The Chairman Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), Zafar Hijazi has said that the Draft Companies Bill, 2016, is being finalised in consultation with all stakeholders and senior professionals. He said that new Companies Bill will provide cost-effective measures with respect to starting a business and doing business as a company. The draft bill provides facilitation measures to the corporate sector in general and addresses unattended concerns that were not addressed in the Companies Ordinance, 1984.
As suggested by the Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar, the SECP has started consultative process on draft Companies' Bill by conducting roundtables to seek feedback from the stakeholders and also by consulting with independent senior professionals to get expert views on the proposed draft.
Zafar Hijazi on Wednesday met in Karachi with Masood Ali Naqvi, a senior consultant and ex-partner KPMG Taseer Hadi & Company, Chartered Accountants firm. He presented a copy of Draft Companies Bill to Naqvi and discussed new concepts introduced in the Bill, including simplified documentation process in company formation, improved roles of directors, financial reporting requirements based on size of the company and new mechanism of schemes of mergers. Special focus of the discussion was on the enhanced role of auditors and their reporting mechanism. Naqvi appreciated the SECP's efforts to draft new Bill to meet contemporary needs.
The SECP uses consultative process to facilitate the corporate sector and market participants to provide their valuable feedback. Consultation with stakeholders and professionals is one of the important regulatory tools to improve efficiency, transparency and effectiveness of laws. The SECP has adopted all three measures of consultation in this process, and placed Draft Companies Bill on its website, sought feedback by conducting roundtables, and is in consultation with independent senior professionals. Feedback obtained from the consultative process shall be taken into account while finalising the draft of Companies Bill for onwards submission to parliament.-PR