LES-AC Chairman delivers speech at the 5th Middle East and Accounting Summit

Mr. Abu-Ghazaleh tackled several key issues: the global financial and economic crisis and its impact on the Arab region as well as on the accounting profession regionally and internationally.

He also highlighted the risks of legal claims filed with US, British and Western courts against accounting firms in the wake of bankruptcies of the companies which the accounting firms were auditing calling on the world to protect accounting firms everywhere.

As for the Arab region, he announced that ASCA is currently organizing an international conference under the patronage of His Excellency Michel Suleiman, President of the Republic of Lebanon on December 22-23, 2009, in cooperation with the Central Bank of Lebanon, the Union of Arab Banks, Lebanese Association of Certified Public Accountants and World Union of Arab Bankers. The Conference will discuss the merits of the G20 Summit's financial and accounting resolutions.

ASCA will present ten special programs dealing with the requirements focused on by the three G20 Summits, including stress test program, cash flow test program, hedging activities program, fair value measurement program, forensic accounting, and others.

Mr. Abu-Ghazaleh also reviewed the situation of the accounting profession in the Arab world and focused on the necessity of complying with and implementing the IFRS, which was also highlighted by the G20 Summits.

He stressed on the need to establish an Arab Advisory Council to be dedicated for this issue and to work under the umbrella of the IFRS Board in order not to waste time in futile attempts to formulate local or contending standards because "There is no place in this interconnected world except for the IFRS," according to Mr. Abu-Ghazaleh.

He pointed out that ASCA, for more than two decades, has been translating the international accounting and auditing standards, and many other guides and references into Arabic under the concession contracts from the Boards that issue these standards in English.

Mr. Abu-Ghazaleh announced the translation of Islamic trading and accounting standards and the launch of a program for a certified accountant qualification in Islamic accounting in collaboration with the British Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA). He said that the program will be introduced in the Arab Financial and Accounting Forum in Beirut.