LAHORE: In an unprecedented move by any statutory entity in the accounting education sector, the Institute of Cost & Management Accountants of Pakistan (ICMAP) has begun paying a hefty amount as ‘meeting allowance’ to the government nominees who would attend its National Council (decision-making body) meeting.

The step was taken despite opposition by a former president of the institute (National Council member) and refusal by two government-nominated members to receive the remuneration.

Minutes of the National Council meeting which approved the stipend say the government-nominated members up to BPS-20 would be paid Rs50,000 per attendance of the council’s meeting and above BPS-20 Rs75,000 per attendance.

At present, there are four government nominees – Additional Secretary of Finance Ministry Sumaira K. Aslam, Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan Commissioner Tahir Mahmood, State Bank Deputy Governor Jamil Ahmad and deputy auditor Accountant General Pakistan (revenue) Irshad Kaleemi. The SECP and SBP representatives have reportedly declined to accept the remuneration.

The meeting minutes also include a dissenting note by former ICMAP president Iqbal Ghori who is also an elected member of the council. Mr Ghori asserted that the council should first prepare a working paper covering financial impact of the step on the institute as well as practices of other accounting bodies i.e. ICAP and PIPFA, etc.

However, his argument was voted out with a majority as the proponents saw the step as ‘trendsetter’ being adopted as ‘good practice’.

But some ICMAP officials claim that the move is aimed at obtaining favour of the government-nominated members in a bid to conceal alleged financial irregularities.

This included purchase of a piece of land for Faisalabad Campus in violation of the PPRA rules and at an exorbitant cost of around Rs100 million without approval of the competent forum – National Council – and paying over 10pc of the cost to Asif Mahmood who was neither owner nor held power of attorney in 2013. A case was lodged with the FIA in September 2017 after submission of Inquiry/Fact-Finding Report.

The opponents of the move say the purpose of the government nominees is to act as regulator and watchdog against any irregularities in the institute. But, paying them a hefty amount as allowance will compromise their role. They claim that Ms Aslam has even undertaken a tour of Australia on the ICMAP expenses.

They fear that payment of the allowance and extension of perks like foreign tours to the government nominees would also put extra burden on the students, mostly coming from lower middle class. They claim that the new council has enhanced tuition and examination fees by 20-30pc to meet the increased expenses.

Executive Director Aamir Aijaz Khan defends the decision saying, “it’s aimed at acknowledging the time and efforts they put in to share their wisdom with the institute”. He says the ICMAP has already set a trend by preparing focus study material only to be followed by the institute and others and hopes that this step too would be followed by them.

He admits that the institute is facing liquidity issue because of “slowdown policy by the previous National Council”.

Answering a question, he said the ICMAP had sought financial help from the government but for “capital” and not for “operation” purposes to compete against foreign bodies like CMA, etc.

The ICMAP had been established in 1951 and given statutory status under the CMA Act 1966 to promote and regulate the profession of Management Accounting.

Published in Dawn, January 28th, 2019