KARACHI, March 22: The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) has given its recognition to the South Asian Federation of Accountants (SAFA) as a regional group.

A statement issued by the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Pakistan (ICMAP) stated that the President of IFAC, Mr. Renie Recol while addressing the Assembly of SAFA held in Jaipur announced that IFAC Board had accorded its approval to recognize SAFA as a regional group.

President IFAC hoped that SAFA would help IFAC in the compliance of International Accounting and Audit Standards in South Asian Region. SAFA Assembly was attended by the delegates from accounting bodies of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh Sri Lanka, Nepal, the US and Malaysia.

Earlier, while welcoming IFAC President, Mr. Badruddin Fakhri who was presiding over the 53rd SAFA Assembly said that SAFA as a body of eight Accounting Institutes of the region had been playing a pivotal role in strengthening the accounting profession in South Asia.

SAFA comprised 160,000 professional Accountants and over 250,000 students. Mr. Fakhri told the gathering that SAFA had established four Centres of Excellence and a number of Studies and research projects were in progress. He assured IFAC President that SAFA would do its best to support the compliance regime of standards set by IFAC.

On the occasion, Mr. Robin Harding, President, Confederation of Asia Pacific Accountants (CAPA) also addressed SAFA Assembly and assured of his support to SAFA in its efforts to nurture and develop accounting profession in the Saarc region.

Mr. Fakhri stated that it was a historical occasion that Presidents of IFAC, CAPA and SAFA were together in the pink city of Jaipur and that they had discussed the issues confronting the accounting profession.

He discussed challenges posed by the globalization of economy and the latest financial scandal of Parmalat which enforced the need to further fortify accounting and audit profession, besides creating awareness that the transparency could only be achieved when all the cadres of management contribute towards good corporate governance.