ACCA joins hands with Nayatel

ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) has awarded Nayatel (Pvt) Ltd. with employer accreditation recently in Islamabad.

ACCA’s prestigious global programme is awarded to employers who meet high standards for training and developing their employees, and show a commitment towards supporting the ongoing development of their ACCA employees.

Sajjeed Aslam, head of ACCA Pakistan, presented Nayatel with the Approved Employer certificate. At the ceremony Sajjeed stated, “Gaining global accreditation for Professional Development shows the commitment Nayatel has to developing its staff. ACCA looks forward to further strengthening this relationship to assist them in creating the next generation of finance professionals across Pakistan.”

Wahaj us Siraj, CEO, Nayatel (Pvt) Ltd., appreciated the acumen of the ACCA Trainees working at Nayatel. “We strongly believe that our country and society can become a great contributor to the knowledge based economy of 21st century by leveraging on the talent and intellect of young generation. With our finance team led by the young ACCA trainees, we are confident that we are headed in the right direction.”

The ceremony was also presided by Junaid Ahmed, head of North, ACCA Pakistan. “We are extremely excited to have a wide spread portfolio of organisations on board with ACCA. Apart from providing professional and training development to Nayatel, we also look forward to the opportunities to collaborate on a wide range of issues such as the support for enhancing the capacity building of ACCA Trainees and on improving access to finance talent.”

IMPROVING HEALTH AND NUTRITIONAL STATUS OF SCHOOL GOING CHILDREN IN PUNJAB

Lahore, January 26, 2015: Nur Center for Research and Policy (NCRP), is organizing a National Dissemination Seminar to disseminate the findings of its research and advocacy project titled ‘Evidence Generation and Advocacy for Institutionalization of School Health Programme (SHP) in the Punjab Province,’ on Thursday, January 29, 2015 in Lahore.

The evidence generated through this project is expected to make a compelling case for institutionalization of the School Health Programme in the Education System in Punjab and eventually Pakistan. The seminar will serve as a forum to review and share the research findings and challenges confronting Pakistan in improving the health and nutritional status of school going children in Punjab.

Representatives from Government program offices including Health and Education Minister along with Secretaries, private sector, NGOs/INGOs like UNICEF, UNHCR WHO, and Community Support Response groups shall take part in this seminar.

NCRP endowed by Nur Foundation and the technical arm of Fatima Memorial Hospital, is a policy think tank that offers research, policy advice, technical assistance and capacity enhancement across the health, education and social sectors through a consortium of consultants and public health experts is currently working on a research and advocacy project on evidence generation and advocacy for institutionalization of school health programme in Punjab.

ACCA signs an MoU with UMT to promote the Accounting and Finance profession in Pakistan.

ACCA-the global body for professional accountants and the University of Management and Technology (UMT) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to promote the Accounting and Finance profession in Pakistan.

According to this MoU, graduates of BCOM programme are entitled to exemptions from ACCA papers F1 to F7 while graduates of BS Accounting and MCOM programmes of the University of Management and Technology (UMT) are eligible for exemptions from ACCA papers F1 to F9 in line with ACCA’s global accreditation policy.

The ceremony was attended by Sajjeed Aslam, Head of ACCA Pakistan, Mr. Faisal Azeem, Head of Education North and Sabahat Khan, BRM-Learning. The MoU was signed by the Rector UMT, Dr Hasan Shoaib Murad and Head of ACCA Pakistan, Sajjeed Aslam.

Sajjeed Aslam, Head of ACCA Pakistan stated, “I strongly believe that this is an excellent opportunity for students of UMT to top up their academic degrees with a globally recognised professional accountancy qualification. ACCAs are known to be complete financial professionals, having breadth and depth of skills, which are needed by employers.”

Dr Hasan Shoaib Murad, Rector UMT commented that, “Students pursuing degrees in finance and accounting have a great future in store in Pakistan and a wealth of opportunities are available in this field in Japan, China and the Gulf countries. We are designing the accounting degree programmes at UMT so that the curriculum equips them with the maximum theoretical and professional knowledge.”

The accreditation of UMT’s BCOM, BS Accounting and MCOM programmes will enhance the recognition of these programmes. Graduates from UMT with dual qualification will have better acceptability in local and international job markets which have become increasing competitive.

Another Mileston in Branchless Banking -Traffic challan can be paid at Easypaisa shops in KPK

Through its financial services, Telenor’s Easypaisa has introduced a new way of collecting Traffic Challans for assisting the Traffic Police department in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK).
Easypaisa has partnered with A2Z e-payments which is an e-payment service provider and now upon the violation of traffic rules, offenders residing in KPK can easily deposit their challan fine at selected Easypaisa shops in the province.
Offender can now visit the nearest designated Easypaisa shop in order to pay the traffic challan, instead of NBP or Police booth along with the issued Traffic Challan.
The Easypaisa merchant will collect the fine and process the transaction on an installed POS machine, which will generate a receipt for the merchant as well as the offender followed by SMS receipts on their mobile phones.
However, the last step of collecting the documents will remain the same i.e. by submitting a physical receipt of the challan payment transaction at the Traffic Police Center.
Telenor Pakistan started this service two weeks ago and the exercise is in its initial phase. According to company’s spokesperson,

“Telenor is more than happy to work with other provinces as well, however, the request for interest has to come from their respective Traffic Police Departments”.

By providing these services to the residents of KPK, Easypaisa has become the first and the only branchless banking network to help Traffic Police department in challan collection.
Another interesting development in KPK lately has been the introduction of a new mobile application, by KPK police which will notify the police of any potential emergency situation in just one click.

ACCA Pakistan adds Next Pharmaceutical into their Approved Employer Programme

ACCA Pakistan awarded Next Pharmaceutical with Gold Approved Employer status in recognition of their commitment towards training and development of ACCA trainees and members. ACCA’s Approved Employer Programme plays a pivotal role in the recruitment, development and retention of the ACCA qualified employees in the approved organizations. It allows organizations to reach global best practice in the provision of learning and development opportunities for ACCA trainees and members.

The approved employer certificate was presented to Mr Rizwan Butt, CEO, Next Pharmaceutical by Mr Junaid Ahmed, Head of ACCA Pakistan North. During the ceremony Mr Rizwan said, “We are honored to have been awarded the Gold Approved Employer status.  ACCA trainees and qualified members have proved to be an asset for us as they are highly competitive and are very competently driving the finance function of our organisation”.

Speaking at the occasion Mr Junaid, Head of ACCA Pakistan North expressed that, “We are extremely delighted to have Next Pharmaceutical as an ACCA approved employer and with this linkage, we aim to provide quality talent to the Next Pharma’s management.”

The ceremony was attended by senior officials from both organisations including Mr. Zohair Ahmad ACCA, CFO, Next Pharmaceutical, Mr. Hammad Azim, Head of Marketing ACCA Pakistan and Mr. Shahid Khan, Business Development Manager ACCA Pakistan.

ACCA and University of London launch ground-breaking Masters programme

ACCA and the University of London join to launch the first ever world-class Masters programme integrated with a prestigious professional qualification

ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) and the University of London have today agreed to offer a ground-breaking Masters programme to be made available to ACCA students and members around the world including Pakistan.

This marks the first time an accountancy body has joined with a university to enable students across the globe to gain a Masters’ degree and a professional accountancy qualification at the same time.

The combination of ACCA’s unparalleled global network of students and members, alongside the University of London’s unrivalled network of accredited teaching institutions will present a powerful partnership.

Helen Brand OBE, ACCA chief executive said: “We are delighted to be the first professional accountancy body to be able to deliver this type of programme, meaning ACCA now directly offers choice from a complete suite of professional and academic qualifications. ACCA has a long history of working with academic partners and is proud of the opportunities these partnerships offer to our students and members. Consistent with this, providing global access to a prestigious Masters qualification as part of ACCA’s professional qualification will offer our students and members the opportunity to enhance their employability even further.

“Through our strong global relationships, we know that employers in many markets place a very high value on finance leaders having both a professional and a Masters qualification. We also know ACCA’s flexibility and portability are big factors for students when making their decision about which path to take, and ACCA, and the University of London have just increased that access and flexibility.”

Sir Adrian Smith FRS, Vice-Chancellor of the University of London, commented: “The University is pleased to partner with ACCA to offer this pioneering programme to ACCA students and members worldwide.”

“This programme fits well with the University of London portfolio of over 100 international programmes which are offered in collaboration with our internationally renowned colleges in pursuit of our 156 year old widening access mission to learners worldwide. The programme will support students utilising modern online tools and interactive learning activities in addition to offering a range of learning support available through our well established community of teaching institutions and online tutors. Students successfully graduating from this programme will complement their professional skills with masters’ level outcomes to support their career development.”

The Masters programme will be available from early 2016 and will be delivered through online and local institutional support, in association with UCL. Further details relating to the routes for ACCA students and members will be available in March 2015.