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Arab chief calls for global accounting qualification norms

02 Nov 1997
KUWAIT- A resounding success by any global standards - attended by more than 5,000 accountants from the world over - the 15th World Congress of Accountants (held once in every 5 years) concluded on October 29, in Paris. The concluding session was addressed by French President Jacques Chirac, who urged accountants to standardise financial reporting and follow international accounting standards The opening session of the conference was equally eventful since James Wolfenson, President of the World Bank, could not address the audience in person, the organizers arranged a tele-conference which Wolfenson, very eloquently addressed live from Washington.
One of the technical sessions a highly interactive one was addressed by Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, in his capacity as the President of the Arab Society of Certified Accountants. The highly controversial topic which Talal Abu-Ghazaleh was asked to speak on, was the one he has been fighting for vehemently for years – the international accreditation and recognition of professional qualifications of accountants between various nations of the world.
 
He was appointed chairman of the Group of Experts at Unctad in Geneva since its inception; this group is striving to develop standards for Global Accounting Qualifications.
 
Currently, professionally qualified accountants of one county are not allowed to practice in another country unless there is a Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) between the two countries. To date, a handful of MRAs have been signed world-wide and that too between the developed countries mutually recognizing qualifications between themselves.
 
 
Abu-Ghazaleh has advocated development of Global Qualification Standards for over a decade through the various positions held by him at International Boards - as member of the Council of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), as board member of the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC),  board member of the International Auditing Practices Committee (IAPC), chairman of the United Nations Group of Experts (ISAR) and currently as chairman of the Unctad Group of Experts-  and argues that if there are international accounting standards and international auditing standards then why not global standards of benchmarking accounting qualifications.