< The 2016 All-Europe Research Team

Sarah Deans
& team
Citi
First-Place Appearances: 7

Total Appearances: 11

Team Debut: 2005

Citi and Sarah Deans extend their hold on first place to a sixth year. Stationed in London, the researcher “is frequently on the road to discuss accounting issues with investors. Her work and knowledge on accounting and valuation are among the best available on the Street,” observes one portfolio manager. Of late, Deans has been engrossed in the details of corporate tax developments, particularly as they relate to three significant issues: the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Base Erosion and Profit Shifting, or BEPS, project; new International Financial Reporting Standards for accounting for leases; and the potential impacts of new IFRS standards for accounting for revenue and for changing the loan impairment model for banks. Chief among these concerns are the ramifications of the OECD initiative, which in part aims to address rules and loopholes that enable multinational enterprises to shift profits to jurisdictions that impose low or no corporate taxes. Largely by increasing information reporting obligations — requiring detailed transfer pricing documentation as well as country-by-country accounting of income, taxes paid, employment and a host of related data — the Paris-based international organization intends “to ensure that profits are taxed where economic activities generating the profits are performed and where value is created,” its October report states. “We anticipate continued scrutiny of corporate tax planning arrangements, following the publication of the BEPS recommendations,” says Deans, 43. “In the coming year investors will be talking to potentially exposed companies about the possible impact.