Ghana Revenue Authority GRA Deputy Commissioner
Mr. Kwasi Gyimah-Asante – Commissioner, Domestic Tax Revenue Division
Commissioner DTRD
Mr. Kwasi Gyimah-Asante has had 25 years of experience as a tax administrator in Ghana, 20 years of which has been in management level. He started his career with field audit unit of the erstwhile Customs, Excise & Preventive Service in 1990 and in 1994 he was seconded to the erstwhile Valued Added Service (VATS), both now integrated into Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).
He worked in various capacities as Deputy Commissioner in charge of Finance and Administration and later Deputy Commissioner, Operations in the erstwhile VAT Service. He occupied the position of a Deputy Commissioner Medium Taxpayer Office (MTO) of Domestic Tax Revenue Division (DTRD) until he was appointed Acting Commissioner, DTRD, GRA. He was a member of the Steering Committee which supervised the implementation of the tax reform and modernization program which brought about the integration of the institutions that made up the Ghana Revenue Authority.
Mr. Gyimah-Asante obtained his Masters degree in University of Ghana Business School, Legon. He is a Chartered Accountant and a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountant, Ghana since 1994. He has attended various courses and seminars in Management and Tax administration in Ghana, Germany, United State of America, England and other African countries.
He is an accomplished Senior Executive with outstanding credentials, a proven record of results and an in-depth experience in tax administration and public sector accounting transcending the operational, technical and policy aspects at the management level spanning a period of 20 years.
Mr. Fred Charles Anson – Commissioner, Support Services Division (SSD)
Commissioner-SSD
Mr. Fred Charles Anson is an Old Achimotan, belongs to the 1983 Year Group, attended the University of Ghana, Legon where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree in Economics with a 2nd Class Upper honours in 1989 and finished his Master of Arts (M. A.) in International Affairs in 1991.
He is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIT), and also Chartered Institute of Management (CIM). He did obtain at University of Ghana, Legon in the 1988/89 Academic Year, the Prestigious University of Ghana Academic Board Award.
Mr. Fred Charles Anson has a wealth of experience covering the Banking, Aviation and Petroleum Marketing sectors. Prior to joining GRA, he was the Deputy Manager in charge Administration at First Atlantic Merchant Bank (FAMB) from March, 2006 to October, 2008. He had previously headed the Contracting and Procurement Unit of Shell Ghana (1998 – 2000)
Fred Charles Anson joined the GRA in October 2008 and has headed the following units:
• Revenue Protection Unit (RPU)
• Monitoring and Control Unit (M&C)
• Risk Management Unit.
He has had attachments with worldwide reputable Revenue Administrations such as:
• Canada Revenue Agency (CRA)
• Dubai Customs (DC & DCW)
• Belastingdienst (Dutch Tax and Customs); among others.
Courses attended include:
• Risk Modeling, Quantification of Index Leveraging; Risk Response Strategies; Risk Intelligence Systems and Vulnerability Analysis
• Risk Interaction Mapping Management, Risk Matrix, and Risk Data Intelligence Models and Management
• Tax and Corporate Support Services Control Framework
• Customs Control Frameworks, Global Organization, Instrument Analysis Tools and Risk Measurement
• Revenue Risk/Compliance Strategies and Management, Critique of the WCO PTC Work Program and Mining Risk Management Development and Analysis.
• Pre-Clearance Manifest Management
• COSO Enterprise Risk Management (ERM), Risk Register Management and Talent Development.
• Human Capital Risk Management, Blue Ocean Strategies and Value Chain Risk Management
• Effective Budgets and Cost Control
• Performance Management and Appraisal System
• Best Practices in Procurement and Stores Management
• Procurement Audit and Control
• Balanced Score Card
• Fraud Risk, IT Risk, Offshore License Risk and Enterprise Risk Management
• Managing Risk in Procurement
• HR Data Intelligence
• Financial Risk Management Framework for Exports, Chamber of Commerce; Export Risk Analysis, INCOTERMS (2010); Customs, Export and Supply Chain Legal Framework and Compliance; Oil and Gas Risk Management and Assessment.
• Information Governance, Export Trade Risk Management of Aviation / Maintaining Risk Indicators of Management
In tandem with GRA’s vision to be a World Class Revenue Administration recognized for professionalism, integrity and excellence, Mr. Fred Charles Anson has a vision to be a Commissioner celebrated for raising a new era of patriotic, ethical and technologically inclined staff who meet the standard of the modern day digitized world.
He aims to achieve this through:
• The employment of Digitization in GRA’s administrative procedures and processes to facilitate taxpayer transactions.
• Promotion of local and foreign training of staff on equal basis to build their capacity.
• Promotion of avenues for knowledge sharing and instituting channels for conflict/complaints resolution as well as managing talents within the Authority through effective succession planning.
Mr. Fred Charles Anson believes the Vision of the Authority should be an embodiment on the following principles and ideologies:
• To uphold the integrity of Taxation and Customs functions of national government
• To ensure efficiency and effectiveness of Revenue Collection and Protection
• To ensure a balanced policy in tax contributions by companies and individuals to the national revenue
• To maintain a robust national taxation policy in the face of a changing and uncertain economic and political world
• To justly serve the national taxation need
• To defend the national economic sovereignty of the nation.
• The need for the effective use of human resources in Custom and Tax Management
• The need to maintain a balanced level of human resources
• The need for efficiency in terms of the use of IT and electronics in Custom and Tax Management
• The need for security in Customs, Excise and Tax Management i.e. protection of databases and frontier management
His vision for GRA (Support Services Division) departments under his supervision will be that a use of a common Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. He seeks to successfully implement the roll out of SAP Hana Business suite specifically the SAP S/4Hana in 2020. With the various modules such as Finance, Human Resource Management, Asset Management, Procurement integrated into SAP S/4Hana, this will help streamline the activities of all departments under Support Services Division and provide a common platform for reporting activities undertaken by these departments.
Mr. Fred Charles Anson is a firm believer of Credible Enforcement, which is an integral part of any Compliance Management Strategy as it acts not only to deter tax evasion but also serves to remind taxpayers that GRA is working to maintain the fairness of the tax system by ensuring that all pay their fair share. GRA carries out various verification and enforcement activities regarding all taxes administered including commodity taxes and income tax. For individual returns, these activities range from the identification of non-filers and non-registrants, to initial assessment of returns by matching information and assessing risk, to post assessment reviews of higher risk files, to periodic reviews of deductions and credits, to special projects. They also include audits of the self-employed and unincorporated businesses and investigative and other measures to fight tax evasion. Risk assessment is an integral part of responsible enforcement. GRA should monitor trends in revenues, examine compliance patterns, conduct studies of the factors affecting compliance including the impact of education and program redesign, to mention a few. This will enable GRA to ensure the effective use of limited resources by directing enforcement to the areas of highest risk.
He is a disciplinarian, a goal-getter and has a passion for Risk Assessment/Management, Intelligence Gathering, Research/Analytic work and Algorithm Development and Management
He is married with two (2) children.
Mr. Isaac Crentsil – Commissioner, Customs Division
Commissioner Customs
Mr. Isaac Crentsil was employed into the customs Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) now Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) Customs Division in December 1989.
He holds among others, Executive Master in Business Administration (EMBA Finance) from the University of Business School. Mr. Crentsil is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountant Ghana (ICA GH) and also a member of the Chartered Institute of Taxation (Ghana). He holds Post Chartered Diploma Certificate in Forensic Audit from the Institute of Chartered Accountants (Ghana)
Some of the managerial positions he has occupied prior to his current appointment as Commissioner, Customs Division of the GRA include;
i. Deputy Commissioner, Post Clearance Audit (PCA)
ii. Assistant Commissioner, Audit
iii. Assistant Commissioner, Modernization Programme Office
iv. Assistant Commissioner, Corporate Planning
v. Assistant Commissioner, Finance
vi. Chief Revenue Officer, Debt Recovery
vii. Chief Revenue officer, Audit
viii. Chief Revenue Officer, Accounts and Budget
In the Integration and modernization of the GRA, Mr. Crentsil facilitated the change management by selection and training of change Agents to propagate the message to staff of how successful movement from their current states to their future states.
He was the Project Manager that led to the set-up of the Post Clearance Audit with the objective to ensure holistic audit based customs control for trade facilitation and revenue maximization to achieve the goal of optimal revenue collection.
Mr. Crentsil has had a number of courses both internationally and Local.
Notably amongst them are:
i. World Customs Organization Knowledge Academy for Customs and Trade in Brussels,
ii. Post Clearance Audit and Compliance Risk Management (Advanced) in partnership with Humber College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, Ontario Canada,
iii. Basic Investigation of computer and Electronic Crimes Course in Budapest Hungary,
iv. Customs Risk Management in Cape Town, Republic of South Africa
v. Advanced International Program in Oil and Gas Financial Management organized by University of Texas at Dallas and its center for International Accounting Development.
Other Conferences/ Seminar attended locally include Transfer Pricing and Valuation- Korea Experiences, Transfer Pricing and its tax implication and strategic thinking for competitive advantage.
Until his promotion to the high office of Commissioner of Customs, Mr. Crentsil was the Deputy Commissioner in charge of Post Clearance Audit Department.