LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Thursday ruled that foreign qualified students of Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) could get training at accounting firms registered with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP).

However, Justice Abid Aziz Sheikh observed that preference would be given to students doing local qualification of ICAP.

The judge further said foreign qualified students of ACCA were not required to get them registered with ICAP before having the training and the accountancy firms would decide applications of the students as per their own merit.

A student of ACCA, Safwan Salim, had filed a petition through Advocate Sheraz Zaka saying ICAP had been exploiting its regulatory powers to attract students and damage the market share of ACCA.

The counsel argued that directives issued by the ICAP put a bar on foreign accountancy qualification such as ACCA for having training experience in accounting firms. He said the directives should be declared illegal for being in violation of fundamental rights.

Lawyer of Higher Education Commission told the court that both ACCA and local accountancy qualification were equivalent to masters. He said foreign qualified students should not be barred from having training experience at accounting firms in Pakistan.

Counsel for ICAP stated that the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) had already suspended the impugned directives.

Justice Sheikh disposed of the petition directing that the impugned directives shall remain suspended in light of the order of CCP.

Published in Dawn, March 31st, 2017