting, FP&A, M&A, due diligence, valuation and debt — group consolidation a specialty. Resident in Panama.
Resident in Panama · English · Spanish · French
Questions
Answered plainly.
01 What is Law 526, and when does it apply?
Panama’s 2026 economic-substance law for multinational groups’ foreign-source passive income. Its substance tests apply from fiscal year 2027, alongside the existing SEM staffing and operating-expenditure requirements.
02 Does an outsourced finance office count as substance?
It provides qualified, resident finance capacity and decisions taken and documented in Panama — core elements of substance. Whether your group’s overall position is sufficient turns on its full facts, determined with your counsel. We provide the finance reality, not a tax opinion.
03 Do you replace our law firm or accountants?
No. They file the licence and keep the books. ARXA runs the group finance function above them — consolidation, reporting, decisions and controls — and works alongside both.
04 Isn’t a resident agent or local director enough?
A nominee is not qualified personnel, and a signature is not a decision genuinely taken in Panama — which is what the tests examine. ARXA provides real finance capacity and a documented decision trail, in-country.
05 Do you guarantee we keep the SEM 5% rate?
No. ARXA makes the operating and finance reality real and documented; tax treatment is your counsel’s domain. We give your advisors a genuinely managed group — and the evidence of it.
06 Can you work in Spanish?
Yes. Engagements run in English, Spanish or French — including direct dialogue with each subsidiary’s controller in their own language.
Contact
Request a confidential readiness call.
Tell us about your structure. We reply personally, in confidence.