Impact of VAT on businesses:

Pierre Arman

MARKET DEVELOPMENT LEAD FOR TAX AND ACCOUNTING, MENA, THOMSON REUTERS

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Pierre Arman is the Market Development Lead for Tax & Accounting at Thomson Reuters, and is responsible for the strategy and product management of all Tax & Accounting and Global Trade Management solutions in the MENA region.

Pierre’s main responsibility is to drive market and product development in the region whilst defining and implementing the regional product localisation strategy. An experienced consultant in the tax technology consulting field, Pierre has been involved in global tax technology projects, spanning over 127 countries both in implementation and project management.

Prior to joining Thomson Reuters, Pierre’s worked for an Actuarial Consulting firm where he focused on optimizing the tax position of HNWI and UHNWI’s pension arrangements between Monaco and London.

Pierre holds a Master’s Degree in International Business, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting and Finance. In addition, Pierre is a Business Lecturer in Strategic Change Management for the MBA Program at Cornerstone College in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Lindsay Degouve De Nuncques

Head of ACCA – Middle East

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As Head of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) in the Middle East Lindsay has responsibility for leading the operations in 11 countries. Representing more than 15,000 students, affiliates and members across the region, who work in all sectors and all levels of business across the Middle East.

Lindsay is responsible for growing the understanding of the value that professionally qualified ACCA accountants bring to businesses and economies in the region. Managing and building relationships with regulators, business leaders and strategic partners she works with the network of members to influence debate on key issues that impact the ongoing economic development of the region. Lindsay also works with educational institutions and government bodies to encourage new generations to undertake a career in accountancy and finance.

Lindsay has spent more than ten years with ACCA. She previously had responsibility for ACCA operations in the UAE. Prior to moving to the Emirates Lindsay was Head of Strategy Implementation in ACCA’s corporate headquarters in London, responsible for devising the future global strategy for the whole organisation, ensuring that ACCA remains the leading global professional accountancy body.

Lindsay has also worked at the UK regulator responsible for promoting high quality corporate governance, the Financial Reporting Council, and studied at the London School of Economics. She lives in Dubai with her husband and two young sons.

Chas Roy-Chowdhury

Head of Taxation, ACCA

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Chas Roy-Chowdhury is Head of Taxation at ACCA. He has a degree in Applied Economics as well as being a fellow of ACCA. He worked in public practice before he joined ACCA.

He is Chair of the Taxation Working Group of the small business organisation UEAPME and has been a member of the Indirect and Direct Tax Working Parties at Accountancy Europe - the umbrella group for "first tier" European accountants.

He is a member of the two high level vat expert groups set up by the European Commission as well as the direct tax good governance platform on which he is a highly effective and well respected member. Who puts forward views to balance those purely from a specific point of view from the NGO or business community.

He is secretary to the ACCA Taxation Committee and is in regular contact with many international organisations and Government departments around the world such as the OECD, European Commission, HM Treasury and HM Revenue and Customs through formal committees and ad hoc meetings, as well as globally. In addition there is an ongoing commitment to putting across the message on key tax issues to the broader public and opinion formers via the media. To this end there have been regular appearances across the full range of local, national and international television and radio stations as well as wide coverage in both local, regional and national newspapers.

He has made presentations on key international tax issues to the European Parliament and International conference venues. Including round tables and conferences on environmental taxes as well as lectured for ACCA on its courses and for its tax exams in China. He has been asked to present as a keynote speaker at the Global environmental Tax Conferences in Singapore, Bangkok, Canada and Australia as well as to lead the debate in the area of environmental taxes in China in 2011, 2012 and 2014. There have been numerous presentations on the UK GAAR and OECD tax work.

He has also made presentations on Money Laundering and Ethics in, Guyana, Trinidad, Barbados, Romania, Zambia and Pakistan.

He has given evidence on a regular basis before UK parliamentary select committees usually on the Finance Bill but also on other aspects of taxation such as the creation of H.M. Revenue and Customs and closing the tax gap.

He has been a part of the consultation process for the Common Consolidated Corporation Tax Base (CCCTB) and the VAT Group by the EU Commission.

Arif Mirza

Regional Head of Public Policy, ACCA

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Arif is currently leading the Policy agenda for ACCA across the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia. Arif is a non-executive director of FINCA microfinance bank ltd. where he chairs the Audit Committee and was the SECP nominee to the board of the Institute of Capital Markets (2013-2016).

Arif has an extensive and an exemplary reputation as an advocate of robust corporate governance. He has recently contributed to the book the Corporate Governance Landscape of Pakistan published by Oxford. Arif is also currently a member of the Advisory Committee, Global Reporting Initiative GRI South Asia and a member of the GRI/UNDG South Asia SDG agenda 2030 Multi-stakeholder Steering Committee (MSC). Arif was Technical Advisor on the IFAC Professional Accountancy Organisation Development Committee (PAODC 2012-2015) and recently appointed on the Editorial Board of ACCA’s Accountancy Futures international journal. He is a Fellow Chartered Certified Accountant and a Economics graduate from the University of West London.

Ahmad Darwish

Vice Chairman and CEO of Dubai Office, Accountants and Auditors Association

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Ahmad Darwish is a finance professional who always strives to achieve first place as inspired by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

Ahmad is actively involved in developing the accounting profession in UAE where he is currently the Vice Chairman and CEO of Accountants & Auditors Association Dubai office. He is also leading the VAT implementation in DP World UAE Region, World Security, Dubai Trade & JAFZA.

Ahmad Leads the 100 Emaratis Initiative which is Launched by Accountants & Auditors Association to enable 100 Emirati to become qualified Chartered Accountants by 2021

Ahmad is the First Chartered Accountant to hold UAE Chartered Accountant qualification from Association of Accountants and Auditors. He is also Chartered Certified Accountant from the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, UK (ACCA).

Ahmad brings wealth of knowledge and international expertise in Finance, Tax, Accounting and Advisory roles. Ahmad was the first Chairman of ACCA UAE members Advisory Committee where he was advising ACCA’s Council, the Chief Executive and the Head of Middle East on matters relating to strategic development; current and future issues affecting ACCA Members; technical issues and consultative documents. He was the first Emirati to represent UAE in ACCA’s International Assembly meeting in London when he was Chairman of ACCA UAE members Advisory Committee.

Ahmad was involved in significant debt- restructuring projects at Dubai World as part of his role as group planning and financial analysis manager.

In the early 2000s, Ahmad joined the board of directors and played a part as a member of the web development team for the Emirates Internet Association (EIA) in Dubai – a not-for-profit organization established by Dubai Internet City in 2000, which was chaired by His Highness Sheikh Maktoum Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai.

Sana Azam

VAT Director, EY

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Sana joined Ernst and Young, Middle East in 2016 and has been assisting clients prepare for the forthcoming introduction of VAT in the GCC.

Prior to this, Sana worked as a VAT advisor in the UK for 8 years. Her professional experience includes:

- Preparation of VAT Impact Assessment reports for UAE and KSA businesses in a range of sectors from real estate, real estate related services, automotive, retail, etc.

- Ongoing VAT implementation support for UAE and KSA businesses including, but not limited to, workshops and interviews, awareness sessions, cash flow forecasting and modelling, advice on VAT grouping and structuring, transaction mapping, review of contracts, preparation of process maps, etc.

Ashfaque Patel

General Manager of Tax, Al Futtaim Group

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Ash is a fully qualified member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA, UK), Accountants and Auditors Association (AAA, UAE) and Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment (CISI, UK) with over 17 years of Tax experience comprising ten years of International Tax experience in Dubai and seven years of Corporate Tax and Personal Tax experience in a Tax Practice in London.

During his career, Ash has had the opportunity to interact with the Tax Authorities as well as Finance Ministries in more than 30 Countries. He has been involved in the initial set up of the Tax Department at the last three Companies he has worked for (Dubai World, Investment Corporation of Dubai and the Al-Futtaim Group) in the UAE. Ash has been involved in a number of projects involving strategic development and financial restructuring of Companies across the Globe.

Ash is currently the General Manager of Tax at the Al-Futtaim Group supporting the Group in managing and executing group wide tax initiatives, tax strategies, and tax policies.

Robert F.J. van der Klauw

Regional CFO, Middle East & Africa, MetLife

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Robert van der Klauw (The Netherlands, 1968) is MetLife’s Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for the Middle East and Africa since April 2013. In this role he is responsible for financial management for MetLife’s life and health insurance business spanning ten countries in the region.

Prior to joining MetLife, Robert was Chief Financial Officer for ING’s corporate and retail banking activities in Italy. Previously, Robert has held finance leadership positions with ING in banking and insurance in Romania, South Korea and Japan.

Robert holds a master’s degree in Econometrics and Operations Research from the VU University in Amsterdam and a master’s degree in Actuarial Science from the University of Amsterdam. He is a chartered certified accountant and a qualified actuary.

Robert speaks Dutch, German, and English, and is conversant in Italian. He is married with two children.

Jignesh Sanghvi

CFO, DMCC

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With over 17 years of industry experience across the APA and EMEA regions, Russia and China, today, Jignesh is responsible for financial strategy at DMCC, with a core objective to cement DMCC’s position as the global hub for commodities trade and enterprise.

His passion for strategic planning, strong financial leadership combined with maintaining the highest level of corporate governance are key drivers to Jignesh’s career advancement which also led to his CFO of the Year 2015 and 2016 - Government Sector Award.

Jignesh is a firm believer in continuous reinvention to stay ahead of the curve, and has been instrumental in DMCC’s growth and innovation story – from successfully navigating through choppy waters during the global recession – to more recently digitalising the business to ensure DMCC’s employees and customers can operate as efficiently as possible.

Graduating with a bachelor’s degree in commerce from Gujarat University, Jignesh is a registered chartered accountant in India, United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates. He also received his postgraduate diploma in business administration with a specialisation in finance from Symbiosis, India.

He is a board member of the Dubai Gold & Commodity Exchange (DGCX), region fastest growing Commodity exchange and Concordia DMCC, integrated Facilities management company.

Jignesh also serves as a member on the ACCA Member Advisory Committee and MECA CFO Steering Committee.

Thomas Vanhee

Partner, Aurifer

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Thomas is a founding partner at Aurifer Middle East Tax Consulting. He moved to the Gulf in the beginning of 2017 and has since advised different GCC governments on the pending introduction of VAT. He is currently assisting GCC businesses with getting ready for the implementation of VAT.

In Thomas’s tax career spanning more than a decade, prior to coming to the Gulf, he has worked at tier 1 tax law firms in Brussels and Paris. He provides high quality and innovative tax advice to clients and has been involved in several high profile deals and has worked for blue chip and quoted companies and institutions in various sectors including financial sector, real estate sector, retail, manufacturing and the public sector. In recent years he was heavily involved in European tax policy projects, as well as in projects with several European governments.

Thomas teaches VAT in the first Tax LL.M in the Gulf at Paris Sorbonne Abu Dhabi. He also joined his former university, the renowned Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management, in teaching an introductory course on tax law to master students. He publishes regularly in international books and tax technical magazines and is a regular speaker at international events.

Thomas holds a law degree of the Catholic University of Leuven (cum laude) and a Tax Master’s degree of Solvay Business School (magna cum laude). He is hands-on, proactive and combines an extensive technical skill set with a sound understanding of what makes businesses tick.