February
CARIBBEAN
Newsday Business Day reported that ACCA is the Diamond Sponsor for the 17th World Congress of Accountants in Istanbul in November 2006.
ETHIOPIA
Capital reported that ACCA has been sharing its knowledge and experience with the Office Of the Federal Auditor General and that an ACCA team had been undertaking inspections of ACCA members working in Addis Ababa this week.
Extensive coverage was given by the Reporter of a seminar organised by ACCA Ethiopia which looked at the concerns surrounding the “brain drain” from Ethiopia. The reporter also quoted ACCA on the issues facing the country of losing well qualified professionals.
GHANA
A one-day seminar held by the ACCA Ghana Branch Committee on the Internal Agency Audit Act was reported on in The Daily Dispatch. ACCA called on its members to make good use of the knowledge acquired from the seminar. The seminar paper was aimed at equipping qualified accountants with the requisite knowledge of the act to ensure accuracy and reliability of financial information.
CHINA (MAINLAND)
The launch of ACCA's new qualification and its focus on ethics continued to receive coverage with articles in Accountant magazine, Shanghai Daily and on the Sina website.
ACCA's record growth in 2005 was reported on the E521 website.
Individual members were interviewed and consulted for articles on topics ranging from their personal experiences with ACCA to the changing role of Chief Financial Officer's in Mainland China. These articles appeared in International Financing, Accountant, and Accounting & Learning magazines; Sina, CPA View, Tensent, Tom, Hexun, and YCWB websites; and Private Economy News.
Cooperate Finance magazine reported that half the enterprises in Mainland China lack qualified employees, and mentioned the ACCA competence survey of accountants and finance professionals.
The ACCA sponsorship of the 17th World Congress of Accountants in Istanbul in November 2006 was reported in New Express.
HONG KONG
ACCA's recommendations to the Financial Secretary on the Budget 2006/07 were mentioned in the Sing Tao Daily, Apple Daily, Ta Kung Pao, Hong Kong Economic Journal and on Radio Television Hong Kong (web news). On the 22nd the Chairman of the ACCA HK Tax Sub-committee was interviewed on a live Metro Finance Radio and Hong Kong Broadband broadcasting programme about the Budget Speech that day. The Hong Kong Economic Journal, Sing Tao Daily and China Daily (HK Edition) all reported comments made by the ACCA following the Budget Speech. The China Daily (HK Edition) also published an article by the President of ACCA UK on the budget commentary.
The Apple Daily published articles written by ACCA HK Technical Services about the financial instrument, hedged funds, bonds, and financial statements.
The South China Morning post ran an interview with McDonalds about their cross-training programme. It mentioned that as part of implementing in-house programmes McDonalds sought the training assistance from the ACCA. The ACCA's Approved Employer Scheme provided a tailor-made training framework for the accounting department – setting out clear guidelines for systems and processes, and identifying areas in which employees have to improve. The focus was on instituting best practices and applying them regularly.
SINGAPORE
CFO Asia published an article entitled “Are You Earning Enough?” which included interviews with finance executives and head-hunters in Singapore, China and India. The interviews included the Singapore ACCA member and success story Benjamin Goh, who gained a 45% pay rise when he was headhunted by Citigroup from Ernst & Young.
CFO also published an article on the value of professional certificates which featured two ACCA members.
UNITED KINGDOM
As well as gaining coverage in the national Daily Mail, a news release from ACCA about the Euro Lottery and checking the status of syndicates achieved coverage throughout the whole of February in key regional newspapers, including Gloucestershire Citizen, The Sentinel, the Western Morning News, South Wales Evening Post, the Herald Express and the Kent and Sussex Courier.
A release on tax-self assessment was reported in the Manchester Evening News, as well as the national Guardian newspaper, while the growth of ACCA and its successes during 2005 was reported in the Glasgow Herald.
BBC World Service reported ACCA's input on the dispute over VAT charged on services in the European Union. This input was that the reduced rate of VAT for labour intensive services was significant to SMEs, and that the withdrawl would create adverse economic conditions for SMEs and sharply increase costs to consumers. The Financial Times also reported ACCA's suggestions that SMEs should be subject to lighter touch accounting regimes than listed companies.
The upcoming launch of the ACCA's EU Manifesto was discussed in The Times and Accountancy age.
Tax authorities claimed a ruling by Europe's top court boosted their attempts to prevent companies recouping VAT via tax-avoidance shemes. Reuters quoted ACCA on this issue: "The line the court is taking is that because VAT is on the consumer, they are allowing tax recovery in the chain all the way to that point. The court is putting out a marker that governments should not restrict VAT recovery by business where there is a genuine underlying economic activity as VAT is meant to be a tax at the end of the chain.”
The Mail on Sunday reported ACCA's input into why female entrepreneurs receive a third of the funding of their male counterparts when setting up in business.
The Independent on Sunday mentioned the ACCA UK's Sustainability Reporting Awards in an article on whether FTSE100 companies are providing comprehensive CSR reports.