Pateel Papazian

I am a U.S. Citizen currently based in Beirut, Lebanon and have a CPA license from the state of California and an EMBA degree from the American University of Beirut, Lebanon. I speak, read and write English, Arabic, French and Armenian fluently. Around three years ago, I decided to leave my secure job at the American University of Beirut in order to represent the US nonprofit certificate program “Certified Nonprofit Accounting Professional” (CNAP) in the Middle East. It took a lot of hard work and dedication, and now that I have established the program in Lebanon, Qatar, Jordan and Jerusalem, I am ready to go back to a full time position. Previously, as the Director of Financial Reporting and Compliance at the American University of Beirut, I was involved in various financial management activities and in the implementation of the accounting software upgrade to the Oracle R12 version. I have also worked as a CFO with a microfinance institution (an NGO) in Beirut, Lebanon, and have extensive experience with financial management operations, from the execution of the business plan, budgeting, cash management, financial reporting to ensuring compliance with donors’ requirements. During my tenure as the Principal/Director of the non-profit department at KPMG, I have managed external audits of non-profit organizations, including compliance audits (financial and operational) of grants from international donors; moreover, I have been involved in the hiring of audit staff and in managing Train the Trainer programs.