The Pakistan Jan - Mar 2016 Magazine of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan Special Coverage: SAFA Conference 2016 January - March 2016 The Pakistan Accountant 1 Signature Qualification CA that Empowers to Lead PAKISTAN The Pakistan contents Jan - Mar 2016 The Council Editor’s Letter Magazine of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan President Hafiz Mohammad Yousaf, FCA 4 Yacoob Suttar Vice Presidents Hidayat Ali, FCA Nadeem Yousuf Adil, FCA President’s Page Members Farrukh Rehman, FCA 5 Hafiz Mohammad Yousaf Khalilullah Shaikh, ACA M. Sharif Tabani, FCA Special Coverage: SAFA Conference 2016 Mohammad Maqbool, FCA Naeem Akhtar Sheikh, FCA Cover Story Nazir Ahmad Chaudhri, FCA Rashid Ibrahim, FCA Riaz A. Rehman Chamdia, FCA Changing South Asia: Challenges Sarmad Ahmad Khan, FCA 6 and Opportunities Syed Najmul Hussain, FCA Usman Ghani Akbani, FCA Muhammad Sadiq Ismail Yacoob Suttar, FCA Government Nominees Dr. Waqar Masood Khan Mohammad Abdullah Yusuf, FCA Muhammad Zafar-Ul-Haq Hijazi Tariq Bajwa Publications Committee Chairman Yacoob Suttar, FCA Members Aamir Waheed Ahmed, FCA Abdul Qadir, ACA Ammara Ahmad, ACA Fariha Wajid, ACA Hina Shamsi, ACA South Asia Contributes to World Muhammad Amir Afzal Rana, ACA Naseer Ahmed, ACA 14 Development Obaid-Ur-Rehman, ACA Syed Imtiaz Abbas Hussain Waqas Latif, ACA COO/Secretary Feroz Rizvi, FCA 16 Pakistan: Executive Director Masood Akhtar, FCA Centre of Opportunities Adnan Akhtar Editorial Team Senior Manager Samina Iqbal Publication [email protected] Publication Asad Shahzad Co-Ordinators [email protected] Afshan Aleem [email protected] South Asia: Corridor of Editorial Office: Chartered Accountants Avenue 18 Clifton, Karachi-75600 (Pakistan). Opportunities Ph: 99251648, 99251636-39 Aqeel Ahmed Email: [email protected] Website: www.icap.org.pk The views expressed are those of the writers and do not reflect The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan. All submissions received will be edited for clarity and space. 2 The Pakistan Accountant January - March 2016 Special Coverage Taxation Tax Administration Reforms Lahore, January 29-30, 2016 67 Naeem Akhtar Sheikh Administration SAFA Reforms Conference 2016 South Asia: Corridor of Opportunities World Water Day – March 22 Samina Iqbal The Complexity 72 and Urgency of Water: Time for The SAFA Story 23 the Accountancy Profession to 36 Picture Gallery Step Up The Risks & Feedback 77 Opportunities 40 Posed by Water Can’t Be Ignored SAFA BPA Awards – by Businesses, 46 Industries, or Nations 50 Musical Evening Dr. Dorothy Maxwell 54 Golf Tournament IFRS IFRS 15: Affects on Telecom 82 Sector Ahmed Khan Join the Discourse Study Tips Teamwork: Mandatory 60 for a successful 86 Why Didn’t organisation? I Study? Faran Ahmed January - March 2016 The Pakistan Accountant 3 Signature Qualification CA that Empowers to Lead PAKISTAN Editor’s Letter South Asia’s diversity provides huge opportunities for trade, investment, and economic growth. The region’s remarkable success in recent decades shows its economies have flourished, becoming more closely intertwined with each other and with the rest of the world. South Asia now plays an increasingly important role in the global economy. In the growth and development of the South Asian region, the accounting profession, perhaps with one of the largest memberships in the world, is playing a dynamic role in ensuring stability and sustainability of regional cooperation and growth. Over the years, The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP) has exemplified as a key participant in developing the profession nationally and internationally: through its membership, at the regional and global levels in bodies like South Asian Federation of Accountants (SAFA), Confederation of Asian and Pacific Accountants (CAPA), International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) and others. This year’s SAFA Conference 2016 and SAFA Best Presented Annual Report Awards (BPA) 2014 ceremony is a further proof of ICAP’s commitment and dedication to the development of high quality corporate reporting for a successful and sustainable corporate sector in the region. The seeds of tomorrow are being sown today. Today’s accounting professionals tend to point to current trends which show no signs of losing momentum. One of those trends is towards more decision-making and strategic roles for accountants. People with accountancy training will increasingly be asked to help craft corporate strategy. In a static environment, accountants can focus more on tracking tools. In an environment of rapid change, they are called upon to evaluate different business models, new opportunities, and the quality of the information coming in, because there is a vast amount of information out there. The global economic landscape has changed dramatically. The main drivers of this change have been technology, trade liberalisation, freer capital movements, advances in communication and transportation infrastructure and creation of cross border supply chains. The center of gravity of the world economy has shifted east with the emerging economies growing at a much faster pace than the developed economies. All roads are same, every corridor is unique. The regional integration through economic corridor like China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a fusion of multiple developments in the global, regional, bilateral and domestic contexts. The ultimate objective of which is peace, prosperity and well-being of the people of the two countries, the region and the world. Yacoob Suttar 4 The Pakistan Accountant January - March 2016 President’s Page Regional corridors play a cardinal role in fostering regional integration and development, and the government has been supporting the development of regional transit corridors in the country through various projects. To capture the full benefits of regional corridors in South Asia, two aspects should be considered. First, are questions of poverty and social dynamics: all relevant projects must honour these realities and cater to the needs of the inhabitants of areas surrounding established and designated corridors. Second, corridors must be viewed as engines of regional development in themselves and not only as conduits to growth and regional integration. This vision can be realised by the economic corridor development process outlined in the two day SAFA Conference on January 29-30, 2016 organised by ICAP. The government’s support for corridors aims to stimulate intra-regional and global trade and foster market integration. For some land-locked countries, the corridors are a new opportunity to participate in global trade. In line with the principles of the government’s Regional Integration Strategy, the approach to regional corridors covers both the hard and the soft infrastructure components of development. This encompasses trade facilitation measures and trade capacity - building programs. It also provides for the cross-cutting issues of economic, social and environmental sustainability. All these developments are having deep impact on business and economic activities. The accounting profession is facing formidable challenges in the emerging business dynamics. The accountants, therefore, must remain vigilant and keep adjusting to the changing business scenarios to maintain the relevance and effectiveness of their profession. I am glad that the thought sharing on the Conference generated useful insight and both the accounting profession and professionals gained a lot from this intellectual exercise. Pakistan is in dire need for improving relations among all South Asian countries to attain regional integration. Pakistan is persuading China's One Belt, One Road project, as the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is one of the components of this mega project that would connect South Asia with Central Asia and Europe, and that regional integration is creating much more opportunities for the development and prosperity of the people of the entire region. Multifaceted challenges are in the offing to be tackled by the business executives, planners and technocrats. Accountants are no exceptions. Fast changing global business and technological environments demand professionals to become proactive and trouble shooters. To survive in this century, we must change our outlook, perception, methodology and processes. In view of such challenges, I am proud that the theme of the Conference South Asia: Corridor of Opportunities was rightly selected to address the appropriate issues of the 21st century and this issue also covers through a series of articles, the key conditions for transforming corridors into economic corridors, and associated constraints. Hafiz Mohammad Yousaf January - March 2016 The Pakistan Accountant 5 Signature Qualification CA that Empowers to Lead PAKISTAN Cover Story Changing South Asia: Challenges and Opportunities by Muhammad Sadiq Ismail 6 The Pakistan Accountant January - March 2016 his article has been written covering the relevant internal dynamics, trends, relationships, and scenarios in South Asian Counties offering various opportunities and related Tchallenges. The thoughts shared are carried from various internal research papers of the World Bank Group (WBG), (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), International Development Association (IDA), International Finance Corporation (IFC), Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) and International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID)), personal analysis,