Press Release

A new award called the Foundation Diploma has been launched in the country by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) here on Thursday. 

The diploma would provide essential knowledge and skills to those students without relevant training and a clear entry route to ACCA’s main accountancy qualification, called the ACCA Qualification. It can be completed within 12 months.

A launch ceremony in this regard was held here at a local hotel in which a large number of students, professionals and teachers participated. Muhammad Ramzan Achakzai, Secretary, Inter Board Committee of Chairmen (IBCC Pakistan) was the chief guest during the ceremony.

Addressing on the occasion, Achakzai said the Foundation Diploma was created after a detailed consultation with employers, ACCA learning providers, members, students and other professional accountancy bodies and regulators. He added that the youngsters increasingly aspired to have a qualification that was recognised globally and gave them chance to have a great career. The diploma would allow students to have access to a globally recognised qualification.

The IBCC Pakistan chairman further said the diploma provided a solid grounding in financial and management accounting and included a module in professionalism and ethical behaviour.

 Speaking on the occasion, Alan Hatfield said the diploma represented the building blocks of finance because it developed skills and competence tailored to the needs of employers, the public and other key stakeholders.

“But more importantly, professionalism and ethical behavior are placed at the core of the awards – two attributes necessary in the fast moving environment in which the accountancy profession works,” he added.

Through the diploma, he said, the ACCA would continue providing opportunities to talented people, regardless of their background or prior learning, to progress and become a professional accountant.

With ACCA, Alan added, students might also acquire a degree en-route to becoming a professional accountant, offered in partnership with the Oxford Brookes University – which had over 10,000 graduates.”

Arif Mirza, head of ACCA Pakistan, said all the aspiring finance professionals in Pakistan wanted to have every opportunity for success and that’s why the institute had been working closely with learning partners here to develop the diploma.

Mirza further explained that once students had completed the seven papers, they would then be automatically transferred to the ACCA Qualification and would have exemption for the first three papers-F1 Accountability in Business; F2 Management Accounting and F3 Financial Accounting. He added that one of ACCA’s missions was to provide opportunity and access to people of ability around the world and support our members throughout their careers in accounting, business and finance.

The ACCA has also increased its computer-based offering and now offers students the choice of sitting exams by computer-based exams (CBE) or paper exams for seven of the 10 exams in the suite that makes up foundations in accountancy.

In addition, students can choose which level award they wish to take, based on their past experience and level of ability. They do not need to go through all the levels in any prescribed order.

To receive any of the awards, the students must also complete the Foundations in Professionalism module that gives a solid ground in professionalism and ethics. For example, students wishing to progress to the ACCA Qualification may choose to take the Diploma in Accounting and Business as their only award. This award is suitable for anyone looking to do an introductory qualification in accounting and finance.

However, students working in Financial Shared Service Centres or working in junior public sector roles may take the Introductory or Intermediate Certificates. Students who wish to become Certified Accounting Technicians and use the designatory letters CAT after their name will complete nine of the ten available exams, including two of three options from Foundations in Taxation, Foundations in Financial Management and Foundations in Audit. Additionally they need to complete the Foundations in Professionalism module and a year of practical work experience.

British Council Director Richard Weyers, speaking in the ceremony, said British Council was a proud partner of ACCA globally, adding that the council wanted to have more cultural relations with other countries through education.

He said British Council was supporting the Higher Education Commission (HEC) to bring about positive changes in education sector.

The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), Pakistan’s apex regulatory body, has launched web consultation forum aims to achieve border consultation of public at large and stakeholders over the SECP’s proposed regulations, policies and initiatives. 

In its press release, SECP invited stakeholders, professionals, academia and general public to participate in ongoing, in-depth discussions on specific topics and issues related to capital market, non-banking financial sector, and insurance and corporate sector regulations.

You can visit SECP’s Web forum here.

At the time of writing this article – there are currently 158 Posts, 87 total members with 72 active, already. The left side of the website displays active forums and threads with topics including proposed bancassurance regulatory framework, report of the SECP’s reform committee on non-banking financial sector, regulations for the draft bond pricing agency and commercial papers (CP) regulations.

Be there Guys

I believe this is a wonderful opportunity for ACCA affiliates, members and of course, for students to interact there not only with SECP but with other finance and corporate individuals.

This platform provides an excellent opportunity for ACCA to network which is a rare skill to be found among students, especially.

You can give you input and seek answers from other professionals and who know you might meet your future boss there?

Just recently, I met with an ACCA student (yes, he’s still a student) in Islamabad who seek my expertise to help him build his team and train them. 

His team – a group of 12 ACCA students – are working under him – providing accountancy services to clients overseas. The impressing part was his determinism and courage to start his Business Processes Outsourcing business from this early stage.

Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA)  recently introduced a new certificate programme to support finance professionals in understanding the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for small and medium-sized entities (SMEs), which we believe could help them setting up their own accountancy practice for overseas clients (Forget ICAP’s Restriction, its only for Pakistan)

A statement from the professional body, said the programme named ‘CertIFR’ would ensure finance professionals understand the details of the IFRS.

The IFRS for SMEs has been adopted in many countries and its use is spreading.

“It would be essential for many finance professionals – especially those working for SMEs, to understand this standard that will be used by the millions of companies within its scope.

“This IFRS has significant disclosure reductions to the full IFRS for larger companies, and different accounting treatments for items such as goodwill. The aim of the certificate is to ensure finance professionals will understand how the IFRS for SMEs is used around the world and know how to use it in practice. It will also enable them to examine its fundamental requirements for the benefit of preparers, auditors and users of financial statements,” the ACCA said.

On his part, Director, Learning, ACCA, Alan Hatfield said: “The certificate is available on-demand so it fits around people’s jobs and lives. The course is not just for those who want formal recognition; if you value the extra knowledge you can just take the course without completing the online assessment.”

By Ahsan Nawab (Lahore)

I received a message from my friend a few days back, and after reading it I felt disappointed and dejected. I came to know that the apex accounting institution of Pakistan; ICAP, has forbidden the article-ship of the students who are attaining foreign degrees related to accountancy from local institutes, which include: ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants), ICAEW (Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales) and CIMA (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants). 

Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP) decided to take a stand on its notice which was issued to audit firms to refrain them from hiring students of foreign accountancy qualification with a little disagreement among council members.

ICAP’s high ranked accountants who are considered as Role Models in the eyes of the students related to the field of accountancy and they want to become like them are the same accountants who showed a discriminative behavior with the Youth of Pakistan.

“Billions of rupees are being transferred to the U.K as the fee of students” – ICAP just made this reason the base of restricting the article-ship of the students who are attaining the foreign degree of accountancy in Pakistan.

The fault of these students is just that they preferred ICAEW over ICAP. Being a Pakistani, moreover, according to Pakistan’s Constitution of 1973, every Pakistani is free to acquire the education of his own choice and no one has the right to restrict it. But today, ICAP has tried to take away this right from the Pakistani students who are attaining a foreign degree of accountancy.

The worldwide trade is lead on the custom of “Give and Take”. The way ICAP has forbidden ICAEW; if ICAEW –the pioneer of ICAP, does the same with the Pakistani C.A then the worth of ICAP would be greatly damaged. If ICAEW issues the same notification to all the accountancy firms of Europe and forbids the C.A trainee of Pakistan then firstly, those chartered accountants who go to the foreign countries for earning bread for their family would suffer from lack of opportunities and secondly, the economy of Pakistan would suffer a great loss because these Pakistani’s when go to the foreign countries for job, they earn money and send a great amount of it to Pakistan and enhances Pakistan’s Economy.

There is no doubt in the fact that a huge amount of money is being invested in the fee of the students and sent to U.K but it is on the short term basis. But, when these students go to the foreign countries for job after the completion of their education, they send much more money than that of the fee invested on them to Pakistan and it is on the long term basis. The Pakistani’s from overseas are giving a lot of support to the economy of Pakistan.

When ICAP issued this notification, all the future chartered accountants showed a gesture of patriotism and raised this issue on social media and other different forums rather than protesting in front of ICAP’s building and striking.
These days, the ICAP ACCA case is being processed in the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) and it is anticipated that a wise decision would be taken in favor of the future chartered accountants of Pakistan.

Yet, what is to be expected from others when Pakistan’s own institutions are showing such discriminating behavior for the public?

Letter written to PakitanACCA reflect the thoughts and feelings of readers. PakistanACCA may or may not, partially or fully, agree with content of these letters.

You can write to us by visiting this page

ACCA and CIMA are both great professional qualifications which are respected and admired around the world. I came across a surprising fact recently though which I bet the majority of ACCA and CIMA members and students never knew.

Nissan Motor Co. Ltd is one of the world’s leading car manufacturers and a couple of months ago over in Japan they launched a new car.

Quoting some of Nissan’s promotional material about the car, some of the key features include:

- Styling expressing a premium class image

-Hybrid system with optimally balanced driving and environmental performance

- Spacious and comfortable rear seats

As the picture shows it’s a handsome looking car and I’d personally be more than happy to drive it around.

What about Helen Brand (the Chief Executive of ACCA) or Charles Tilley (the Chief Executive of CIMA) though?

Do you think they would be happy to be seen driving the car?

Well, my guess is that one of them will be happier than the other as the name of the new Nissan car is none other than the Nissan Cima.

Yes, that’s right – one of the leading car manufacturers in the world has just launched the Cima car.

Nissan has not produced a car aimed at accountants in Japan but instead the Cima car name is derived from the Spanish for “summit”.

It raises an interesting question though – does this mean that there’s no need to study for your exams to become a CIMA member as all you’ll need to do is to buy a Cima car and then you can add Cima (driver) to your CV?

Oh, and one final thing but I don’t think there’s any truth to the rumours that ACCA are currently in discussions with Toyota to produce a new car called the Toyota Acca.

via ExP

The future of accounting profession looks very positive in the UAE and the Middle East, according to industry experts. 

The profession is quite important across the world and it will continue to grow in the country and GCC as well, they said at an accounting and auditing event held in Sharjah on Saturday.

Organised by the UAE-based ‘OpenThinking’, it was an open forum of accounting and auditing ethics from basic management to business process improvements and intricate decision-making policies.

The big picture is that the future of accounting profession should be very positive as all of the regional economies experiencing growth, Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) Middle East head Stuart Dunlop told Khaleej Times on the sidelines of the event.

“We need to see Gulf nationals coming into the profession,” Dunlop said. “We live in Arab world, so we need to see more boys and girls in this profession from this part of the world,” he added.

Dunlop mentioned that total members of ACCA in the UAE are around 1,000 but less than one per cent are nationals. There are 15-20 per cent members from Arab word.

Another panelist Soha Ragab, vice-president — Abu Dhabi from CFA Emirates, said: “We really need to regain the lost confidence of investors.”

The panel discussion on ‘The Future of Accounting Profession’ was also attended by Karim Abd-Elhay from Institute of Management Accountants (Dubai Chapter); Saif Mohammed bin Abed Al Mehairi, chairman, UAE Accountant and Auditors Association; and Esmat Fahimy, executive director of Talal Abu Ghazaleh, Dubai Office.

Fahimy mentioned that profewssionally qualified people are needed for senior posts in this profession. Responding to a question, he said certification and professional experience both are required for full fledged accountant.  “Despite 30 years in this profession, I am still learning,” he added.

“Its sad to see students complaining about job market. If you have to complain then start with yourself”

With a medium height, heavy eyebrows and framed glasses, its not hard for anyone to guess that Danish Zafar is either a chartered accountant or an IT expert, a typical outlook common in both kinds of Professionals. But he is both, an accountant and an IT expert.

Danish, who is an ACCA member now, started his company DYS Solutionsback in 2006 when he was a student. After five years in business and with several trials and tribulations, he’s planning to aim for Pakistan’s SME sector and compete with the giants in ERP market.

So what struck him to start a career in this field? ” I started my career with internship in a chartered accountant firm (Riaz Ahmad, Saqib, Gohar & Co).
Actually the chartered accountant firm I worked with mostly dealt with SME and medium enterprises so during my training I got well versed with the their norms and general business cycle, so from the experience I learned in those years helped me a lot in identifying the needs for an online application”, he said.

“Like most college students, at that time I was also running after IT and programming courses knowing the fact that IT will be the next big thing in the market so I had some interaction and interest with software application in my student life and that helped me a lot in starting with my own application. Studying ACCA was definitely a plus for me”, he added.

“The Solutions we are offering are designed keeping in mind the average budget and requirements of SMEs in Pakistan. The problem with most of the Software Houses in Pakistan is that they are already stuck to desktop based environments for the last 10-15 years and changing platform is like rebuilding the whole structure again and involves heavy transition cost. Luckily at the time we started people are already shifting towards web based platform (like ASP and PHP) so we didn’t have to incur any extra transition cost, as we already started off with a web based platform i.e. PHP.”

“I believe we have an edge over the conventional software houses in terms of the cost and investment incurred over our project, and we are able to offer competitive and cost effective solutions”, he added enthusiastically.

Looking Back to Student Life

“Looking back at my decision of leaving audit firm – I think I made the right choice. The life is much more than that. Now at DYS Solutions, we have 20 or more clients in our portfolio and most of the clients are from Retail and Trading sector”, Danish told us.

“Going forward we are planning to build support and related applications which will be integrated with our core ERP. Currently projects which are in pipeline are attendance system, HRM and CRM”, he added.

“We are Banking on Pakistan’s dynamic and fast growing SME sector”, he added with a smile.

The IMA(R) (Institute of Management Accountants) Research Foundation and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) announced today a special joint call for research proposals from accounting academics and practitioners. 

The announcement was made during the American Accounting Association’s (AAA) Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.

IMA and ACCA welcome research proposals in the categories of Enterprise Risk Management, Technology Enablement and Business Performance Management, though proposals addressing other relevant management accounting topics may also be considered.

The deadline for submissions is January 31, 2013, and up to US$ 100,000 will be awarded to grant recipients. For submission guidelines, visit www.imanet.org/researchfoundation.

“As the latest initiative of our strategic partnership with ACCA, we hope to award multiple research projects with the objective of advancing thought leadership and best practices in the management accounting profession,” said Raef Lawson, Ph.D., CMA, CPA, IMA vice president of research, who made the live announcement.

“This joint call for research supports both ACCA’s and IMA’s aim to lead and shape the agenda of the accountancy profession,” said Ewan Willars, ACCA director of policy. “We’re pleased to partner with IMA on this important initiative, and look forward to receiving proposals.”

CAMS – College of Accounting and Management Sciences, a trusted name in finance and business education since 1994, has now become a premier education provider in Karachi offering a range of qualifications from professional courses of ACCA, CIMA, CA of ICAEW & ICAP, and CFA to degree programs such as BBA, MBA, BIS, Management, Marketing etc in affiliation with local and internationally recognized accrediting bodies. 

We are the only Platinum ALP (Approved Learning Partner) of ACCA in Karachi. This is the highest status awarded by ACCA to an ALP based on producing above global average pass-rates continuously for a number of years. This has become possible due to a pool of faculty with a background of expertise in academia and industry.

We understand the importance of people in an organization in achieving its corporate success. Human Resource (HR) is now globally recognized as most precious asset of any organization and investing in HR is an investment which gives long-term dividends to a company.

CAMS offers a host of professional Human Resource Development courses in ERP, Corporate Law, Corporate Reporting, Soft Skills, Audit Requirements, Performance Management Systems, Financial Management, Business English etc customized to meet your specific training needs.

To discuss this further, please feel free to email me at ‘fazal.haq@cams.edu.pk’ or contact my colleague Asma Siddiqui at ‘asma.siddiqui@cams.edu.pk’.

ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) hosted an event on 14 March to discuss the future of the accountancy profession in Afghanistan.

The Afghanistan Stakeholders’ Roundtable was held in Dubai, and was attended by a number of experts with interests in building the accountancy profession in the country, from employers representing a wide range of sectors including public practice, banking institutions and non-governmental organizations. Other experts from the various multilateral agencies were also represented, including:

·         Dr Ahmad Abdullah Almeghames, Deputy Chairman, PAODC, International Federation of Accountants (IFAC)

·         Ms Jennifer Thomson, South Asia Manager, The World Bank; and

·         Mr Richard Sunderland, Director, British Council.

The event was hosted by the ACCA Emerging Markets – Asia directorate and Ms Lucia Real-Martin, Director Emerging Markets – Asia for ACCA delivered the opening remarks and set the scene for the day’s discussions.

Speaking at the event, Lucia Real-Martin said: “Essentially, developing and growing economies need skilled and talented finance professionals, and Afghanistan is no different in this respect. The whole point of the roundtable was to understand what it means to grow the accountancy profession in Afghanistan, and discuss the benefits that the profession can bring to economies, not just in Afghanistan, but also on a global stage.”

Reza Ali, Head of Emerging Markets – Asia ACCA added: “The event also emphasised the need for ACCA to work in partnership with relevant bodies in Afghanistan, from employers to the government to universities and learning partners. Partnerships are incredibly important to ACCA and we have developed a substantial global network of partnerships which are central both to ACCA’s ability to deliver its qualifications and services internationally and which also contribute to developing the accountancy profession. ACCA is committed to supporting the development of the profession in Afghanistan in partnership with all the other key stakeholders in the country.”

The event came on the back of an ACCA Afghanistan Learning Partners Forum which was led by Dr Afra Sajjad, Regional Head of Education, MENASA, ACCA a day earlier. The aim of the forum was to share best practices in accountancy learning and education with representatives from Afghan universities including Bakhtar University and the American University of Afghanistan.

Speaking at the forum, Afra Sajjad said: “This event is the first step towards working with learning partners and universities in Afghanistan to developing quality learning support enabling young people of Afghanistan to realise their dreams of becoming global professional accountants.”

Rafiullah Sherzad, Senior Project Manager, Harakat Foundations, one of the delegates at the event said: “The Afghanistan Stakeholders’ Roundtable was the beginning of an inspiring and effectual development of accountancy and the audit profession in Afghanistan The involvement and assistance of ACCA in this emerging profession in a post-war country such as Afghanistan is very essential. I hope ACCA along with key stakeholders keep the commitments and overcome the challenges to support the profession and contribute to rejuvenating Afghanistan.”

Lucia Real-Martin concluded: “It was an incredibly interesting session, and one which filled me with a sense of optimism about the future for the profession in Afghanistan, but also across the whole of South Asia. Yes, there are challenges ahead, but by working together we can build capacity and look to the future. ACCA is committed to the development of the profession.”