Dahman Awadh Dahman

Founding Partner

Dahman, a Yemeni national and a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants in UK, having qualified in 1965 and admitted as a member in the same year. He was a registered accountant in Kuwait of category "A", which is licensed to audit banks and insurance companies and registered as an auditor in Dubai, UAE and in the Republic of Yemen.

Dahman's four decades of experience in industry, the public sector and the profession is spread over Yemen, Kuwait, and the UAE.

Dahman’s Experience in the UAE and Middle East

In September 1991, Dahman moved to Dubai and was the managing partner of Ernst & Young until retirement, August 1995. During this time, Dahman was the engagement partner of:

• The General Post Office
• BP Group of Companies in Dubai
• The Department of Economic Development
• The Dubai World Trade Centre Company
• Dubai Aluminum Company (Dubal)
• ABN/AMRO Bank; and
• Assicurazioni Generali SPI, Dubai branch.

Dahman was a member of the first Training Committee that introduced internal training programs, the staff committee that introduced the first staff manual and later the technical committee that is responsible for keeping the firm abreast of development in accountancy and auditing.

He chaired the Middle East Banking Review Group, which considered the problems faced by the financial sector during the 1980s in the Middle East countries, in general, as well as particularly in Kuwait. Following the collapse of the unofficial stock exchange market (Souk al-Manakh), he led the firm's team in producing several recommendations, which were subsequently adopted by the authorities, for the solution of the shortfall in the bank's equity.

He was instrumental in developing training as another product, and thus, he was appointed as the chairman of the Middle East Firm Training Committee, which provides training courses to the firm's professional staff and to the business community as a whole.

Because of his considerable experience in banking, insurance and oil sectors, Dahman represented the Middle East Firm on the Ernst & Young International Committee for Insurance (1980-1983) and on Ernst & Young Committee for Banking and Other Financial Institutions (1983-1988).

Other Activities

Dahman has been a member of the International Higher Council of Islamic Jurists. He participated in several their conferences and in that capacity, he was selected with many Islamic jurists to write a guide on the accounting of Zakat for companies. He actively participated in the work of this committee and assumed the major role of producing the manual on the calculation of Zakat for companies in Arabic. This book was sponsored by "Beit Al-Zakat" of Kuwait and printed by the Dallah Group of companies. Dahman has since translated this book into English and its printing is being negotiated with the Dallah Group.

He is well conversant with Yemen Laws having written up the book entitled "Doing Business in Yemen" which he has recently updated and translated into Arabic, apart from a multiplicity of other works.

Setting up of RSM Dahman

After his retirement from Ernst & Young in August, 1995 Dahman established the firm "RSM Dahman" (previously known as Dahman & Co.) and its sister firm "Crescent Management Consultancy" in December, 1995 recognizing the need for an independent consultancy firm in the UAE.

In recognition of Dahman's extensive experience, the firm was admitted as a full member of RSM International in August 1996.

Since establishing the firm "RSM Dahman", in March 1996, the firm expanded from one office in Dubai to five offices, two of which are in the Republic of Yemen. RSM Dahman, has built a solid audit client base as well as carrying out major consulting assignments for both the private and public sectors. The assignments in Yemen include the audit of the largest commercial bank, another two commercial banks, many oil companies, a project sponsored by the United Nations for the enhancement of the Methodology of the Supreme Audit Agency.