ACCA President Brian McEnery talks about the importance of governance

Lahore, 18^th April 2017: ACCA President, Brian McEnery hosted an event at Serena Islamabad for the Auditor General of Pakistan, World Bank and the provincial governments to demonstrate its commitment to enhance transparency, accountability, reporting and capacity building in the public sector of Pakistan. ACCA also recognized the outgoing Auditor General, Rana Assad Amin for his efforts in improving accountability by auditing and reporting on the country’s operations.

Present at the ceremony was Brian McEnery, President of ACCA, Sajjeed Aslam, Head of ACCA Pakistan, Arif Masud Mirza, Regional Head of Policy MENASA and Haroon A Jan, Regional Head of Member Affairs MENASA. Representatives from Auditor General Pakistan included Imran Iqbal, Additional Auditor General of Pakistan, Dr. Talat Imtiaz, Deputy Auditor General – Policy, Rana Obaid Ur Rehman, Director - Special Sector Audit Local, Dalila Shakil, Director IRV&MT Local. Representatives from the World Bank included Syed Waseem Abbas Kazmi, Financial Management Specialist, Akram El-Shorbagi, Senior FM Specialist, Akmal Minallah, Senior FM Specialist, Qurat ul Ain Hadi, FM Specialist and Abdul Muneem Khattak, Financial Management Specialist, GPP FATA.  

ACCA’s commitment to delivering public value has been long standing. Arif Mirza – Regional Head of Policy MENASA highlighted ACCA's public sector initiatives to cognize the audience of the work that has been undertaken for the capacity building of the public sector workforce.

ACCA’s president, Brian McEnery deliberated on corporate governance and the importance of making sure that companies do the right thing for their various stakeholders: from investors, to those affected by their products or actions, to employees. He also pointed out that ‘corporate governance’ is an area where there are still huge variations in requirements, and critically in how they are applied. So it is important to understand the detail of what is really happening in order to understand where progress is needed in Pakistan when we are addressing corporate governance. Furthermore he added, “Essentially, ACCA has a role to play in training our future leaders in the basics of corporate governance. We cover not just technical training, but also equip our students and members with a broader set of skills which enables them to make ethical decisions and follow the tenets of good corporate governance.”

The ceremony concluded with remarks by Imran Iqbal – Additional Auditor General of Pakistan commented that on behalf of the office of the Auditor General of Pakistan, I offer the highest level of commitment to ACCA for all ongoing initiatives. He also stressed that as public sector employees they need to develop, maintain and embrace a strong ethical compass. He added that it is becoming increasingly expected that businesses should actively look to recruit and develop staff, especially senior executives, directors and financial staff, who have an exemplary ethical compass.