Dubai Chamber organizes a discussion forum for Auditors' Business Group

The meeting was attended by Atiq Juma Nasib, Director of Trade and Business Development Department at Dubai Chamber, Abbas Ali Mirza, Chairman of Auditors' Group, and a number of the group members and representatives of major accounting and auditing firms in Dubai.

In his speech, Nasib stressed the crucial role played by Dubai Chamber in representing and protecting the interests of the local business community. He said the Chamber has established 19 business groups representing different economic sectors in Dubai aiming to activate relations with its members, study their suggestions and recommendations to improve their business sectors and to act as a point of contact between them and the authorities concerned.

'Auditing is a delicate profession that requires a neat process of ascertaining the validity and reliability of financial information. Accounting is the language of business and the accounting standards were created to measure the market's competitiveness. Launching its process of development in the world of business, Dubai realized the importance of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and its implementation by companies willing to access global markets,' said Nasib.

He highlighted the importance of enhancing business environment in Dubai and adopting the best international practices to be able to cope with Dubai Strategic Plan 2015 which was announced by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai. 'The corporations which are going to survive the future have to think beyond our boundaries where the international standards are essential,' he added.

Nasib noted that the meeting, which was attended by the representatives of major auditing firms in Dubai, provided them with a chance to discuss the best ways to deal with the challenges the accountants and auditors have to face and its impact on their financial statements.

'The meeting discussed the recent developments in the stock markets in the UAE whose substantial downturn is expected to have a major impact on the financial results of companies and other financial institutions in the country. It also discussed the radical change which took place last year in the international standard of auditing related to auditors' report on financial statements,' he said.

Abbas Ali Mirza, Chairman of the Auditors' Group, stressed the importance of meeting with the members of the group to ensure more interaction and discuss issues related to the development of their business, in addition to upgrade their performance to cope with the new changes of the profession and its related impacts.

'The meeting offered us an opportunity to discuss the impacts of the downturn in the UAE stock markets on the financial results of companies, as that required a strict interpretation of the IFRS which could be treated as 'impairment' in the income statements of companies holding shares whose market values have declined below the buyers' cost,' said Mirza adding that this decline would have a negative impact on reported profits for year 2006.

He explained that there are new standards for auditing that have been discussed in the meeting, following last year's changes of the International Standard on Auditing to the Auditors' Report.