Biography

A Qualified Chartered Accountant (with over 15 years of professional experience) and a seasoned professional in the field of Finance and Taxation, Sonia Piracha has worked with some of the leading Companies of the World. She started her professional career as Manager of Price water house Coopers (Pakistan), there after, she worked for the Largest electricity generating and distributing company of Karachi (Pakistan) as the Deputy General Manager – Taxation and Insurance. She then joined Shell as the Head of Taxation, Head of Internal Audit, and Secretary to the Board Audit Committee. Her skills and sound professional judgments were quickly recognized, and she was promoted to Deputy Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Shell. Thereafter, she worked as a freelance consultant advising and imparting her knowledge and experience to many Companies of the World.

Her notable projects during her professional career include:

• Being a Member of the Core Taxation Committee of the Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI) representing the industry by presenting the Budget Proposals, Policies, and Taxation Issues to the Federal Board of Revenue, Government of Pakistan.
• First-time implementation of IFRS 9 “Financial Instruments”. Liaising with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) to get clarity on the Expected Credit Losses in the case of Government Receivables of a listed Company.
• Transfer Pricing project which ensured that all the contracts with related parties undertaken by Companies were at arm’s length as per the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development)
• Undertaking and successfully completing the project of rights issue of a listed company worth millions of dollars.
• Preparing corporate plans, budgets, and forecasts for company management to make effective business decisions.
• Investigating, preparing, and finalizing internal audit reports and presenting them before the Board of Directors of the Listed Companies.