The Association's Technical Committee is responsible for monitoring and discussing key technical developments in the accountancy profession and the financial world, as well as formulating AIA's views on government consultation documents and commenting on the regulation of the profession. The committee membership is made up of experts in a variety of fields with the majority being lay members.
The Regulatory Oversight Committee deals with scrutiny, oversight and review of the Association’s regulatory requirements as a recognised supervisory body under the Money Laundering Regulations. The Committee is empowered to make recommendations to the Council to address areas of weakness or highlight areas of good practice relating to AIA’s AML supervision. The committee membership is made up of experts in a variety of fields with the majority being lay members.
Profile
Shahram has a thriving accountancy practice; one of the most respected firms in West Sussex. With a national client base, the practice specialises in healthcare, media, and entertainment. Shahram prides himself on providing a bespoke and supportive service for clients.
He has an expansive knowledge of business development, accountancy, and taxation. His problem solving and systematic approach stands him in good stead in his role as Chair and President and his wealth of knowledge of growing and developing a successful business brand has been invaluable.
Shahram has always felt it important to give back to the community, something that stemmed from his father. He supports an orphanage in the Middle East, providing financial assistance on a monthly basis to help them with their learning development. Closer to home, Shahram and the firm work with the local church to provide after school clubs, offering a safe environment for children, an initiative which has grown from five children to over 40 regularly attending with their continued support.
Profile
Ed is a partner in the commercial and corporate team handling all aspects of business law. He spends the majority of his time on mergers & acquisitions, company structuring, shareholder matters, commercial agreements and employment.
Ed leads the Firm's corporate and commercial work. His clients are companies, SME's, investors – both international and domestic, start-ups, entrepreneurs, charities and educational organisations. He particularly enjoys getting involved at the start of a client's business journey and forging long term relationships.
As well as commercial transactional work, Ed's business practice includes corporate governance, company re-structuring, re-financing, shareholder matters, fundraising and compliance – in particular, data protection/GDPR.
Ed also has a busy employment workload usually acting for employers in contentious and non-contentious work and advising on TUPE. He has a particular interest in stress at work and personal injury advice and claims. He also regularly works alongside the IP & IT and the dispute resolution teams. His work is across the Firm's specialist sectors including acting for charities, faith institutions, restauranteurs and those in the wine and spirits trade.
Ed is a friendly and approachable lawyer who guides clients through complex transactions or difficult personal situations in a clear and calm fashion.
Profile
Tim is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Taxation, a member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners and a member of the International Tax Planning Association. His tax career began in 1972 when he joined the Inland Revenue, and continued after serving as a District Inspector of Taxes to join private practice in 1987. Tim specialises in personal tax planning, at both a UK and international level, producing workable solutions to difficult problems. His knowledge and experience are regularly called upon by a wide range of clients and professional advisers. Tim is also a regular speaker on taxation matters, including foreign domicile taxation.
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Emeritus Professor Philip Shrives is former Head of the Department of Accounting and Financial Management and Professor in Accounting and Corporate Governance at Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University where he taught on undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in the areas of corporate governance and accounting. He has led and supported numerous overseas initiatives for the university in Eastern Europe including Poland, Ukraine and Russia and countries such as India, China and Malaysia.
Professor Shrives main research interests are in voluntary disclosure and he has co-authored a number of articles in this field. At present his main research area is concerned with corporate governance, risk reporting and environmental accounting and he has supervised around ten doctoral students to completion in these areas and examined PhD candidates at a number of UK and overseas universities.
Prior to his teaching career, Professor Shrives qualified with the firm Arthur Young (now part of Ernst and Young).
He has authored/co-authored articles in journals such as The British Accounting Review, Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, Critical Perspectives on Accounting and The International Journal of Accounting.
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Richard Simms, managing director of FA Simms, is a chartered accountant, licensed insolvency practitioner and anti-money laundering expert. He has held Finance roles in business, banking and venture capital and seen how businesses work from every angle. This has given him incredible insight into the possibilities for companies to not only survive but succeed and transform.
Richard’s positive approach provides the foundation for the way FA Simms work. His team of business rescue experts and insolvency practitioners is passionate about supporting businesses through every challenge and finding the best possible outcome for them.
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George is Managing Director of G Josephakis Audit Ltd, a firm of Certified Public Accountants in Cyprus, specialising in auditing and assurance, corporate and personal taxation, business consulting and accounting. George trained as an accountant in London and has significant experience of working in commercial organisations both in the UK and Cyprus before establishing his own practice.
He is an expert in anti-money laundering and is a member of the International Compliance Association. Expertise which has been invaluable in his role as Chair of the Regulatory Oversight Committee, which deals with scrutiny, oversight, and review of AIA’s regulatory requirements as a recognised supervisory body under the Money Laundering Regulations.
George also acts as President of the AIA Branches in both Cyprus and Greece, and is actively involved in the efforts to further AIA’s recognition in Greece.
He is a member of the European Federation of Accountants and Auditors for SMEs (EFAA) Digital Working Group.
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Ray Canham is a retired Detective Constable, having completed 30 years’ police service with Northumbria Police in October 2014. During his career he undertook investigative work across many areas of crime with a particular emphasis on fraud related offences and money laundering. He was a qualified and authorised financial investigator in respect of the identification and seizure of criminal assets.
In 2008 he was awarded an MA degree in Fraud Management at Teesside University, specialising in Organised Fraud, Money Laundering and Organised Crime in the UK.
In March 2016 Ray commenced work with Roxburgh Forensics as a self-employed consultant providing strategic and investigative support, conducting research into and reporting on a number of client initiated enquiries across a range of fields including shipping, financial and commodity markets and fraud allegations.
Ray joined Land and Sea Forensics Ltd in October 2019, engaged as a self-employed consultant with responsibility for compilation of confidential reports arising from investigations.
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Jackie Harvey, whose PhD is in Taxation Policy, worked as an economist during the early part of her career before spending 10 years working for a major merchant bank, followed by a 3-year posting as fiscal policy adviser (under the auspices of the British Government) to the Ministry of Finance in Belize. As a result, she has a solid understanding of budgeting, finance and financial management and of risk management.
Jackie joined Northumbria University in 2000 and since then, has established an international reputation as an empirical researcher in the field of anti-money laundering; she is author of a wide range of articles, chapters and books.
Jackie is a regular speaker at high-profile conferences and undertakes full range of academic duties including doctoral supervision and examination, external examining and peer review.
She is currently Principal Investigator, coordinating a two-year DFID funded project investigating the tracking of Beneficial Ownership as a means of supporting asset recovery in Nigeria.
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Stephen Tupper is a member of the Bars of England and Wales, a Member of the New York Bar and a Member of the Law Society of England and Wales.
In 2015 Stephen launched a specialist competition and regulatory law practice and was an award winner at the 2017 British Legal Awards.
Stephen specialises in competition and regulatory law and has over thirty years’ experience in commercial litigation, regulatory law and policy, including providing regulatory advice to UK water companies and the European Commission relating to mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and other commercial agreements.
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Sue is an Assistant Professor and former Director of Education - CPD at Northumbria Law School with particular expertise in business and finance law and regulation. She leads numerous specialist modules across postgraduate, undergraduate and professional programmes and is a member of the Financial Crime Compliance Research Interest Group. Prior to joining Northumbria University, Sue was a banking and finance solicitor with a global law firm.
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Geoff Westmoreland is Deputy Area Commercial Director for HSBC Retail Banking and Wealth Management. Geoff has extensive experience of the anti-money laundering regime within financial services and brings a wealth of knowledge from his years in the banking sector.
