ISLAMABAD, Sept 24: President Gen Pervez Musharraf has observed that the world is witnessing an era of cut throat competition as it has shrunk into a global village. In his message read out on the occasion of 10th Management Accounting International Conference on “The Management Accounting Profession in the Changing Global Scenario”, he said there was survival for the fittest in the global economic arena, with physical borders coming down for business and trade.

The two-day conference has been arranged by the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Pakistan (ICMAP) with the objective to provide the professionals an opportunity to thrash out critical issues and address the seemingly formidable challenges faced by the profession of accounting across the globe.

The countries producing quality goods at minimum cost stand to gain and those devoid of these capabilities would find themselves at the loser’s end, the president said.

He said during the last few years, the government had been making all efforts to bring a turn-around in the economy. “Things have improved, but we still have a long way to go,” he said.

He stressed that management accountants could contribute in a big way towards putting the economic units on the right track. “Their mission to promote efficiency and effectiveness in their area of specialization can beef up good governance in the corporate sector. With their professionalism, knowledge base and futuristic approach, they are competent enough to discipline the country’s economy, thus steering it to greater efficiency and productivity,” he said.

Minister of State for Overseas Pakistanis Senator Tariq Azim, in his inaugural speech, said the need for competitive edge had become very important these days. “The thrust of globalization under WTO is a strong reminder to us that we shall have to make all out efforts to keep the cost of products at the minimum possible level so that we are not beaten by other countries ever in our national market, not to speak of international economic arena,” he said.

He said unless Pakistan developed a strong and efficient industrial base, it might not be able to compete with other countries. Exposure to world competition provides enterprises with greater access to information and technology and leads to more vigorous efforts to acquire new skills.

He said it was a proven fact that export oriented economies were more dynamic than the inward looking ones. He said history bore testimony to the fact that in all cases where the countries had opened themselves up to international trade, industrialization and development had gained momentum.

The minister was of the view that it would be in the own interest of Pakistan to welcome globalization and adopt openness as its trade policy.

He emphasized that the government was aware of the threats and opportunities arising out of globalization. He said efforts were on to line up the resources to derive maximum benefits from the opportunities created by globalization. He was of the opinion that threats could be converted into opportunities by adjusting to the emerging conditions.

The minister said Pakistan had come a long way since the 1998-99 crises where the country was on the brink of default and foreign reserves had depleted, economic growth was anaemic, debt burden was virtually unmanageable, confidence of the international community was at its lowest ebb and credibility among the international creditors was at the rock bottom. He said the economic turnaround had not occurred all of a sudden, but it was the outcome of a deliberate and carefully designed economic programme, adding that some of the reforms were still underway.

He, however, made it clear that there was no room for complacency as there were daunting challenges of poverty alleviation, employment generation, balanced regional growth, upgrading social indicators and containing inflation. He said second generation reforms had been put in place which a view to strengthening the country’s institutions and their capacity to deliver basic services. “We will continue to implement sound economic policy. Investment in human development and infrastructure will keep the country on the right course,” he said.

The Central Board of Revenue chairman, Abdullah Yousaf, in his concluding remarks, called for directing all energies to tackling the global challenge and changing the mind-set of inward looking approach.

He said attention must be paid to improving structures, procedures and standards to compete with rest of the world in the economic arena. He said there was no dearth of human resource in the country and there was a need to mobilize it.

United Nations Commission on Trade and Development Chairman Abbas Ali Mirza urged the management accountants to develop a strategic and global mindset, and progress beyond their role of financial reporting and providing information for planning, control and decision support.

He said the management accountants should take on the role of value creation and strategic planning and implementation to promote efficiency and effectiveness in production setups.

Earlier, Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Pakistan President Mohammad Rafi presented welcome speech.

Vote of thanks was presented by former ICMAP president Mumtaz Abdullah.