July 30, 2002	Tuesday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 19,1423

ISLAMABAD, July 29: Khalid A. Mirza, chairman, Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan has said that SECP’s newly introduced Code of Corporate Governance to promote best governance in listed companies.

He was addressing the valedictory session of 9th Management Accountants International Conference entitled “WTO Regime- Challenges” at Bhurban, organized by the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Pakistan.

Good governance seeks faster accountability and transparency in the corporate sector and is a key element in improving economic efficiency and growth, he said.

He said that the trend towards globalization was expected to have wide-ranging effect on the accounting profession. Under the WTO regime, harmonization of financial information at national and global level was essential.

These challenges, among others, must be addressed for achieving global competitiveness, he added. It is imperative to assess “our weaknesses and reinforce our strength to effectively embrace the challenges posed by globalization.”

He pointed out that as regulators of the corporate sector, they have always stressed compliance with internationally recognized accounting standards and dissemination of credible financial information.

He informed the audience that they have recently enhanced their monitoring and enforcement capabilities with a view to ensuring that financial statements of companies reflect the true state of affairs. These efforts should raise the quality of financial disclosure and facilitate informed economic decisions by a variety of users within the global economy.

Earlier speaking on the occasion, Dr Aqdus Ali Kazmi, minister of Planning government of Punjab told the audience that WTO regime was a very important development.

It will bring up many opportunities and challenges for us to cope with a very different world of business like to materialize the process.

With borderless trade the world of business will be virtually integrated into one country and it is thus urgent and timely to examine and re-examine what is the right approach, he added.

“We might be marginalized by developed country, which use tactics interests. The problem in trade liberalization is that we can control how fast to liberalize our imports but cannot anticipate how fast the growth of export can be managed.”