May
CAMBODIA
ACCA's graduation ceremony was presided over by the National Accounting Council and Undersecretary of State for the Ministry of the Economy and Finance and covered in ‘TVK (Television Kampuchea)', ‘Rasmei Kampuchea Daily', ‘Koh Santepheap News', and ‘Kampuchea Thmei News'.
CARRIBEAN
Businesses dealing with high volumes of cash are considered to be particularly vulnerable to exploitation for money laundering purposes and are increasingly being subjected to regulatory controls, according ACCA UK as quoted in Trinidad and Tobago's ‘Newsday'.
The responsibility of businesses against money laundering was also covered by Barbados's ‘The Nation' who reported on ACCA's input into the seminar on the topic organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Barbados.
CHINA (MAINLAND)
ACCA was quoted in ‘Xinhuanet' and ‘Lao Dong Daily' as stating that accountants with international qualifications would be in high demand in long run as China has converged with international accounting standards. International qualifications including ACCA are also mentioned and these qualifications are said to help job seekers to be more competitive.
The National Education Achievement Award was given to Shanghai University of Finance and Economics for its outstanding achievement in the joint training of accounting and finance talents with ACCA –‘Shanghai Education TV', ‘CPA View website' and ‘Sina website'.
Joint work is also to take place between the Chinese Institute of Certified Public Accountants (CICPA) and ACCA to ‘train the trainers' to further improve the teaching and reported on CPA View website.
ACCA Job Hunting Camp and Competition receives over 1,200 applications from Shanghai, Nanjing and Hangzhou reported ‘Sina website'. The competition will soon enter into the stage of campus interview in Shanghai.
HONG KONG
“Going public” was the theme of the ACCA Annual Conference held on May the 6th and this was the catalyst for insights into governance, accounting issues and compliance, due diligence and risk management, covered in the ‘Sing Pao Daily'.
Issues related to tax form filing and the ACCA Free Tax Advisory Services was prominent due to the recent changed in filing tax returns. Advice from ACCA was featured in ‘TVB', ‘Cable TV Finance Information Channel', ‘Ming Pao Daily' “JUMP”, ‘Recruit', ‘Career Times', ‘Hong Kong Economic Times' and ‘Metro Finance Radio Program and News'.
In an interview in ‘SCMP Young Post' ACCA member Chris Tang, discussed his role as Credit Analysis Manager and how his ACCA qualification helped him through his assessment work. ‘Ming Pao' “Jump” featured an interview with ACCA Committee member Kelly Chan, Financial Controller of Heineken in which she shared her insights on how to stay competitive in the industry, including flexibility and communication skills. ACCA's president was also interviewed for “Career Times” and shared insight into the rise in demand for accounting professionals in Hong Kong and China.
The appointment of ACCA Fellow member Mr. Chan Wah Bong as the executive director of Hong Kong Economic Times Group effective June 1, 2006 was reported on ‘Yahoo News' and ‘ET Net'.
IRELAND
‘Irish Independent'- ACCA Ireland have announced that Brian McEnery, corporate finance partner with Horwath Bastow Charleton accountants, and Brendan Murtagh, partner with LHM Casey McGrath have been elected to serve on ACCA's global governing council. Meanwhile, Des Hanrahan, head of business banking for the south Dublin region with Bank of Ireland Group, has been elected president of ACCA Ireland for 2006/07.
MALAYSIA
‘The Edge' published a special supplement on ACCA Malaysia Environmental and Social Reporting Awards (MESRA) 2005 in which participants of the Awards and their sustainability and CSR activities were featured.
Datuk Mohd Nasir Ahmad's weekly column in ‘Berita Harian' featured ACCA's initiative on MESRA and how companies should be more responsible for the environment.
RUSSIA
‘IFRS Application' carried a 5-page article about ACCA qualification including interviews.
More focus on internal controls in large corporations has triggered surge of demand for qualified accountants and ACCA in particular according to recruitment consultants according to ‘Monies'.
SINGAPORE
‘Can You Override the IAS/FRS?' this was the topic of an article written by ACCA for ‘Singapore Accountant' which discussed concerns and dangers relating to ‘true and fair overrides' over financial reporting standards.
SRI LANKA
The premier ACCA cricket tournament proved to be a success, the event was held on the 7th of May and received pre-event coverage in the ‘Daily News'.
The Interact Club of D S Senanayake College hosted their annual International Understanding project, the Interact Cultural Festival (ICF) which was sponsored by ACCA. ICF 2006's theme was ‘Chronicles of cultural revolution through evolution' and the ‘Sunday Observer Magazine' promoted the upcoming event.
SOUTH AFRICA
CEO Magazine features the profile of Kholeka Mzondeki , who is an ACCA qualified accountant and also sits on the International Assembly of ACCA.
UGANDA
The ‘Daily Monitor' and ‘New Vision' newspaper features the appointment of Lucille Isingoma as ACCA's country manager in Uganda.
UNITED KINGDOM
‘The Financial Times' featured two letters from ACCA; one voicing ACCA's views on Operating and Financial Review and the other on demutualisation. Demutualisation was also featured in an article in the ‘Financial Adviser' covering the main points of a report written for the All Party Parliamentary Group for Building Societies and Financial Mutuals earlier in the year called “Windfalls or Shortfalls: The true cost of demutualization”. The article details some of the main recommendations of the report – notably that an independent expert should give a view on whether a windfall figure represented good value or not.
A UK-wide students' society is to be launched in November by the 16,000-strong Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland, reflecting the fact that most of those training for the CA qualification are now based south of the border according to ‘The Herald' (Scotland).
‘The Times' ran an article discussing how people affected by rising property prices can avoid paying inheritance tax. There is an action plans which urges people to seek help from an accountant and ACCA is the only body mentioned which can provide a list of members in each local area.
‘The Birmingham Mail' covered Gillian Ball's election to Deputy President of ACCA.
The ‘Mail on Sunday' covered a story issued from ACCA about problems with HMRC's online filing for businesses filing their PAYE forms. The deadline was extended as a result of the fault and this was covered in ‘The Shropshire Star', ‘the Burton Mail', ‘Peterborough Evening Telegraph', ‘Sheffield Star', and ‘Barnsley Star' (Business section).
ACCA is quoted at length in an article in ‘The Business' about the Planning Gain Supplement (PGS) and how much-needed affordable homes will be jeopardised by government proposals to tax property development.
London's ‘City AM' newspaper carried a special supplement about becoming an accountant and fast tracking to the top of the profession. ACCA is mentioned extensively in the coverage and also details various ACCA-trained case studies including David Hilton, Assistant Manager at KPMG who stated: "I chose to train with the ACCA because it is a globally recognised qualification."
A joint collaboration between Cambridge ESOL and ACCA means that Accountants can now take a new test in financial English. The exam will assess the readiness of accountants and financial professionals for working in the global economy and was reported in ‘The Guardian' (Weekly).
Dennis Yeates, the newly appointed President said in ‘The Health Service Journal' that two of his priorities for his presidency include seeing new ways of accounting for the introduction of e-health and other new technologies, to encourage their adoption by the NHS.
‘The Times' reported the drive by ICAEW to gain new members has angered competitors. The report says that "In the past month, ICAEW has taken the unprecedented step of writing to almost all the finance directors in the FTSE 100 to suggest that they encourage their staff to switch allegiance and qualifications." A spokesman for the ACCA describes ICAEW's actions as "distasteful", while Charles Tilley, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants said: “I question whether it is professional."
A survey conducted by the small business unit was covered in ‘The Financial Times' and ‘The Daily Telegraph'.
An article about the EU outlawing unfair trading practices and boosting consumer protection, with top tips from ACCA about consumer rights was carried in the ‘Birmingham Post'.
An interview with ACCA on 'BBC Radio Three Counties' covered debt and managing finances.
VIETNAM
The inclusion of Vietnamese law and corporate taxation in ACCA's December examination was reported in the ‘Vietnam News'. The view that the inclusion is a major impetus towards the internationalisation of Vietnamese accountants, and takes Vietnam one step closer to integrating with regional and international legal systems was expressed by Bui Van Mai, Director of the Finance Ministry's Accounting System Department.