Three new partners and seven directors for Deloitte in Romania

The Romanian arm of accounting and consulting firm Deloitte, which has approximately 600 employees in the country, has in recent months expanded its senior ranks with three new partners and seven directors.

New partners

Raluca Bontas, who joined Deloitte as a student 15 years ago, has been promoted as partner. In her new role, she leads Deloitte’s Tax practice – she has vast experience in direct taxation advisory, including the review and analysis of tax treatment of various types of income obtained by resident or non-resident individuals from Romania and /or paid by local and foreign entities to Romanian resident individuals. Bontas’s main clients include companies in the retail & consumer, pharmaceutical, energy and automotive sectors.

John Ploem has joined Deloitte Romania as tax partner and Chief Operations Officer. He is responsible for the internal services of practice, particularly in developing the support infrastructure and working with the newly developed European Delivery Centers in Romania.

Prior to joining Deloitte’s Romanian arm, Ploem has worked in the Czech Republic, after living and working in Belgium as a registered tax advisor with the Belgian Institute of Accountants and Tax Consultants. He is an expert in corporate income tax, having advised clients on a large number of transactions and inbound investment strategies across a wide range of industries including telecommunication companies, manufacturers and investors. 

Steve Openshaw has joined Deloitte Romania as audit partner after serving in the firm’s Moscow office. Openshaw has extensive experience of IFRS and its application across a range of industries including consumer goods, manufacturing, real estate, energy and construction. He has worked with FTSE 250 companies with projects on major acquisitions, disposals, fundraising and related shareholder investment circulars. Beside his audit responsibilities, Openshaw, who is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (FCA), has held a number of senior roles and for three years led the practice review process for Deloitte in the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) region.

New directors 

Ramona Trusculescu has around ten years of experience in the tax practice gained at Deloitte, where she specialised in indirect tax. She currently leads the VAT compliance team, focused on helping clients with organising their indirect tax compliance processes in the most effective and efficient way, reducing the time allocated to recurrent activities and maintaining a high quality level of service. Trusculescu also supports clients with VAT, support in controls on reimbursing VAT, and fiscal consultancy among other areas. 

Raluca Baldea joined Deloitte Romania’s indirect tax department in 2013. During the past years, she has been involved in large VAT projects, both for domestic as well as multinational companies, working mainly for real estate, energy and manufacturing clients. She specialises in tax, restructuring, and due diligence or assistance during VAT audits or tax litigations. 

Bogdan Barbu joined Deloitte in 2008 when the firm’s local transfer pricing team had just been established. He has since provided a significant contribution to the team’s development to its current size of 40 professionals. During this time, he supported several engagements with transfer pricing and international taxation services. Barbu holds a post-graduate degree in International Business and a Transfer Pricing Certificate awarded by the Chartered Institute of Taxation in London.

Radu Derscariu is a member of Deloitte’s tax department, part of the firm’s Global Employer Services team. He is specialised in expatriates’ advisory and compliance matters, advising local and multinational companies on the tax treatment of remuneration packages for employees and assisting inbound expatriates to meet all the necessary immigration and tax compliance requirements in Romania. Derscariu has been with Deloitte since 2010.

Andreea Gheorghe has more than 12 years of experience in financial audit with Deloitte. Throughout her tenure, she has been involved with large audit projects for both local and multinational companies acting in various industries such as oil & gas, manufacturing, retail and media.

Andreea Zoescu has been with Deloitte since 2008, when she joined from rival KPMG. Zoescu, who is a certified auditor for CAFR, CECCAR and a FCCA member, has advised clients both domestically and internationally, with a focus on engagements in the real estate, manufacturing, private equity, media, and tourism sectors. 

Marius Vasilescu has over 14 years of experience in finance and accountancy of which twelve were gained at Big Four firms. He joined Deloitte Romania as a manager in the valuation and modelling team part of the Financial Advisory department at the end of 2014. During his career, he has developed strong experience in business and assets valuation and financial feasibility studies, as well as support in assessing business plans. In his director role, Vasilescu leads the Romanian valuation and modelling team. 

Commenting on the appointments, Alexandru Reff, country managing partner of Deloitte Romania said, “Deloitte is an organisation that aims at creating exceptional careers, in a culture that promotes a high level of performance, authenticity and collegiality. I would like to congratulate the appointed colleagues and wish them success.”

Related: Dinu Bumbăcea new Managing Partner of Deloitte Consulting Romania.