There is an increasing demand for Associate Certified Chartered Accountants (ACCA) all over the world. The growth and stability of an economy is highly dependent on transparent analysis and precise management of accounts. ACCA Pakistan is operating with a mammoth working body in Pakistan as well as several other countries. How ACCA Pakistan is revamping Pakistan’s education sector, pushing new space for jobs and making things work on a bigger scale, Arif Masud Mirza, Head of ACCA Pakistan, explains in delicate detail.
Association of Certified Charted Accountants (ACCA) has 80 offices globally, with over 450,000 students and 120,000 members worldwide. In Pakistan, working since 1996, it has expanded its membership body to nearly 45,000 now, with 2,000 members working across industry in public practice, financial services and manufacturing. There are further 4,000 affiliates in the pipeline who are mostly fresh graduates. These are quite impressive numbers and it is a remarkable growth – given the local infrastructure. How has ACCA Pakistan come this far, in such a short space of time?
The obvious answer is of course, it is now a technology-driven organization, working with different local learning partners: colleges that deliver ACCA courses and organize events. As Arif puts it, “CAMS and SKANS are our local platinum learning partners as they have reached global standards in education. We have been working with these and other learning partners to develop their capacity.” He continues, “Nationwide we do a lot of teacher training, grooming at the trainers’ events – there are highly qualified people who deliver these training events for the faculty. And it’s always good to be part of actually improving the training side of things.”
Earlier, as in every other major sector, work was paper-based and all operations were performed manually for chartered accountant professionals. It was very transactional in nature which is normally called professional book-keeping and double entry – but now all that is automated under technology, for technology is the most feasible means by which an organization can survive in global competition.
Services can be commoditized easily once they are automated, which means that a lot of work that accountants traditionally did was commoditized and put into shared service centers. Arif says, “We have got a lot of shared service centers globally which are really driven by multinationals who house their entire transactional work in these shared service centers where you get accountants whose job mainly concerns transactional postings. A lot of the things that go on with these shared service centers are transactional. What it does mean for more qualified accountants is that their work has transformed into much more partnerships with business leaders. So they sit down with CEOs and directors to actually formulate the strategy. Now with technological tools, it is more of a decision-making role that professional accountants assume as compared to the old transactional type.”
On one hand, technology is transforming the work that accountants do but also young people are required to test their abilities to handle technology. To look after this issue, ACCA has gone for both an e-learning method of delivering the ACCA qualification as well as e-assessment, making sure future examinations are based on e-assessment models. These examinations will simulate real life behavior of young people expected to do at the work place – some of that will involve bringing in gaming technology as well. On the learning side, however, there are virtual class rooms for the best lecturers around the world. ACCA Pakistan does not only have access to Pakistani lecturers, but also to some of the best lecturers in UK or Malaysia – and that is how technology is transforming academia.
Forming a global network, over 5.000 members of ACCA Pakistan are working abroad in Middle East, Emirate States, UK, USA and other countries as ACCA Pakistan’s qualification is underpinned by international financial voting standards. Because they are entirely based on international standards, the competencies and the skills young students acquire here in Pakistan are easily transferable to New York, London or to professional practices anywhere else in the world.
The major change technology has brought to ACCA Pakistan is innovation in teaching models. Arif explains, “We are trying to improve our network by building the capacity of our local learning partners to be able to deliver the online methodologies of learning. It’s been a method of what we call ‘co-creation’. And so we have co-created e-learning and e-assessment products and services with local learning partners by empowering them. In fact, since 2002 we have been offering computer-based exams anyway, which run very successfully.”
There is already a huge number of existent local student body that has gone through computer based programs; additionally ACCA Pakistan is now adding next generation of computer-based exams which can rely upon simulations and greater complex technologies. They are also going to rely upon blended learning (face-to-face learning) with some online products as well.
In terms of working with vendors, ACCA relies heavily upon approved learning partners and their complementing stake holders. These networks of learning partners will also act as ACCA Pakistan’s examining centers using licensed software. Arif Masud adds, “We are encouraging our learning partners to have the highest possible bandwidth which is important for provision of seamless videos and online learning experiences. Wireless connectivity for students is extremely important for downloading lectures, class notes and other related researches. Besides, there are other IT vendors currently working with ACCA Pakistan for the development of e-assessment exams.”
To add more value, ACCA Pakistan has brought all the required technology in-house to work with experts developing e-assessment paper for the future. Information Technology is a tool which accountants now work with, very closely, in order to improve overall accuracy of their work which includes budgets, plans and corporate reports.
However, there is still a lot to do in terms of future in Pakistan. Capital markets in London and USA have moved to XPLR, while in Pakistan, Microsoft Office documents and PDFs are used which are then bundled up without evaluation of standards. Arif elaborates upon the change, “If you use XPRL as a platform, it allows everybody’s reports to be on the same standard and you can integrate reports which also allow the comparison of different reports because they are all on XPLR. So I think some work needs to be done here. I would encourage the security exchange commission and the national professional accountancy body, ICAP, to work with us in developing an XPRL standard for Pakistan as well.” He further adds, “One of the transformations that we need to see is going from an undocumented informal economy to a documented formal economy. And there is a lot that can be transformed!”
If the economy is formally documented, Arif points out, there will be plenty of opportunities for young accountants. The undocumented accounts need to be transformed with the assistance of IT. With computerization, data can be easily accessed and sorted as compared to manual transaction methods. Economies with manual transactions are not transparent. With computerization, it’s at the same time a move towards transparency as well.
In addition to digitizing the work-model, ACCA Pakistan is also organizing annual conferences, emphasizing on education and linking it up with employments. This helps in improving employability skills in the youth and increasing their chances of building a promising career with ACCA qualification that pays great dividends. “So in terms of your career, and your future earning capabilities, a lot depends upon having a professional qualification. At ACCA’s Annual Conference 2013, we invited Vice Chancellors from different universities, people from the technology world as well as mainstream employment. That way, we will be focusing on academia, technology and their mutual collaboration,” says Arif.
The purpose of these conferences is to locate the linkages that can be made from employers towards education. With precise analysis, students can be trained from the very beginning, keeping in focus the international standards, to qualify for great career opportunities on a global scale.
There has also been development on campaigns to attract young women into this profession. In the next seven years, ACCA Pakistan is focusing on promoting this field only amongst women. There have been several awareness exercises to outreach – Sidra Iqbal and Sohail Zindani leading the campaigns talking to both male and female graduates all over the country, providing them with brochures of details on careers and celebrating the success stories like Saba Rashid now working at the World Bank and Sara Faisal at Silk Bank – both ACCA members.
It is creating space for change.
Arif concludes his talk with a vision for the future: “I think the changes are in terms of the trends we will see from this year. We have set ourselves strategic goals in Pakistan to achieve over the next seven years. We are planning to expand further and making more learning partners, which will result in remarkable ways.”
You can read more about ACCA Pakistan on Facebook as well as www.ACCAglobal.com where you can also learn more about learning partners and research work.
