FRALLA
Sophisticated Tax and Accounting Advice Made Accessible

Mexico’s complex tax, accounting and regulatory environment presents significant challenges for small and mid-sized businesses. The professional firms best equipped to help navigate these demands often prioritize larger corporate accounts, leaving smaller businesses with limited access to comprehensive advice.

FRALLA was established to close that gap, bringing the depth of expertise associated with larger firms to businesses seeking responsive, tailored advice at a more accessible cost.

“We explain complex tax issues using simple examples so clients understand how each decision affects their business and can make better choices,” says Jorge Manzanilla, partner.

That approach helps bridge the gap between technical expertise and business decision-making, particularly for owners and non-finance professionals who must act on complex financial information.

Building Advisory Capabilities on a Compliance Foundation

Before establishing FRALLA, Manzanilla and Javier González Franco spent approximately 15 and 12 years, respectively, at Chevez Ruiz Zamarripa, a leading Mexican tax and legal firm. Their experience revealed that smaller businesses needed sophisticated advice but often lacked timely, cost-effective access to it.

What started with six professionals has grown into a 40-plusperson multidisciplinary team of accountants, lawyers and economists, expanding the firm’s ability to support increasingly complex client needs.

FRALLA initially focused on tax and accounting compliance, helping businesses meet their monthly and annual obligations and maintain accurate books. As clients' needs became more complex, the firm expanded into tax and business advisory, wealth management, transfer pricing, disputes and litigation.

Its broader capabilities also include forensic accounting, where the team examines financial records for potential bribery, fund diversion or manipulation. The work can help company leaders and financial teams establish what happened and determine the appropriate response.

Integrated Expertise for Growing Businesses

For international companies entering Mexico, FRALLA provides a ‘soft landing.’ It helps overseas teams understand local requirements before establishing the entity, securing tax registration and banking arrangements, and putting accounting and compliance processes in place.

Its client base spans sectors including hospitality, restaurants, retail and real estate development, alongside Mexican companies and foreign businesses operating in the country. This experience gives the firm a perspective on the distinct financial and regulatory demands of different operating models.

The firm begins by understanding the project with overseas teams or shareholders, then defining services, costs and deliverables before implementation. Since 2018, it has helped around 40 companies establish operations in Mexico and continues supporting them through accounting, tax filings and compliance.

The model is particularly valuable in complex transactions. In one cross-border share transfer, FRALLA reviewed the cost basis of the shares, prepared the required statutory tax report and assessed treaty and withholding-tax treatment, helping the client reduce their tax burden while remaining compliant.

FRALLA also extends its multidisciplinary expertise through alliances with major Mexican law firms that lack accounting capabilities. By adding tax, accounting and numerical expertise to legal engagements, it helps them provide clients with more comprehensive support while expanding its role beyond compliance.

For FRALLA, trust extends beyond technical expertise. Manzanilla attributes the firm’s client confidence to responsibility, honesty, kindness, and consistently delivering on time and within agreed costs.

Preparing Businesses for What's Next

As regulatory requirements evolve, FRALLA is implementing AI-enabled software to accelerate accounting, tax and compliance work while helping professionals produce clearer client communications and tax memoranda.

Looking ahead, FRALLA is building the people, capabilities and relationships that can expand its scope of work while preserving the relationships that underpin client retention and referrals. Its focus on developing future partners, anticipating emerging needs and using technology points to a model where accessibility does not come at the expense of expertise.

For FRALLA, meaningful advisory remains rooted in the principle that shaped its founding, giving growing businesses access to sophisticated expertise, practical guidance and responsive support as their needs evolve.