On 1st July 2008, the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) network of firms celebrates all over the world the 10 years anniversary from its creation, after the merger of Coopers & Lybrand and Price Waterhouse on 1st July 1998.
During these ten years, the tax department of PwC in Cyprus experienced a substantial growth. From five partners in 1998, it now counts twelve, while staff has quintupled surpassing 100 people.
In 1998, the partners were Panikos Tsiailis (leader of tax and legal services), Panicos Kaouris (leader of tax services) in Nicosia, Nicos Neophytou in Limassol, Costas Nicolaides in Larnaca and Pantelis Evangelou in Paphos.
The first addition of “new blood” in partnership was Cleo Mitilineou Papadopoulou, who became the first female partner in Cyprus on 1 January 2002. Today, she is heading the tax department in the Limassol office, which counts 15 people, serving international clients both in Russia and the Scandinavian region, mostly in the shipping industry. Cleo’s responsibilities also include the writing of articles and publications and events.
A year later, Marios Andreou and Nicos Chimarides were admitted to partnership in the Nicosia office. Marios Andreou is servicing local and international clients, mostly in the financial and construction industries. He is also in charge of training within the tax department and President of the Cyprus-Indian Business Association of the Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Nicos Chimarides maintains a portfolio of international clients mostly in the Russian market, Western Europe and the United States. He is also the Human Capital partner of the Tax department.
The group grew on 1 July 2006 with the addition of Chrysilios Pelekanos, the only partner in Cyprus solely specialising on VAT and Customs matters. The VAT and Customs department counts today 20 people that deal exclusively with VAT and it is the most rapid developing team of the tax department.
One year later, Eftychios Eftychiou is admitted to partnership after a successful secondment in PwC Moscow, undertaking a mixed portfolio of clients, including clients from Russia, maintaining thus his bond with PwC in Moscow. He is also in charge for the quality and risk management of the tax department.
The most recent admission of new partners with the tax department took place a few days ago. On 1st July 2008 the partners in the tax department reach twelve in number with the addition of Constantinos Kapsalis and Stelios Violaris.
Constantinos Kapsalis served as Principal Assessor with the Inland Revenue Department but he chose to leave the public sector to join the private sector. He began his career with PwC as Director on 1st January 2006. He undertook the tax department of the Larnaca office, which he organised with success, enriching it with international clients and developing the services offered. He is also a member of the tax technical committee of the firm, responsible for briefings on technical tax matters.
Stelios Violaris, holding the position of Director, became a partner on 1 July 2008, based in Nicosia. Stelios deals with a varied portfolio of clients, mostly from the United Kingdom and United States. He is also the main training instructor of the tax department.
This rapid growth of the tax department proves that at PwC, our people’s development is a top business priority. Our ambition is to recruit and retain talented people and develop them to be the next generation of business leaders. Our objective is to recruit people who are technically competent but who also have courage, integrity and emotional intelligence to engage with clients. On recruitment we address diversity, apply selectivity and encourage cross border recruitment and mobility. With regard to performance we invest on the quality of coaching and feedback we provide, and enhance our people’s level of engagement and responsibility.
We have demonstrated innovative and pioneer programmes for addressing recruitment, training and retention. As a result of this, our firm was awarded the "2007 First Business Award for Female Employment in Cyprus" and the "2007 CyHRMA Excellence Award in Human Resource Management". This creates a new commitment for the setting of even higher goals.
The main aim for our teams is to interact directly with our clients’ teams and offer quality services in order to help them deal with real-time business issues and a wide range of compliance requirements. A key component of our success is building strong business relationships based on trust and integrity. How do we achieve this? Through understanding of our clients’ business activities. Through our strong analytical skills to review and process financial and non-financial information and a high level of responsiveness and efficient use of our firm’s global network. Quality stands at the centre of our growth strategy. We are committed to continuously invest in client relationships, adding value through sharing, collaborating, and supporting them in their business needs. The 2005 Cyprus Exports Award for Services to our organisation constitutes for all of us at PwC a commitment for the future.
At PricewaterhouseCoopers Cyprus we have a tax specialised team of more than 100 people who can help our clients in determining the tax strategy and organisation of their businesses. Our local efforts are supported by our global tax network. In a nutshell “we are connected to a chain of knowledge and experience".
PricewaterhouseCoopers competence in tax matters has been repeatedly confirmed by winning various awards such as the Cyprus Tax Firm of the Year 2008, of the International Tax Review magazine.
These awards confirm once again a reality:
We are always a step ahead of the competition. Pioneering in tax matters, know-how and experiences. And this is because we offer leading high quality services to our clients.
The tax department of PwC is also a pioneer in contributing with its know-how to the configuration of the policy for establishing Cyprus as a prestigious international financial centre.
View the article as appeared in Phileleftheros Newspaper - 6 July 2008
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View the article as appeared in Politis Newspaper - 6 July 2008
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(153 KB)
