June
AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND
ACCA's Australia and New Zealand Sustainability awards created debate within the Australasian media towards the end of May. The ‘BRW' and ‘Australian Financial Review' reported the awardees as did New Zealand's ‘scoop.co.nz' with the credit union MECU receiving the main prize this year.
CFO Magazine reported that after a decade of pushing by ACCA and independent standards bodies, such as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), Australian companies are yet to fully embrace sustainability reporting. According to the awards judges, far too many of the entrants continue to view social responsibility as nothing more than a feel-good marketing exercise.
CARIBBEAN
ACCAs newly elected president, Dennis Yeates, and Chief Executive Officer, Allen Blewitt's attendance at the 24th Annual Conference of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of the Caribbean (ICAC) was reported in ‘Barbados Advocate'. Post event coverage in the ‘Barbados Nation' reported Blewitt's view that the accounting profession now runs the risk of “killing entrepreneurship” in its zeal to repair its reputation following several high profile scandals:
“The question is whether we have the balance right between regulation and entrepreneurship. At the moment we are at risk of overbalancing and killing entrepreneurship and the ability of newly started companies to generate employment. If we do that then we have the balance wrong, but we are certainly at risk at the moment because there is a very heavy regulatory burden particularly on small businesses,” Blewitt contended.
‘Trinidad Express' reported ACCA fellow Catherine Kumar FCCA was appointed RBTT Managing Director. Ms. Kumar is the first woman to hold the top executive leadership position at a local commercial bank.
CHINA (MAINLAND)
‘CPA View website' reported that ACCA's second Job-Hunting Competition in Beijing was concluded. The prizes were won by Beijing Foreign Language Institute and Beijing University students. Around 400 students from 20 universities in Beijing participated in the competition. The same website also reported that ACCA is the Diamond Sponsor the 17th World Congress of Accountants.
Research findings from ACCA surveys were reported in ‘Beijing Daily' and ‘CPA View website.'
ACCA's participation in the China International Education Exhibition to be held in Wuhan and introduce ACCA qualification was reported on the ‘CNHan website.'
According to ‘Career Post' the combination of undergraduate courses and ACCA courses provides strong professional knowledge and skills for ACCA class students.
GHANA
‘The Heritage' reported that the ACCA Ghana Branch held its 3rd Investiture/Handing over Ceremony on the 8th of June 2006 in Accra. Mr Haruna Alhassan was appointed president of ACCA Ghana, the new president pledged the commitment of the Association to increase the number of CPD events for the coming year.
In a statement read by the Deputy Hon. Dr Charles Brempong-Yeboah, Mr Boniface Abubakar Saddique the Minister for Manpower, Youth and Employment commended ACCA for its CPD and capacity building programmes.
HONG KONG
ACCA member Elise Choi and ACCA student Dorothy Chow shared their education and career paths as professional accountants in an article in ‘Job Market'. Both of them were secondary school graduates about to gain the Bachelor degree in Accounting as well.
Two interviews with ACCA HK President received coverage. In ‘Recruit' the importance of financial reporting management to Small and Medium Enterprises was discussed in the Management column. The role of accountants and the education path for obtaining professional accounting qualification was discussed in ‘Job Market Education Series' where the importance of continuous professional knowledge update, communication skills as well as interpersonal skills were emphasized.
MALAYSIA
According to ‘Berita Harian' Accountancy is reported to be the first choice for Kuala Lumpur Infrastructure University College (KLIUC) students, and there was a special reference taken from ACCA's research publication titled Valuing Human Resources. ‘The Star' ran an article on CAT and ACCA programmes, offered by S.I.T. International College.
POLAND
Tomasz Zadroga, ACCA Senior Member, Member of the Board of Adidas Poland Ltd was featured in an article in ‘Financial Director Polska'.
‘Financial Director Polska' announced that Michal Kozlowski, ACCA Senior Member, has been appointed as the new vice-president and operational director in GMAC Bank Polska SA. Gustaw Duda, ACCA Senior Member, president of ACCA Poland, has been appointed as the new executive member in Orlen Oil Krakow and Rafineria Trzebinia and Lukasz Sas-Topolnicki, ACCA member, has been appointed as the new administrative and financial director in Castorama Polska.
RUSSIA
‘Monies' reported that an increased focus on internal controls in large corporations has triggered surge of demand for qualified accountants, particularly ACCA, according to recruitment consultants.
SRI LANKA
‘Sunday Observer Magazine' for the 6th consecutive year the Interact Club of D S Senanayake College will host their annual International Understanding project, the Interact Cultural Festival (ICF). The ICF 2006 was sponsored by ACCA and held on May 28 the theme was ‘Chronicles of cultural revolution through evolution'.
An article titled ‘Financial understanding for all professionals' provided an introduction to the ACCA Professional qualification in the ‘Daily Mirror'. The ‘Daily Mirror' also covered the ACCA CFO Breakfast meeting held on the topic, “The Strategically Agile CFO”.
SINGAPORE
New rules to govern charities in Singapore will commence in July 2006 and it was reported that some auditing firms are reluctant to audit charities as they are perceived as high risk in the wake of the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) scandal according to ‘The Straits Times'. Penelope Phoon, Head of ACCA Singapore, said the implementation of more stringent financial reporting requirements and other measures have increased the cost of auditing charities, which usually pay auditors below market rates.
‘The Business Times' carried the news that ACCA is going into partnership with The Corporate Governance and Financial Reporting Centre (CGFRC) of the National Business School. Both ACCA and CGFRC have revamped the scoring system of the Corporate Transparency Index (CTI) in order to keep up with evolving expectations.
UNITED KINGDOM
‘The Financial Times' & ‘The Daily Telegraph' both covered recent survey research from ACCA's Small Business Unit, saying that almost half of those who approached accountants for advice and guidance were "very satisfied" with the advice received. The Daily Telegraph picked up on the research findings that the sheer weight of red tape is a burden for the majority of small businesses.
In a letter to the ‘Financial Times' Richard Aitken-Davies commented on the debate over which model was best for accounting and auditing standard setting. The Vice President argued that what was most important was that standards needed to be applicable to SMEs, the mass of companies around the world. He argued that this is more important than theoretical debates.
ACCA was interviewed on ‘Radio Five Live' on the so-called Tax Freedom Day in the UK, the nominal date which designates the moment from the start of the year at which the average taxpayer stops paying the Chancellor and starts earning money for themselves.
‘Accountancy Age' reported the conclusion of a report by ACCA that middle income earners – those on salaries between £22,000 and £74,000 - would lose out from a flat tax system. As part of an in-depth analysis of a flat taxation system produced for ACCA, Richard Murphy, the tax researcher and campaigner, has suggested that a flat tax system in the UK employing a £10,000 personal allowance and a 20% tax rate would benefit the rich and the poor and hit middle earners, who would pay a higher effective rate than they do now.
ACCA was mentioned in the ‘Financial Times' twice, firstly data from ACCA's report on the impact of demutualisation on shareholders was included in a report on Standard Life's controversial move to list on the London Stock Exchange. Then again when ACCA was one of the bodies mentioned which had criticised Chancellor Gordon Brown following the Budget over the taxation of trusts and the additional complexity of the tax system. He has now responded by committing the UK government to a “stable and competitive tax regime”.
Anyone planning to make extra cash by renting out rooms to festival-goers and visitors to sports events should take steps to minimise their tax bills, advised ACCA the ‘Express on Sunday' reported. ACCA called on the Government to raise the Rent-a-Room threshold from £4,250 to £6,000 a year, which would be subject to review.
ZAMBIA
‘Zambia Daily Mail' publicised that ACCA awarded approved employer status to nine institutions: Standard Chartered Bank Plc, Barclays Bank Zambia Limited, Grant Thornton, KPMG Zambia, ZESCO Ltd, Zambia Telecommunications Ltd, Boart Long Year, Medical Stores and Mpongwe Milling Limited. These employers were commended for exhibiting best practice in learning and development support they provide to their employees.
The money laundering workshop organised by the British Council and ACCA Zambia received coverage in ‘Times of Zambia', ‘Zambia Daily Mail' and ‘The Post Thursday'. Auditor General, Anna Chifungula, an ACCA member, officially opened the workshop. Chifungula said corporate fraud and money laundering has serious impact on the economy and called for the review of existing legislation including auditing standards, the Public accountants act and other related laws.