ISLAMABAD: In a first for the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), a joint cohort of 50 Inland Revenue Service (IRS) and Pakistan Customs officers completed a postgraduate diploma programme at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), marking the first time FBR has conducted specialised training for its officer cadres entirely outside a government training facility and through a leading university partner.
The passing out ceremony, held at LUMS on Saturday, was addressed by Federal Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb and FBR Chairman Rashid Mahmood Langrial, and attended by faculty members and the officers who completed the programme.
Officials said the move to a university-based model reflects FBR’s broader push to modernise its human resource development in line with international standards, exposing officers from both revenue cadres to a shared academic environment rather than the traditional in-house training format.
Perhaps more significant than the venue is a structural change to how the programme is assessed. For decades, such diploma courses functioned largely as a formality, with virtually the entire batch passing out regardless of performance. This cohort breaks that pattern: for the first time, roughly 10 percent of officers at the bottom of the merit list did not clear the programme.
Under the new framework, those officers are not simply held back. They will get a second opportunity to qualify alongside the next cohort, but will bear 50 percent of the programme’s costs themselves. Should they fail to qualify on that second attempt, they are entitled to one final chance, for which they will be required to bear the full cost of the training.
FBR officials described the shift as part of a wider effort to introduce genuine performance accountability into officer training, moving away from a system where completion was near automatic and toward one where advancement is tied to demonstrated merit.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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