Arab Nations Unite to Establish Own Accounting Body
06 Oct 1983Arab accountants from 16 countries founded the Arab Society of Certified Accountants at the London headquarters of the Association of Certified Accountants this week.
Representatives from each of the countries met after visits to the area by Professor John Small during his presidency of the association last year. The society will aim to admit members by experience and also to set up its own exam machinery.
Previous attempts to set up a pan-Arab accounting body have floundered on the lack of an examining function.
Under the chairmanship of deputy president Frederick Bleasdale, accountants from far as Morocco and Bahrain agreed to establish a council and lay down a constitution. They will set up base in London.
Bleasdale said: “It is indeed an historic occasion. The society will have the highest ethical standards. They seem to be keen to establish it on those lines. The association will help on the technical side.”
He said he hoped the society would be recognized by the governments of the countries involved, which include Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Algeria, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, the Arab Emirates abd the Yemen Arab Republic.
Talal Abu-Ghazaleh of Jordan-based Talal Abu-Ghazaleh International, the largest Arab accountancy firm, will be president.
He said: “Our ambition is to develop a professional body which qualifies Arab accountants to serve the economies of the Arab world.”
“We are grateful to the association for its support and will work closely with it to ensure the technical and ethical standards of that society will be no lower than those of professional bodies in the developed world.”
“We are grateful to the association for its support and will work closely with it to ensure the technical and ethical standards of that society will be no lower than those of professional bodies in the developed world.”
Membership will be available to Arab nationals who have served a minimum of 10 years in a substantial firm of accountants and are business graduates. Five of the 10 years must have been served as partner.
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