Biography:

Mark Baycroft is a Partner at haysmacintyre focusing on Taxation for Owner Managed Businesses and Property Taxes, including capital gains, SDLT & ATED. He is a member of the CIOT, the ATT and the ICAEW. Mark has spent over 20 years at top 25 accountancy firms advising Owner Managed Businesses, but he enjoys creative thinking around challenging technical problems in any area of tax, particularly where multiple taxes are involved. He contributes to Tolley's Tax Planning.

Biography:

Florentina Susnea is a PKF Finconta partner, with over 26 years of experience in the tax field, collaborating with a large number of clients in various fields of activity.

Her professional experience includes: statutory audit and IFRS, tax consulting, tax residency issues, financial and tax restructuring, documentation and Transfer Pricing policies, mergers and divisions, judicial, accounting and tax expertise, procurement due diligence.

She collaborates with other members of PKF International Limited companies to provide a more holistic approach to advising on cross-border customer taxation.

She is an accredited member of the following professional organizations: Chamber of Fiscal Consultants, Chamber of Financial Auditors of Romania, Chamber of Experts and Certified Accountants of Romania.

She also has a PhD in economics and has attended numerous national and international courses in the field of taxation.

Biography:

Rochmat has a wide range of experience of tax and business advisory services, including setting-up a company,  tax compliance, tax advisory, tax litigation, tax due diligence, global mobility tax services and accounting services, and also acting as both an independent director and liquidator. He is the author of the Indonesia country guide in Tolley's Global Mobility/Employment Taxes source.

Biography:

Ventsislav (Venzi) Vassilev is the Senior Strategist and founder of PKF Bulgaria and has a strong background and experience in the accountancy and tax consultancy sector. Mr Vassilev is a graduate of the University of Bristol in the UK in Economics and Accounting and started his career with Arthur Andersen & Co in the early 90s. Then in 1995 he founded Rex Consulting - a fast growing group of consultancy companies in Bulgaria which in 2014  joined the network of PKF International.

Venzi Vassilev has extensive experience in consulting and assisting foreign investors in Bulgaria. He leads a team of multilingual professional accountants, lawyers, financiers, business experts and administrative assistants. Under his leadership the team has created a company culture of a welcoming and informal atmosphere which is combined with a strong commitment to the client's business.

Currently PKF Bulgaria and the Rex Consulting group of companies have four offices in Bulgaria (Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna and Bansko); all of the offices are registered as separate entities. Rex Consulting Ltd also has a subsidiary in London  that specializes in asset management.

Mr Vassilev has been retired from his CEO position  since 2019 and remains the chairman of the supervisory board of the Rex Consulting Group. He continues to advise the firm's key clients on various strategic investment and financial issues.

Biography:

Heleen Broer is specialising in Dutch and international tax law, Heleen focuses on mergers and acquisitions, private equity transactions, and corporate reorganisations. She advises a wide range of private clients, including listed, Dutch, international and multinational companies, on a broad range of complex cross-border tax matters, including value added tax and wage tax matters.

Biography:

Neil has worked in VAT for 33 years. He spent 14 years as an inspector in HM Customs and Excise before setting up his own tax and accounting practice in 1997. He provides VAT consultancy advice for a range of chartered accountants in the south-east of England and also writes extensively on VAT for most of the leading tax publications in the UK, including Taxation and Tax Adviser. He has liaised closely with HMRC on many policy matters, particularly relating to the flat rate scheme, and is a member of the VAT technical committee of the ATT.

Neil won the Taxation Awards Tax Writer of the Year in 2008, having been shortlisted the previous year. He is a fellow member of both the CIOT and AAT and also a member of the ATT. He was on the national CPD speaking circuit for eight years until his retirement in 2014.

Biography:

Rebecca is a Chartered Accountant in practice, but is best known as a lecturer and author on a variety of tax matters.

She was named Best Tax Lecturer at the Taxation awards in 2007, and is widely recognised for her down to earth, practical approach to tax issues.

She lectures for a wide range of training providers and professional firms and has delivered lectures for HMRC and HM Treasury on the impact of tax changes for smaller businesses.

She serves on the Administrative Burdens Advisory Board which challenges HMRC on the subject of business burdens, and is currently Chair of the Digital Advisory Group which is supporting HMRC in understanding the needs of small businesses and their professional advisers in the move to digital.

She has won a number of awards, including HMRC's External engagement award in 2011 and was awarded an MBE in the Queen's birthday honours list in 2012 for public service and services to the tax profession.

Biography:

I am a US Corporate Tax and Global Mobility specialist with focus on US tax advisory and compliance for small and medium-sized businesses with US based offices and employees. I provide integrated US corporate and personal tax solutions to international businesses with US operations and their employees on short-term or long-term assignment in the US.

Biography:

Omar is working at the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) – a global Islamic finance standard setter, as its Secretary General. Previously he was Partner – Assurance & Head of Islamic Finance (Pakistan & Afghanistan) at Ernst & Young Ford Rhodes Sidat Hyder - A member firm of Ernst & Young. He is a Fellow member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP).

At AAOIFI, he is responsible primarily for leading the process of development of accounting, auditing, governance and ethics standards for the global Islamic finance industry, besides managing the overall affairs of the institution as the organization’s head.

Omar’s key areas of expertise include assurance and advisory services to Islamic financial institutions, including Islamic accounting advisory, audits, Shari’ah Audits, corporate finance advisory, structuring of Shari’ah compliant transactions, accountancy and financial reporting, Islamic finance training, financial modelling, risk management & development and review of manuals and systems.

His published books include:

1. Managing Finances - A Shariah Compliant Way;
2. Islamic Microfinance Bank: Working Model (in Urdu);
3. IFRS and Shari'ah based reporting: a conceptual study;
4. Textbook on Islamic finance and capital markets (for the Institute of Capital Markets, SECP – Pakistan);
5. AAOIFI’s *** program study texts (in the capacity of chief editor and reviewer) comprising 4 volumes on (i) Accounting and Financial Reporting; (ii) Shari'ah Standards and Shari'ah Governance; (iii) Audit, Assurance and Ethics; and (iv) Business and regulatory environment.

Omar is a member (ex-chairman) of ICAP's committee responsible for the development of Islamic financial accounting standards for Pakistan and also a member of the Insurance Committee leading the accounting regulations development for Takaful. He was a member of Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) Shari’ah Board and part of the committee for revision of Takaful Rules, besides being part of several committees and task forces of the State Bank of Pakistan. He was also an advisor to Saudi Organization for Certified Public Accountants (SOCPA) on Shari’ah issues concerning IFRS adoption.

He has contributed several articles in various newspapers and journals, and papers in conferences and is also a regular trainer and speaker on various forums on topics related to Islamic finance including forums like the State Bank of Pakistan, universities and professional bodies.

Biography:

Ian is a Director of PKF and is part of our specialist Taxation team in Sydney.

With 35 years of combined accounting and financial industry experience, Ian has been a Director specialising in Indirect Taxes at a big four firm, Asia Pacific Regional Indirect Tax Manager for a US multinational and the Chief Financial Officer at a funds management firm.

Ian specialises in Indirect Taxes including, GST, customs duty, payroll tax and employment taxes generally.

Ian works closely with his clients to assist in complying with Indirect Tax obligations in Australia and across the Asia Pacific.

Ian is a contributing author to the Australia country guide in Tolley’s Global VAT.

Biography:

Iuri is currently obtaining his degree in law from the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR) and has already been approved by the professional exam to practice law in Brazil.

The author has focused his studies on tax law since he was a third-year student, with emphasis in international tax law – having achieved an award as a Best Speaker at the Iberoamerican Tax Moot Court Competition. The Moot Court was held by the Iberoamerican Observatory for International Taxation and the Brazilian Institute of Tax Law.

Biography:

I'm an international tax and transfer pricing specialist, working with a wide range of clients across all aspects of international corporate taxes.

I joined Smith & Williamson as a graduate, and have experience ranging from fast growth FinTech companies, through to well established, global groups. I'm an active member within the Nexia International network, assisting multinationals with cross-border structuring, transactions, financing and transfer pricing.

Biography:

Emily is a senior tax manager in ForrestBrown’s advisory team and is qualified as both a chartered accountant and chartered tax adviser. She advises businesses on R&D tax law, claim methodologies and tax disputes. Her work includes supporting clients across all forms of R&D tax relief enquiry, as well as wider advisory engagements, including EPW/subcontractor analysis, claim reviews and R&D workshops.

Biography:

Kim is a director in BDO’s Real Estate and Construction Group and one of the firm's UK-REIT specialists. She has led a number of groups through the UK-REIT conversion process as well as being an ongoing adviser to a number of UK-REITs.

Kim has over 17 years’ experience in taxation including a secondment to the British Property Federation. Aside from her REIT experience, Kim has other clients in the property sector: investors, developers (including residential developers) and funds. Kim is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Taxation.

Biography:

Rob - CTA (Fellow) - is a cross-tax advisor with a particular focus on property tax planning, and business structure planning for OMB’s. He provides tax advice to other accounting firms, balancing commerciality, ethics, and understanding complexity.

His 32+ years of experience start at the Inland Revenue in Hull. After completing his ATT and CTA with PKF, he subsequently worked at KPMG and UHY prior to managing the business tax team as a director at Garbutt + Elliott. Rob is now Tax Director at the independent tax consultancy, Crane Dale Tax.

He is a regular author for Tolley publications, including Taxation magazine, and Tolley annuals covering Capital Allowances, Property Tax, Tax Planning , and Taxwise annuals. He is also consultant editor of the online Tolley Guidance OMB module. He contributes as a virtual member to the CIOT Property Tax and OMB technical committees.

Rob works remotely from Vancouver in Canada.

Biography:

Ian has been in the payroll profession for over 30 years, processing payrolls from all sectors, large and small. He moved from hands-on exposure in 2011 to become involved in educating the profession. His wide-ranging experience and up-to-date knowledge ensures he can impart this information to UK professionals through course material, social media, newsletters and face-to-face presentations.

However, educating the profession cannot be achieved without knowing how the profession works on a day-to-day basis and involvement with hands-on administration is essential. So, today, Ian operates as a consultant and advisor and is involved with a vital aspect of the payroll and reward environment, that of working with the software that does a lot of the hard work for the profession.

The return to being involved in a hands-on environment has not stopped his desire to inform, educate and train the UK payroll profession. Indeed, this is now better-achieved, as he can draw on real processing situations.

Ian approaches education and communication very much from the perspective of how this will impact the software, the employer and the worker. So, whilst the legislation is vital, compliance and effective communication are paramount.

Ian is Companion of the Institute for Certified Bookkeepers (ICB), committee member of the British Computer Society (BCS), a committee members of the ICAEW’s Tax Faculty and a Fellow member of the Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals (CIPP).

Biography:

Márton works as a tax manager at PKF Hungary. He is most focused on indirect tax issues however he is also involved in income tax and transfer pricing consultancy. He is following up with the VAT-related cases of the CJEU and entrusted with the publication of the updates on the firm’s website. Márton gained experience in the Hungarian tax administration procedure as well, as a former officer.

Biography:

Andrew Clarke is a Director in Deloitte’s UK Indirect Tax practice working in the firm’s Cambridge and London offices.

Having previously worked for HM Revenue & Customs as a VAT inspector, Andrew has 27 years of experience in indirect tax, the last 25 years of which have been spent in practice advising clients in a wide range of industries and market sectors.

Andrew leads Deloitte’s Indirect Tax Policy & Trade Group and also assists with the indirect tax training curriculum. This work includes the analysis of case law developments and HMRC guidance, working with HMRC on policy development, the production of technical material and identification of opportunities for the wider indirect tax practice, and the delivery of both internal technical courses and a wide range of external client events, including Deloitte’s VAT Club and VAT School.

Andrew has a wealth of experience across a broad range of VAT matters and in facilitating/delivering training. This enables him to articulate technical issues in a way such that both other members of the indirect tax practice and non-specialist indirect tax attendees at external events can understand, both in respect of the technical intricacies, as well as the practical implications that these have in respect of day-to-day operations.