Muhammad Ishfaq

• Over 15 years of work experience in private, public and non-for-profit (NGOs) sectors in the UK, UAE and Afghanistan
• Served a portfolio of international contractors/sub-contractors, including but not limited to (World Bank, USAID, DIFD, Department of Defense, EU and ADB, ERIN/IRARA, Creative Associates, DAI)
• Solid and proven attributes of integrity, objectivity, trust & professionalism
• Rich academic background, well versed in IFRS, IAS, ISAs, tax compliance and financial reporting 
• Excellent analytical abilities in finance, compliance, tax advisory and client portfolio management 
• Professional communication skills in managing small to medium size team, clients and effective correspondence with government authorities and international stakeholders 
• Graduate in Economics (Social Science) 
• ACCA Finalist - (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) 
• Computer skills include MS Office, QuickBooks, Xero 

Professional Work Experience 

Lead Trainer 

January 2023 – March 2023 

British Academy of Training & Development (BADT)

London, United Kingdom

• Successfully delivered a 10 weeks training to the finance professionals from Doha, QATAR, on Government Accounting, Modern methods of preparing public budgets and managing government procurement, international tax – including comparison between British and GCC direct and indirect taxes 
• Coordinated, conducted group and individual training sessions with trainees based on their individual pre-training assessments and training course requirements
• As part of the requirements, prepared, conducted and assessed weekly training tasks and assignments 
• Performed weekly trainee’s evaluation and submitted feedback to H.E the Ambassador of QATAR in London, UK
• Managed development, implementation, and continuous improvement of the training program

Practice Manager 

December 2022 – Present 

V Associates Chartered Accountants – London, United Kingdom

• Managing a small to medium size portfolio of clients with various business sectors, Media, Real Estate, Retail
• Serving as a point of contact for the clients and tax office HMRC
• Responsible for the overall operations of the accounting practice, including HR, administration & finance
• Setting up targets and deadlines for marketing and business development team to achieve threshold budgeted revenues 
• Advising clients on company and self-employed business registration according to their business vehicle
• Reviewing client’s lead schedules, bank statements and deriving profit & loss for annual Income and corporate tax
• Submission of quarterly VAT, annual tax returns to HMRC and annual accounts to the Companies House 
• Updating clients on their tax returns status, and reporting to the firm’s partner

Head of finance, HR & Administration                                                                                                  

April 2019 – April 2022

Afghanistan Center for Excellence (ACE), Kabul, Afghanistan

• Lead a team of young professionals in the finance, human resources and administration departments
• Assigning deadlines for review to the finance team members for the completion of a projects’ weekly income & expense cost reimbursable, monthly A/C receivables and A/C payables, adjustment to project’s budgets and cashflows, if any variations
• Liaising with donor’s finance departments for submission of invoices as per achievement of deadlines and milestones 
• Reviewing and providing supporting documents to the finance departments of the international donors/government stakeholders 
• Regularly monitoring, individual and consolidated, budgets for SMT (Senior Management Team) decision making
• Revieing the Scope of Work of newly issued or extended solicitations and task orders and coordinating according with projects operation teams 
• Generating quarterly management reports for reconciliation in MS Excel 
• Closely working with the HR manager to provide weekly and monthly Rota, time sheets for payroll process 
• Coordinating with HR on each project team members’ availability and vacant positions according to budgeted lines
• Dedicated tasks to the finance and HR teams; for example, review of finance and HR manuals against existing practices 
• Educating and training finance and HR teams on correspondence with international donor’s community/project implementation partners 
• Working with business development team on preparation and review of budgets for potential new opportunities 
• Working with project managers to monitor, control and evaluate the budgets against actual performance
• Reporting directly to the CEO and Managing Partner of the firm on regular basis, as well as attending SMT meetings to share over all financial status of ACE

World Bank - Afghanistan Center for Excellence (ACE), Kabul, Afghanistan

• Correspondence with the Ministry of Finance (MoF) and World Bank after review of the prevailing income tax and administration laws and provided suggestions on areas of improvements/reforms. 
• Coordination with the MoF & ACBR to collect evidences on suggested reforms, which were duly endorsed by the World Bank.
• Ensuring the MOF & ACBR head of departments about the benefits/objectives of the revised administrative procedures and their overall impact on reduction in ill practices, which caused bottlenecks in collection of tax revenue
• Participating in the Public Private Dialogues (PPDs) and addressed gaps between public and private sectors (tax authorities and taxpayers), (local and international investors and ACBR)
• Addressing probable challenges regarding implementation of the VAT law in parallel to BRT law. For example, the capacity of the MOF staff about understanding of VAT law and its administration. The overall awareness & education program about VAT introduction and understanding. 
• Liaised between DAB, MOF and retail banks in Afghanistan on online tax payment mechanism
• Identified & advised the MoF on issuance and management of TINs (Tax Identification Numbers), risk base MoF audit introduction, taxpayer’s compliance rating and making online tax return submission more user friendly.

Tax Compliance Consultant 

December 2017 – March 2019 

FANDEEZ Tax Consultant, Dubai, UAE

• Actively participated in Big4 VAT seminars, prior implementation of VAT in the UAE. Internal training was delivered to all team members on practical aspects of VAT compliance 
• Trained and lead a team of 12-14 professionals on a tailored marketing strategy, which helped grab a good market share in the early months
• Monitored and adjusted marketing strategy as the saturation in the market went up 
• Assigned targets to marketing team, to target small & medium sized business (especially retail industry)
• Held regular meetings with potential clients about VAT and its compliance with FTA (Federal Tax Authority)
• Advised clients on VAT volunteer and compulsory registration as per FTA laws, explained applicable VAT rates according to client’s business, quarterly reporting deadline, VAT payment procedures
• Signed up new VAT clients and marketed appropriate value-added services to client business – payroll management, quarterly management accounts and un-audited financial statements. 
• Submitted VAT returns to FTA after managing partner and clients’ endorsements 
• Reviewed and monitored existed VAT laws for updates or amendments to it. Shared and educated clients on any amendments or addition/deletion to new articles. VAT law was implemented for the 1st time in UAE; therefore, often subsequent rulings were issued as amendments. 

Associate Partner/Practice Manager 

March 2011 – March 2016 

MOORE Afghanistan (Afghanistan Holding Group), Kabul, Afghanistan 

• Managed a diverse portfolio of clients (private sector & non-for-profit organization) 
• Responsible for the efficient and effective operation of several business division in the practice 
• Represented international clients before the Ministry of Finance and ACBR on tax compliance 
• Worked with the Legal & Policy department (MoF) on the interpretation of various articles of tax law and their applicability on international contractors. 
• providing input on practical challenges in the tax laws. For example, Vendor Withholding Tax, Trading Carry forward losses for the year, 
• Advised clients on transactional withholding tax and its reflection in budgets prior bidding process 
• Coordinated with the client’s finance department in the review process of Financial Statements (FS) to reflect local accounting and tax laws for reporting purposes to tax authorities 
• Advised and liaised with start-up/companies and NGOs on business registration process, reporting compliance to different Ministries, according to their business sector, cost & fees of sectorial license registration and its compliance
• Lodged tax exemption application to the MoF according to bilateral agreements Dip Note 202 & BSA
• Participated in the kick off meeting of new clients, with team members, and provided complete presentation on tax compliance 
• Filed over 200 clients’ AITRs (Annual Income Tax Returns) to MoF for a period of five years
• Represented clients before the Ministry of Finance for tax compliance audits 
• Lead and trained a team of over 40 team members in accounting & tax divisions
• Maintained best business practices with the help of strict adherence to firm’s business polices 
• Monitored accounting systems to ensure they are tunning smooth, effectively, efficiently and provides accurate information on firm’s practices. 

Office Manager

July 2007 – August 2010 

Salami Business Solutions, London, UK 

• Served a small but interesting portfolio consisting clients from Information Technology, Real Estate, Manufacturing and services industries 
• Advised clients on business registration with HMRC, Companies House and reporting compliance 
• Guided new clients on appropriate bandwidths of applicable income tax, NIC and selection of accounting year end for tax compliance
• Lead on signing up new clients by providing appropriate and relevant documents for authorization as a tax agent
• Worked with clients’ finance team on guidance of VAT transactions record keeping and its provision to us for reporting to HMRC
• Prepared and submitted quarterly VAT returns for clients. Liaised with HMRC on behalf of clients, wherever a discrepancy identified or further supporting documents requested by HMRC. For example, supporting documents are often requested by HMRC for VAT rebates 
• At times, verified the client’s input VAT claim invoices from vendors/agencies before VAT return submission to HMRC 
• Corresponded & notified clients well before reporting deadlines, to HMRC and Companies House, in order to avoid any unnecessary penalties for late reporting. 
• Prepared and reviewed client’s financial statements, filing CT 600 to HMRC and companies complete financial statements to Companies House – after the final review and approval of Managing Partner 
• Followed up with HMRC and Companies House, whenever required, and keep updated clients 
• Shadowed managing partner in meeting with new clients 
• Supervised a team of 3 young professionals – worked with them on best business practices 

Trainee Accountant – Part time 

August 2006 – July 2007

Amity Charted Management Accountant, London, UK

• Reviewed VAT input & output invoices for relevant dates of due tax return
• Summarized VAT input & output accounts and getting it reviewed and approved by line supervisor 
• Shared completed VAT returns with clients and getting final approval for submission to HMRC
• Record keeping of expense invoices in an Excel sheet and their allocation according to chart of accounts 
• Added on quarterly expense analysis reports to previous quarters and make the final at the year end
• Reviewed of the client’s bank statements against VAT input & output invoices for reconciliation
• Filled up employees; P45/P46/P35/P12 Forms and maintaining P11D Forms 
• Carried out general accounting and administrative tasks 

Bachelors in Social Science - 2 years

ACCA Finalist 

Member of the Institute of Public Accountants, Australia, MIPA