Twenty Years of Service

19 May 2004
This year, we, at the Arab Society of Certified Accountants (ASCA) celebrate our 20th anniversary with pride and honor.
During these years, which have witnessed critical challenges at the regional and international levels, ASCA, with its initiative, determination and dedicated staff and officers, was able to meet these and overcome the obstacles and difficulties with which it was faced.
The founding fathers of ASCA were convinced that it was in the best interests of the Arab profession that it should be a Pan-Arab rather than a national society. They recognized the problems this would present and there was no shortage of those prophets of doom who made it clear that they believed that failure was inevitable. Certainly the political and social upheavals in the Arab world over the last twenty years has not made our task easy and has often slowed down , but never stopped, what we were trying to achieve . We have qualified students from 16 of the Arab nations and now hold the ACPA examinations in 28 Arab cities. The foundations are well secured and today we are looking forward with confidence and conviction to a strong and healthy future.
ASCA has represented professional Arab accountants in numerous international societies and associations such as: The International Accounting Standards Committee, The International Auditing Practices Committee, and The UN Intergovernmental Working Group of Experts on International Standards of Accounting and Reporting.
ASCA members have also been invited to serve on numerous international committees. I have had the honor of serving as president or vice-president of groups such as “The Globalization of the Accounting Profession”, and the UN Intergovernmental Working Group of Experts on International Standards of Accounting and Reporting.
We have recently acquired the unconditional approval of the Independent Qualification Organization (IQO) to establish an independent international organization that will first formulate and then secondly approve international standards for accounting training and examination.
In line with its mission, ASCA has made teaching and training agreements with a number of academic and professional institutions. Its most recent, and with which we are all delighted, has been with Cambridge International Examinations a department of the University of Cambridge whereby the ASCA designation Arab Certified Public Accountant (ACPA), which qualifies its holders at the international level, will be accredited by both ASCA and Cambridge University.
Communicating with members and students, and keeping them up to date is vitally important. Until ASCA launched its professional journal “The Arab Society of Certified Accountants Magazine” there was no such journal available in the Arab World even in English far less Arabic. That gap was filled and now that our magazine is available on-line members and students are even better able to keep up to date with national and international matters of importance.
Among ASCA’s members, are leading experts in the fields of accounting, auditing and financial training who occupy leading positions, industry and commerce, and government both regionally and internationally. They represent ASCA in international and regional associations and I would like to thank them for the work they do and their commitment to our profession.
Today, it is with great pleasure and honor that we commemorate the 20th anniversary of ASCA, and which will be celebrated at Cambridge University in August 2004. I am convinced that together we will fulfill our goals of strengthening and reinforcing the profession of accounting and auditing in the Arab World.
Talal Abu-Ghazaleh President of the Arab Society of Certified Accountants and
Chairman of its Board of Directors