Basit Ahmad
Tax Manager Pakistan
Pakistan & Afghanistan Region
Basit’s
role in The Coca-Cola Company is to make
identification and mitigation of strategic tax risks; establishing processes to
ensure sustainable compliance with local tax/custom regulations at one end and
compliance of foreign tax jurisdictions on the other side. Close co-ordination
is obligatory with regional operations (BU-MENA) and production plant (CPS) for
supporting Custom issues at imports, export stage. Moreover, he is working
closely with Corporate Tax in Atlanta-USA on strategic matters like transfer of
funds, managing transfer pricing risks and implementation of policies and tax
planning procedures/audits. Apart from expertise in local & international
reporting, Basit
has valuable understanding in the field of transfer pricing control and
execution.
I joined Coca-Cola Company in….2003 in
finance department of Coca-Cola Beverages Pakistan .I was promoted as a Tax
Manager in 2007. In the year 2012, I have been offered in TCCEC-PB to establish
the tax function, I was able to accelerate my career path due to strong
knowledge base and networking within the Company which allowed me to understand
the mechanics of each department.
Before joining Coca-Cola….I completed my Bachelors from Hailey
College (1991-1994) and then I joined a professional firm of Chartered
accountants for the mandatory professional training of four years with the
firm.
In 1999, I
got rich experience on project of World Bank where I was working as management
consultant, I believe that education facilitates professionalism.
My
interests are…to swim, read poetry and to play golf. When I was young I
really wanted to become a poet but when I started my Bachelors, my interest
started to develop into accountancy because my parents motivated me to choose
some stable career path. At that time I utterly wanted to become a successful professional
Accountant but still I love to read Mirza Ghalib’s poetry for leisure.
Coca-Cola for me…is a beacon of hope and my dream company,
with a strong brand equity. I discovered Coca-Cola as the best company to work
with because of its strong corporate culture, brand dynasty, speculative
marketing and of course the ‘Red’ colour; which is quite fascinating,
attractive and mesmerizing. Basically, Coca-Cola has developed such a strong
affiliation with customers that people dream to work here.
My advice to young professionals…is to learn
how to work hard and smartly because as technology is stimulating innovation at
an exponential rate, the corporate set up is also on a boom. So along with hard
work you have to be innovative, intelligent and motivated. To all the young
professionals; whatever you do, do, do it whole heartedly and give your best always.
You cannot really expect shortcuts to success, because true success is earned
with willingness to perform better each day at work.
COCA-COLA ON SOCIAL