Faisal is a Managing Director with nearly 30 years of experience in advising and assisting high-performing global companies in a range of industry sectors – including technology, life sciences, manufacturing, retail, gaming and hospitality.
Prior to joining Accordion, Faisal was a Partner and Practice Leader for BDO’s West Region for Accounting and Reporting Advisory Services, where he and his teams worked on numerous go-public transactions, including IPO readiness and SPAC/De-SPAC transactions. There, he worked on many acquisition transactions for his clients – providing accounting and financial reporting assistance pre- and post-close. Before taking the role as the Head of ARAS, Faisal was an Audit Partner at BDO, where he led some of the largest public company audits in the Bay Area audit practice.
From 2009 to 2016, Faisal was a Partner and Practice Leader for the Technical Accounting and Financial Reporting Advisory Services for a boutique advisory firm based in the Bay Area, where he spearheaded the growth of the practice and the firm and took it from 25 professionals to about 200 professionals in 7 years. He started his career with Price Waterhouse in 1993 – working in the Audit and subsequently the ERP Implementation Group until 2000. During this time, he worked extensively with clients in manufacturing, retail, power production, hospitality, and pharmaceutical industries.
As an expert in many complex areas of accounting and financial reporting, Faisal assists CFOs and financial executives in many complex areas of accounting, including assistance with going public, mergers and acquisitions, implementation of new accounting standards, and working on a range of accounting topics such as revenue recognition, lease accounting, consolidation, foreign currency transactions, capitalization of software development costs, and SEC reporting matters. Over his career, Faisal has worked closely with many public and private companies, including those that are private equity-owned, venture-backed, and family-owned.
Faisal is a Certified Public Accountant, licensed in California and also a Chartered Accountant from Pakistan. He is a member of California Society of CPAs, American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and a past-member of Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan. Faisal graduated from the University of the Punjab in Lahore with B.Com, majoring in Advanced Accounting and Audit.
"The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing."