ARAB SOCIETY GOES FOR ‘QUALITY NOT QUANTITY’
01 Oct 1983ACCOUNTING REPORT
A monthly bulletin on developments in International Accounting
An exclusive all-practice Arab accounting body whose aims are to promote improved standards and gain international recognition was born earlier this month.
The Arab Society of Certified Accountants was formed at a meeting in London of 28 leading accountants from 15 Arab states and including partners in firms representing Ernst and Whinney, Peat Marwick Mitchell, and Deloitte Haakins and Sells. All present, including four Ernst and Whinney partners, signed a declaration agreeing to be founder members and to contribute jointly towards the formation and initial operating costs.
Strength of interest can be judged by the willingness of the 28 to respond to an invitation from the Association of Certified Accountants to attend a meeting in London at their own traveling and accommodation expense.
The meeting elected a council charged with drawing up a formal constitution and chose prime mover Talal Abu-Ghazaleh as president.
There are currently no Arab accountancy bodies along recognized Western lines. The UK based Association of Certified Accountants is the only body operating accountancy exams and while many Arab accountants hold this or other internationally recognized accountancy qualifications such as membership of the English or American Institutes, their audit authority comes from the Government license.
The new body is to be elitist, will rely on the Association examination route, and will pursue international recognition.
Membership will be open to those registered students who pass the designated exams, to Arab nationals who are members of specified overseas accounting bodies, and to members who have lived in any Arab country for at least two years. There will also be an interim arrangement to admit eminent Arab accountants who would not otherwise qualify for membership.
“Our ultimate goal is full recognition and reciprocity of membership and we will not act in any way which will put this in jeopardy,” Abu-Ghazaleh told WAR. “We are interested in quality not quantity. We have not focused on the likely numbers but we don’t expect even a few hundred members for at least the first few years.”
The Society is not the only Arab accountants’ group currently trying to get off the ground. The Baghdad based Arab Institute, an Arab League development, is planning its own accountancy examinations. But Abu-Ghazaleh says there is unlikely to be any relationship between the two bodies and clearly feels the Society’s plan of relying on an already established international qualification route is more likely to lead to international recognition.
While Ernst and Whinney senior Middle East partner Midhat Lutfi, who was present at the inaugural meeting, has subsequently expressed concern, the firm explains that he did, and still does, support creation of the Society. Lutfi was worried that the pace of development might be too fast and that exclusion of some licensed Arab accountants might provoke opposition.
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