IWhere we come in
Industries / 01 — Construction & CPEC
Foreign contractors don't need a lecture on Pakistani regulation. They need someone who already knows it.
Foreign branch registration and SECP/BOI compliance, project audits, contractor affairs, joint venture accounting and taxation for international contractors and infrastructure businesses operating in Pakistan.
Construction and CPEC-linked work has its own regulatory shape — Board of Investment permissions, provincial tax authorities, contractor affairs with public sector counterparties, and audit standards that sometimes have to satisfy a foreign parent as well as a Pakistani regulator. This is well-worn ground for us, not a first attempt.
We are a foreign contractor about to start work in Pakistan.
Branch registration and Board of Investment permission, before mobilisation rather than during it.
Our project requires an audit to a standard our head office will accept.
Project and contract audits documented to satisfy both the local regulator and a foreign parent reviewing the file.
We are structuring a joint venture with a local partner.
JV accounting and taxation set up correctly at formation, not reconstructed once a dispute makes it necessary.
Our contractor affairs involve a public sector counterparty.
Reporting and coordination structured around what a government counterparty actually requires.
We are not sure which provincial tax authority our contract falls under.
Federal and provincial sales tax exposure mapped before a filing position is taken, not after a notice arrives.
Our finance function in Pakistan barely exists yet.
A branch or JV usually starts with no local finance team — books, payroll and reporting built from that starting point.
IIWhat we do
What we handle in construction & CPEC
All eleven service lines are available to any client. These are the ones genuinely relevant to a construction, infrastructure or CPEC-linked contractor.
01
Corporate & Secretarial
Foreign branch registration, SECP and Board of Investment compliance, and the regulatory liaison a new entrant needs before mobilisation.
- Branch and JV registration
- BOI permission applications and renewals
- Statutory filings and registers
02
Audit & Assurance
Statutory and project audits documented to satisfy both the local regulator and a foreign head office reviewing the file.
- Statutory audit
- Project and contract audits
- Group reporting packages for a foreign parent
03
Tax & Regulatory
Federal and provincial tax registration and compliance for contracts that often span more than one jurisdiction.
- Income and sales tax registration
- Withholding compliance
- Notices, assessments and appeals
04
Accounting & Outsourcing
Building a finance function and joint venture accounting from a standing start, without a full in-country hire.
- Bookkeeping and JV accounting
- Payroll and statutory contributions
- Management reporting to a foreign parent
05
Deals & Transaction Advisory
Joint venture structuring, and the diligence work that comes with bringing in a local partner.
- JV structuring and terms
- Partner due diligence
- Contractor affairs support
06
Internal Audit & ICFR
Control testing where a foreign parent, lender or public sector counterparty needs assurance beyond the statutory audit.
- Internal audit
- Risk and control matrices
- ICFR design and testing for large contracts
07
Risk & Forensic
Independent review where contractor disputes, subcontractor arrangements or project cost overruns need investigating.
- Contract and claims analysis
- Internal control review
- Dispute and quantum support
08
Advisory & Consulting
Feasibility and structuring advice before a new project or joint venture is committed to.
- Feasibility studies
- Financial modelling
- Governance advisory for JV structures
09
ESG & Sustainability
Reporting and disclosure support where internationally financed or CPEC-linked infrastructure projects carry their own ESG conditions.
- ESG readiness assessment
- Framework alignment for lender or funder requirements
- Sustainability reporting
Each of these has its own page setting out the full scope, approach and pricing — this is the set most relevant to construction and CPEC work specifically.
IIIRepresentative work
What the work looks like
Anonymised, because most of what we do cannot be written up any other way. Named-client work sits behind our clients' own consent, not published here.
A Chinese state-owned group entering Pakistan
- The position
- A foreign branch delivering infrastructure work, with SECP and Board of Investment obligations, contractor affairs to manage with public sector counterparties, and no in-country finance function.
- What we did
- Branch registration and ongoing SECP and BOI compliance, statutory and project audit, taxation across federal and provincial authorities, and coordination of contractor affairs with the client's counterparties.
- Why it mattered
- A single accountable firm across registration, reporting and tax, in a regulatory system the client did not operate in.
More broadly, our representative work in this sector includes Chinese state-owned construction groups, a construction joint venture, and engineering and infrastructure contractors. The fuller list of sectors and engagement snapshots — including this one — is on our Clients & Experience page.
IVCommon questions
Questions we are asked
Do you only work with large international contractors?
No. Our construction and CPEC work spans state-owned construction groups, joint ventures and smaller engineering and infrastructure contractors — the underlying compliance questions are similar regardless of size, even where the scale of the engagement differs.
We need to register a branch before mobilisation starts. How long does that take?
It depends on documentation completeness and, for foreign shareholders, the additional verification required — including where documents from overseas need attestation, usually the longest step. We give a realistic timeline once we see what's already in hand.
Can you handle both the Pakistan side and reporting back to our head office?
Yes — this is a large part of what we do in this sector. Statutory and project audit for the Pakistani regulator, structured so the same file also satisfies a foreign parent's own reporting requirements.
Do you handle joint venture accounting, or only single-entity work?
Yes, JV accounting and taxation is part of the practice, set up at formation rather than reconstructed once a dispute over the numbers arises.
Our contract involves a public sector counterparty. Does that change anything?
It usually changes how contractor affairs and reporting need to be structured, and sometimes the tax authority involved. We tell you what's different about that specific arrangement before work starts, not after a notice arrives.
Related
The service lines behind this page
Let's work together
Does this sector look familiar?
If we have worked on something like it, the first conversation starts further along. A partner will tell you what's realistic before anything is scoped.