Pakistan Business Council's Centre of Excellence in Responsible Business (CERB), ACCA and British Deputy High Commission jointly hosted an Ethics and Governance Workshop at LUMS, Lahore. Event featured release of ACCA and CERB joint survey 'Ethical Mindset: From Vision to Practice' which gives a holistic view of current dynamics of ethics and governance practices in Pakistan's corporate sector.
The event in Lahore featured a thought-provoking panel discussion including contributions from leading figures in the corporate, human resources and value chain professionals, including Asghar Abbas, Director and Head of Packaging, Packages Limited, Fatima Asad-Said, Regional Director, Human Capital Excellence, Abacus Consulting, Saulat Salahuddin, CEO, Pronto Promo (Pvt) Limited, Nuaman Ahmed, Head of Compliance - Legal & Fraud Investigations, Pak Elektron Limited, Yawar Irfan Khan, Former President, Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry and former Managing Director, Punjab Small Industries Corporation, Jawad Saleem, CFO, Outfitters Stores and Syed Aslam Mehdi, CEO, Bulleh Shah Packaging (Private) Limited.
Other notable speakers at the event included Talib Uz Zaman, Programme Manager, Ethics and Governance- CERB, Ahmer Arif, Pakistan Project Manager, Business Integrity Initiative, British Deputy High Commission and Arif Masud Mirza, Regional Head of Policy MESA, ACCA.
In an online message, Helen Brand OBE, Chief Executive, ACCA said: "While ACCA's main responsibility is ensuring our members operate to the highest standards of ethics and professionalism, we also take leading role in seeking to drive an appreciation of, and an adherence to, ethical conduct and practice across the business world. The ethical landscape is a complex ecosystem and one which requires everyone and everything within it to be operating in concert, with shared values and a common understanding."
In the opening remarks, Sajjeed Aslam, Head of ACCA Pakistan, highlighted: Simply identifying and communicating ethical principles is not enough. In order to put them into practice, organizations must adopt values that will promote adherence to the principles, thereby maintaining the confidence of stakeholders. Accountants have to recognize that their duties are not limited to what clients expect of them, and must accept that they have a fiduciary duty, or duty of absolute trust, to a wide range of stakeholders. It starts with one person and builds into a concept which shapes the society we live in. This is why it's important to play our part no matter what the consequences. The baseline survey and workshop have enabled a common narrative of achieving sustainable profits by cultivating industry wide ethical practices.-PR