Tag: ACCA

Islamabad, June 24, 2021 (PPI-OT):A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed between P@SHA (Pakistan Software Houses Association for IT and ITES), Pakistan’s sole representative trade body for the IT and ITES sector, and ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants), the world’s leading body for professional accountants. Both organizations have committed to work together towards accelerating Pakistan’s inclusive economic growth through development of technology eco-system and digital acceleration.

Speaking at the signing ceremony in Islamabad, Head of ACCA Pakistan, Sajjeed Aslam, shared:

“We are really excited to partner with P@SHA to jointly promote technology development and digital acceleration of Pakistan into a knowledge economy and hub of shared services, making IT and ITES (including AI, Data Science, Blockchain, Fintech, Robotics process automation, Finance and Accounting etc.) the top contributor to Pakistan’s exports and job creation.

Key focus would remain to super connect the innovation value chain for the development of human capital and branding of Pakistan amongst globally recognized knowledge economies. This will amplify our contribution towards a better, fairer, more sustainable future for all.”

Sharing the details of the MoU, Barkan Saeed, Chairman, P@SHA, said:

“P@SHA, as the functional trade association for IT industry in Pakistan, continues to co-create policies and environment that help upskill the youth of Pakistan and enable sustainable IT industry growth (locally and internationally). With growing local and global influence, P@SHA’s collaboration with ACCA aims to develop future-ready human capital, infrastructure and connectivity through STZs, entrepreneurship, investment opportunities, policies/ regulations intervention and integrated joint research on digital transformation ecosystem. Other areas include mentorship and development of finance talent in P@SHA member organizations”.

For more information, contact:
Association of Chartered Certified Accountants Pakistan (ACCA)
Office No. 5, 2nd Floor, SNC Centre,
Fazal-ul-Haq Road, Blue Area, Islamabad, Pakistan
Tel: +92-51-111-222275
Fax: +92-51-2876605
Email: info@pk.accaglobal.com
Website: www.pakistan.accaglobal.com

Islamabad, June 17, 2021 (PPI-OT):New tax policies announced recently by G7 communiqué will face hurdles as the proposals are yet to be agreed by the G20 and other jurisdictions, says ACCA today, asserting that the three foundations for a sound tax system are simplicity, certainty and stability.

Jason Piper, head of tax and business law at ACCA says: ‘Committing to a global minimum tax of at least 15% on a country by country basis is a challenge, predicated on the agreement of other jurisdictions’ governments. To be truly effective it will need to go beyond the G7, and even the G20, to the OECD’s Inclusive Framework of 139 countries, requiring compromise as governments surrender legal sovereignty in return for an effective, practical framework.

‘And the move for multinationals to pay tax in the countries where they do business – and not just were they are headquartered – will create new legal and accounting challenges for banks, businesses and tax authorities.’

ACCA says the main challenges are about achieving true parity and fairness. Jason Piper explains: ‘This is indeed a seismic announcement, but it’s more a foreshock than the main event. Corporate taxes contribute only a small proportion of total revenues, and these measures capture only a tiny fraction of even that. The real heavy lifting is done by consumption and personal income taxes, and that is where reforms could make a real difference to the sorts of societies we live in.

‘Overall, tax ‘mitigation’ is the symptom, not the cause. We’ve broken the link between business and the society it serves, and somehow need to rebuild that. Building a tax system which supports and encourages a circular economy would help – and profits taxes are a very small part of that. However, this is a move to be welcomed, bringing fairness and transparency to a system that has long been seen solely as a matter for national governments. We have long called for a halt to the race to the bottom for setting corporate taxes.’

In 2019, ACCA with CA ANZ and IFAC published a report called G20 public trust in tax: Surveying public trust in G20 tax systems. This showed that most people surveyed for this report were supportive of cooperation on international tax policy to create a more coherent international tax system (69%).

Jason Piper adds: ‘We know from our research that transparency is a top issue for G20 citizens when considering tax systems. Across the G20, respondents to our global research wanted more clarity on how and from whom their governments are collecting taxes, and how their tax money is spent. Corruption in the tax system is a top concern in multiple countries, and that has remained the case in survey data for the 2021 Report, which will be published in September of this year.’

Jason Piper concludes: ‘Competition on tax policy among countries, whether to take a greater share of revenues or attract multinational business, has been the reality of the international tax environment for many years. What the G7 has announced aims to change this reality – what’s essential is that we all have trust in tax systems and this remains to be seen.’

For more information, contact:
Association of Chartered Certified Accountants Pakistan (ACCA)
Office No. 5, 2nd Floor, SNC Centre,
Fazal-ul-Haq Road, Blue Area, Islamabad, Pakistan
Tel: +92-51-111-222275
Fax: +92-51-2876605
Email: info@pk.accaglobal.com
Website: www.pakistan.accaglobal.com