ISLAMABAD: A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants Pakistan (ACCA), the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) and Governance and Policy Project Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). The MoU aims at working in collaboration to address the financial management skills gap that exists across the finance functions of the provincial government departments.
At the signing ceremony, the representatives from AGP and KP government were present. The signatories included Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Secretary Finance Shakeel Qadir Khan and Additional Finance Secretary Safeer Ahmad. Representatives from Auditor General Pakistan (AGP) included Deputy Auditor General (North) Hashmat Iqbal and HRM Director-General Adnan Rafique. Signatories from ACCA included ACCA Pakistan Head Sajjeed Aslam, MENASA Regional Head of Policy Arif Masud Mirza and Head of Education North Faisal Azeem.
The event was also attended by KP Chamber of Commerce and Industries president, KP Women Chamber of Commerce and Industries president, vice president, special secretary, KPK Planning secretary, KP IT Department minister and KP Education and Power Department minister.
The signatories to this MoU recognise that joint collaboration to strengthen Public Financial Management (PFM) by improving the knowledge base of government employees through the provision of a certified education program would be mutually beneficial. ACCA is well placed to deliver this as it is the only international accounting body to have a presence in Pakistan for almost 20 years, with offices in 6 cities primarily providing professional learning and career opportunities to young people and organisations in the public and private sectors.
Under this MoU ACCA will provide pathways to individuals who have completed PFM Professional accreditation program (PAP) to top up their existing qualification with a globally recognised Professional Accounting qualification.
The World Bank will provide financial support for the project through The Multi-Donors Trust Funds Pakistan. The World Bank has initiated governance and policy reforms projects in financial management skills enhancement. High-quality financial information in the public sector enables assessment of the impact of fiscal and monetary policy decisions; assists external reporting by governments to electorates, taxpayers, and investors; and aids internal management decisions in resource allocation (planning and budgeting), monitoring, and accountability.
“The AGP is the prime institution in the country for ensuring public accountability and fiscal transparency in government operations. Our main aim is to strengthen and enhance the financial discipline and we are the main driving force behind the rising trend of accountability and transparent utilisation of public funds. Having people with the right professional skills in the right jobs is critical to the development of a sound public financial management system that can be relied upon to provide public value services to the citizens of Pakistan and support the democratic process. Institutions are only as good as the people leading and running them and we are looking forward to working with ACCA, a credible organisation that we have worked with before as well as the provincial project team leaders,” said the Auditor General Pakistan.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, the Head of ACCA Pakistan said, ‘Not only is there a skills gap in understanding and applying the universally accepted principles of financial and management accounting but there is also a gap in the understanding and application of locally accepted public sector financial management operating policies and methodologies. Respect for those working in public finance comes from their professionalism and ethics which is not a given anywhere in the world, one has to have strong leaders who are willing to invest in people to convert them into professionals i.e. those that have both the expertise and the ethics to do the right thing and stand up for policies and rules in the interest of the common man and woman.”
“I am really looking forward to initially working with the leadership of the AGP and KP province project team leaders in training public sector employees working in finance functions and later in diving deeper into ensuring a sustained talent management for recruitment and career development” ACCA Head of Education Faisal Azeem.
