ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) is the world's most forward-thinking global body of professional accountants, supporting its 200,000 members and 486,000 students in 178 countries, helping them to develop successful careers in accounting and business. ACCA has a network of 101 offices and centres and more than 7,291 approved employers worldwide. ACCA regulates its members and over 100,000 ACCA practicing firms across the globe through the ACCA Rule Book.
ACCA organised the 2nd edition of Pakistan Leadership Conversation (PLC) with six events in Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore on 20, 21, 22 and 27 March 2018. PLC is a forum for thought leaders to sit together and explore forward thinking policy choices. The theme was "Collection Vision for an Emerging Pakistan" and it featured over 40 local and foreign conversation leaders to deliberate and propose policy recommendations based on ACCA's global research and professional insights.
These conversations were also webcasted across the globe and had active participation from over 15 countries. The conferences were followed by Corporate Dinners and New Member Ceremonies where ACCA members and prize winning students.
The deliberations of conversation leaders were based on the following themes.
--CPEC - Belt and Road Initiative - are we ready to ride the wave of growth?
--Embracing digital age, financial inclusion and ethics: How to respond?
--Capital markets eco system: Redefining value creation models?
--Innovation and risk management: How to support the startup culture?
--The Race for Relevance - social, mobile, cloud & Al - talent needs
Key actions proposed at the PLC 2018 to be delivered through collaboration, advocacy and leadership of professionals, policy makers and businesses:
CPEC
Pakistan's business community should be more pro-active in identifying the opportunities offered by CPEC and the five other corridors envisioned under Belt and Road Initiative and they independently or in collaboration with Chinese or other foreign investors start seizing these opportunities.
Recommended Actions - engagement of policy makers, academia and businesses to realign their priorities, strategies and public policies.
Digital enablement
Pakistan has got the "Youth of Pakistan" as a key natural resource.
With the right talent and technology, Pakistan is poised to access the global market for customers, products and services.
Policies enabling digital economy, technology deployment and talent would be key drivers for social & financial inclusion, access to education & health care, economic participation of women and attracting local and foreign investment.
Recommended Actions - Propose 3 - 5 policy & legislative changes for implementation or development of Intellectual Property Rights, data protection regulations, e-commerce and free participation of private sector to enhance access to education and health care.
Tax and Foreign Exchange Regulation Reforms
According to the Global Competitiveness Report 2017 - 2018, taxation policy and tax collecting agency's mindset, preceded by corruption, is the second biggest impediment to ease of doing business and global competitiveness rankings of Pakistan. In recent past, many tangible measures have been taken for curbing corruption but taxation system requires more trust - driven and transparent policy and its collection. Procedural reforms in foreign direct investment coming into Pakistan are necessary for global participation in Pakistan's economy.
Recommended Actions - Propose 3 - 5 key reforms, build advocacy and influence for implementation of critical changes in legislation and capability set.
Innovation and access to capital
Growth of business across all sectors in critical, be it large scale manufacturing or SMEs and startups - Innovation is the only way to stay relevant to local and global markets and customer expectations. Current financial market, access to bank credit and governance structure of family owned businesses require overhauling to expand the access to capital from seed capital to growth capital.
Recommended Actions - Create awareness of central bank's recent reforms to support SMEs, SECP's private equity related initiatives and its implementation, expansion of retail base for participation in PSX, succession of family owned business and knowledge sharing forums including 'Startup eco-system' to support innovation.
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