The present political and economic turmoil have created adverse impact on the investment, which is down to 37 years low at 13.4 percent of GDP. This was stated by Professor Dr Ashfaque Hasan Khan, former advisor, Ministry of Finance and Dean & Principal of Nust Business School at CFO conference 2012, organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP) held at a hotel here on Wednesday.
He said the country was facing severe political and economic challenges that caused to hamper economic growth, which was presently slowed to an average of 2.9 percent per annum. In his address, he lamented the dearth of professionals in the government sector and at the same appreciated the role and efforts of ICAP in developing its professionals through various programmes and initiatives.
In welcome address, ICAP Vice President Khalid Rehman highlighted the evolving role of finance in the emerging times, citing the CFO the key to growth of the corporate sector. He lauded the Professional Excellence Awards, an initiative of the Professional Accountants in Business (PAIB) Committee to acknowledge the professionals who have excelled and contributed to the success of their organisation.
Furthermore he expressed the resolve of the institute in continuing to support its professionals in industry through different avenues including such platforms. Atlas Honda CEO Saquib H Shirazi during his speech on "Winds & waves in the economic scenario - Is the CFO ready to swim?" emphasised the evolving role of CFO.
The winners of the year 2012 were Synthetic Product Enterprises Limited, Engro Foods Limited and A F Ferguson & Co James Lockyer, Director at the Association of Corporate Treasurers, UK shared his views- Driving the Business- A CFO Perspective. In his presentation, he showcased the close proximity that both the CFO and the treasurer share; in addition to that he explained how the treasurer can help in driving value from the business, through which sustainability can be achieved.
He further highlighted the need of real economy, and alternative to be sought by the treasurers. Dr Muhammad Shoaib Suddle, Federal Tax Ombudsman, also spoke on the occasion highlighting the role and achievement of Federal Tax Ombudsman. Sirajuddin Aziz, President and Chief Executive, Habib Metropolitan Bank Limited, in his address "Strategies for raising funds through financial instruments" called attention to promote the common infrastructure and suggested recommendation to streamline the procedure for public issuance.
Shahid Mustafa, Chief Risk Officer, Tameer Microfinance Bank, presented a case study on Easy Paisa highlighting the uniqueness of easy paisa and branchless banking. The conference in addition to the technical sessions and panel sessions included unique sessions such as cloud computing, legalities essential for a CFO as well a panel discussion the CFO rapid fire session in which the participating CFO's presented a business challenge faced by their organisation and the strategies they implemented to successfully overcome it.
The panellists included Rafi Basheer CFO Shell Pakistan, Fazal Hussain Gafoor CFO CDC, Syed Khalid Noor CFO Novartis, Irfan Amanullah CFO Attock Cement and Salman Shoaib CFO L'oreal. Nahil Mahmmod - CISO MCB Bank Limited and President Security Alliance Pakistan, presented a strong case for cloud computing and its benefits to the CFO's. He further spoke about the best cloud computing technologies that synchronize the financial operations.
Saima Khattak- Area General Counsel, Siemens Pakistan spoke about how to decipher and managing legal costs in her presentation. She also provided an overview of legal points necessary for a CFO to protect against share holder employee and regular law suits.
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