ACCA Pakistan and ICMA PAKISTAN HOLDS SEMINAR ON PROFESSIONALISM

The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) held a seminar with Institute of Cost and Management Accountants for Pakistan (ICMAP) for their members on “Professionalism”. The seminar focused on the importance of ethics as well as incorporating professionalism in any matter of the business and specifically for accountancy.

Haroon A. Jan, Head of Member Affairs, ACCA Pakistan and Mr. Muhammad Abbas started off the seminar by sharing facts and figures about ACCA and ICMAP.

Mr. Peter Large, Executive Director, Governance at ACCA and Mr. Saeed A. Sheikh, Chief Executive, Shaikhain Management & Law Consultants shared their views over the importance of incorporating ethics and professionalism while practicing accountancy.

Mr. Saeed A. Shaikh talking about the importance of ethics and what it really means to be an accountancy professional said:“There is a standard of ethical requirements for professional accountants. The first thing that is important is integrity followed by confidentiality and professional behavior. Professionals are accountable for their actions at all times therefore, even if the company or industry does not have a written code of conduct, they should display ethical behavior at all times.”

At the seminar, Mr. Peter Large highlighted what is professionalism, what accountancy profession offers and what does integrity mean in the accountancy profession. He shared that ACCA follows consistency in terms of standards globally being an international body of accountancy. ACCA has an international code of conduct for ethics and technical standards such as financial reporting standards and higher level conduct requirements.

Commenting on the role of an accountancy profession, Mr. Peter said: “The accountant in the workplace acts as a trusted adviser and a critical consultant. It is the duty of a professional accountant to foster appropriate corporate culture and governance. It is very important to not lose sight of the main role of accountancy profession and that is to add value to the business which will help a business grow.”

ACCA, the global body for professional accountants is a strong believer that finance experts always add value to economies and their qualifications are associated with the needs of employers in all sectors.