Talal Abu-Ghazaleh: Arab Society of Accountants is an Educational Establishment and not a Unionized Organization
22 Feb 1993This Year I Chair the UN Conference on Accounting
Firstly, I’d like to thank my brother Dr. Abdel Aziz Hijazi for complimenting my personal connections and material capabilities that enabled me to achieve individual successes per his statement. This is a praise that I hope I deserve. I would also like to reassure him that I am not a guest in Egypt, but rather am here among my family and friends and in my country. This is because Egypt represents Arabs collectively and can therefore not have an Arab “guest”. Here I proudly remember that my father- may God’s mercy be upon him- always used to tell us that every Arab is an Egyptian, and that our grandfather was Egyptian that moved to Palestine, just as all Arabs move throughout the Arab communities in intertwinement and harmony, which has made us one Arab nation with Cairo being its beating heart.
I have reviewed the objectives that the Federation of Arab Accountants and Auditors seeks to achieve, and I would be happy for the federation to achieve success and serve the profession after it has failed to do so up till now due to the politicization that my brother Abdel Aziz Hijazi explained.
I also hope that the two federation branches from their headquarters in Baghdad and Cairo can come together into one federation, and that the Arab unity for this unionized institution can be obtained, and a charter can be signed that takes it away from politics and the control of politicians.
The League of Arab States – and particularly under its current wise leadership- will not be used as a tool of enmity against anybody. It is a league for Arabs and not a league to divide Arabs. I have displayed my good intent and a willingness to assist in helping the federation emerge from its crisis and disunity, and to help my brother Abdel Aziz Hijazi in his difficult conditions. Yet he considered this good behavior as weakness, and demanded that the Society (i.e. Arab Society of Certified Accountants; ASCA) be dissolved to eliminate this educational institution that has reached the pinnacle of the profession in the world, and carries the responsibilities of this profession with no competitor throughout the Arab region.
I’m confident that my brother Abdel Aziz Hijazi will be happy to know that this year I will chair the accounting educational conference organized by the UN in New York, due to the UN’s appreciation of the role of ASCA in developing accounting education in the Arab region and at the global level, and this will be a source of pride for every Arab.
As for the focus of Mr. Hijazi on my expulsion from the federation of Baghdad and the war waged on that federation from 1983 till now, that is a matter that concerns Baghdad and will not hinder the march of ASCA just as ASCA wasn’t hindered in the past by it, nor by the position of the Baghdad federation or the attitude of my brother Abdel Aziz Hijazi. This attitude that I refer to has been concerned with me particularly since 1975, and lately he has escalated his campaign in newspapers, which forced me to sue him in the Egyptian courts, based on what was published in the Kuwaiti Alanba’a paper, issue # 5977 dated December 26, 1992.
In this issue, an interview was conducted with Dr. Hijazi –former PM of the Arab Republic of Egypt and representative of the Egyptian Society in the general Federation of Arab Accountants and Auditors- in Kuwait, where he objected to me being elected as a member on the board of directors of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) in New York, and he talked about me I such a way that is considered slander, that requires a lawsuit per Egyptian laws.
While a awaiting a ruling from the Egyptian court on misdemeanor case # 474/1993 at the Aljiza center that was raised by myself against him and for which a session was determined on February 22, 1993, I’d like to respectfully clarify the following facts to the reader:
- ASCA (headquartered in London) is proud that this election has achieved the first Arab presence at the summit’s profession worldwide, with an important and honorable position. This is considered an appreciation to the achievements of the society –which includes leaders of the discipline in the Arab region- by the international conference of accountants convened in Washington last October.
- ASCA is an Arab regional educational establishment that is concerned with qualifying the Arab accountant and developing the accounting profession. It is not a union or federation or national society or political grouping. Therefore, there is no similarity or incompatibility between it and the Arab federation that represents a congregation of unions and national societies and which has been subject since it establishment to political currents that are greatly removed from the interests of the profession.
- When ASCA was created in 1983 and because of it, the Arab federation from its headquarters in Baghdad issued a decision to expel me which was executed solely by the Kuwaiti Society of Accountants and Auditors and excluded by all other members-societies in the federation. With that, my relationship with the Kuwaiti society and the Arab federation (at both its locations in Cairo and Baghdad) was terminated and this has continued since then to this day.
- Neither myself nor ASCA had at any point in time any role to claim in the administration of the Jordanian Auditors Society. This is the Jordanian national society that has an effective role in the Arab federation and not in ASCA, which has been and still is boycotted by the Arab federation.
As such, it is clear that my story with brother Abdel Azizi Hijazi is long-standing and ever-renewing, which I am proud of because it has caused nothing but success for me as Mr. Hijazi attests to. Accordingly, and to be diligent towards the readers’ time and out of respect for the profession and colleagues working in it, I will not elaborate further on any subsequent statements for Mr. Hijazi, and will leave the matter in the hands of the fair Egyptian justice system.
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