The Bahraini Minister of Commerce, Ali Saleh Al-Saleh, opened the day before yesterday the first board meeting of the Arab Society for Certified Accountants (ASCA) in Manama, headed by Mr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh the President of ASCA.
The meeting tackled several important issues relating to the accounting profession and ASCA’s role in the activation and development of this profession in order to serve the Arab economy in a time where accounting became a tool for economic decision-making.
The Bahraini Minister of Commerce confirmed in his speech that the geographical boundaries will disappear in the face of trade in goods, but their disappearance in the trade in services will be more noticeable. Ali Saleh Al-Saleh also noted that a major responsibility falls on ASCA in light of globalization and its outcomes, such as the application of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), to assist institutions to enter this new era and to benefit from the opportunities it offers to grow and develop.
He revealed that Bahrain has dealt with the issue of the mutual recognition of professional qualifications in the fields of auditing and accounting in a way that reflects the importance of this subject. The Bahraini Minister added that bilateral or multilateral arrangements must be convened in order to arrive to the mutual recognition of scientific qualifications. This recognition prevents states from forcing restrictions on accounting or being monopolized by a small number of institutions. It also prohibits any other boundaries whether quantitative or qualitative. Ali Saleh Al-Saleh noted that Bahrain neither place limitations on the source of the qualifications nor on the nationality of the profession’s practitioners, the purpose of which is to increase the level of the profession as well as enhance the confidence and good reputation that Bahrain enjoys.
Ali Saleh Al-Saleh said that his country is now studying whether to recognize the qualifications given by ASCA. Furthermore, he praised the role played by ASCA’s President, Mr. Abu-Ghazaleh, at the international level in upgrading the accounting profession in accordance with the highest ethical and technical standards and in staying up-to-date with the development and creativity and anything new in the accounting profession.
For his part, Mr. Abu-Ghazaleh asserted that ASCA represents the accounting profession in the Arab world through its participation in the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC) and the International Auditing Committee, as well as working with a group of governmental experts in international accounting standards and reporting.
Mr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh pointed out that ASCA was elected as the leader of the accounting globalization taskforce at the international level, and that the Inspection Qualification Organization IQO, adopted by the United Nations, took on without amendments the draft submitted by ASCA for the establishment of an international independent organization to accredit standards.
Mr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh mentioned that ASCA’s board decided to add the Islamic accounting standards to its curriculum, thus, ASCA will be the first international professional society to teach the Islamic accounting standards to those wishing to obtain its membership. He revealed that Bahrain is the headquarters of the Islamic Standards Committee and he praised this committee and the state of Bahrain for embracing it.