A CFO said recently: “Just give it to Sjoerd, he’ll sort it out.” Getting this kind of trust is my ultimate goal.

Sjoerd Hensen

EY Netherlands Partner Tax, Transaction Tax

Enthusiastic. Critical. He’s mostly the “good cop” - as a good atmosphere produces the best results - but he’s certainly not scared of playing the “bad cop” sometimes too.

Areas of focus

Sjoerd Hensen supports companies in all fiscal matters relating to acquisitions and mergers, both sellers and buyers. The areas involved range from due diligence to planning and implementing the acquisition structure.

He studied Business Economics and Fiscal Law at Maastricht University and has been working at EY since 2002. He has about twenty years’ experience in the fiscal guidance of (major) transactions.

“I try to set out the material as clearly as possible, simply because fiscal matters are not always black-and-white. I then also put myself as much as possible in the client’s shoes - who is often not a tax expert. How would I want a tax problem to be resolved? A CFO said recently: “Just give it to Sjoerd, he’ll sort it out.” Getting this kind of trust is my ultimate goal.” 

How Sjoerd is building a better working world

“Every year, I guide around eighty deals, worth between a few million and a couple of billion Euros. I enjoy the dynamism of deals. The pace and the constant pressure. I need that in order to get the best out of myself. Not that we have extreme working weeks, but deals simply don’t fit into a traditional 9-to-5 working day. We sometimes work nights. For example, I’ve sometimes been huddled over a spreadsheet, together with a major client’s CFO, at four in the morning. You make a particular connection in this kind of intense work.”

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