Harilaos Alamanos
President, Certified Public Accountants of Greece (SOEL)
Mr. Harilaos Alamanos is the current President of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Greece (SOEL) and of the Institute of Education of SOEL (IESOEL). He is an Economics graduate of the Athens University of Economics and Business and has been a practicing Certified Public Accountant for more than forty years. In addition to the offices he currently holds, he has, in the past served as Managing Director at SOL SA (from 1993 to 1996), as President of the Hellenic Duty-Free Shops S.A. (from 1993 to 1997), as Secretary General of the Greek Ministry of Finance (from 1996 to 2002), as well as Member of the Board of Directors at the Economic Chamber of Greece (1983-2007). In this period, he was elected President of the Economic Chamber of Greece for a three-year term of office (from 2002 to 2005). Also, H. Alamanos was a member of the Board of Directors of the “EVAGGELISMOS” Hospital (1981-1985) and Vice-President of the “ELENA VENIZELOS” Foundation (1985-1989).
During his tenure as President of SOEL, and specifically in the period between 1992 and 1997, he successfully saw through the transition from an institutional regime for Certified Public Accountants of mandatory partnership under state oversight, to a framework that permitted the operation of independent audit firms. He has been responsible for overseeing several crucial transitions as regards both the structure of the auditing profession as well as the role of SOEL as an organization representing the interests of a very diverse group of professionals. On his watch, access to the profession has been drastically widened, enabling those willing and able to join the profession to do so. This has been achieved through the creation and ever-expanding activities of IESOEL, which in addition to its own professional education programs has entered into highly productive partnerships with Greek academic institutions, such as the National & Kapodistrian University of Athens (EKPA) and the University of Macedonia (PAMAK) as well as other European professional organizations, such as the ACCA and the ICAEW, in order to provide high-quality professional education and training.
Mr Alamanos also believes in the role that international organizations can play in coordinating the activities of the sector and in addressing issues of international scope such as the formulation of International Accounting and Audit standards. To this end he has enhanced SOEL’s participation in international professional organizations such as IFAC, ACCOUNTANCY EUROPE (former FEE) and FCM, with SOEL being a founding member of all three organizations.
Finally, Mr Alamanos’s tenure has coincided with the emergence of a new regulatory framework for the profession, with the creation of an independent national supervisory authority of the accounting and audit profession, namely the Hellenic Accounting and Auditing Standards Oversight Board (ELTE). Mr Alamanos has supported the work of ELTE since its inception and thus contributed to the stabilization of the new regulatory environment. He strongly believes that in order to retain their relevance, both the profession as well as the organizations representing its interests have to take cognizance of society’s changing needs and do their best to meet them.