Call to evolve roadmap to tackle challenges

Speakers at a moot on "Public Sector Accounting in Pakistan", organised by the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Pakistan (ICMAP), have called for evolving a national roadmap for countering the challenges posed to the country. Punjab Law Minister, Rana Sanaullah was the chief guest at the inaugural session. President ICMAP Hasan A. Bilgrami, Deputy Auditor General Usman Khan, GM Finance OGDC Muhammad Rafi and Hanif Ajari also spoke on the occasion.
The speakers termed public sector accounting importance for ensuring good governance, which is the key to promoting transparency in public dealings. They expressed concern over the rising burden of debt and said, "By increasing revenues and exports, we could have salvaged the position but the expenditure situation has all along been deteriorating due to inflationary trends."
Expressing his views, Rana Sanaullah said that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leadership believes in transparency in public dealings and is taking necessary steps in this regard. He added the constitution, also, gives autonomy to the Auditor General of Pakistan. He said, "Pakistan has long been experiencing recessionary trends. Our cash strapped position, caused by massive national debt has kept our economy at very low ebb. Debt servicing eats up a whopping share of our current revenues." The minister said government is taking a number of measures to put our financial and fiscal house in order.
General Manager, Finance Oil and Gas Development Company (OGDC), Muhammad Rafi said that globalisation has brought about unprecedented changes in the relationship between the government and the public. In this perspective, the government is required to be more accountable for which it must ensure transparency in all its dealings. He said that the moot is aimed at elaborating the contexts, changing role and increasing challenges for the PSEs and its impact on the overall performance of the organisation and the country.
Guest speaker ICMAP Pakistan, Sajjad Ahmad said Pakistan's tax set up is more 'pro-rich than pro-poor'. Resultantly, the rich pay less tax than they should and poor are compelled to pay taxes in spite of the fact that they have a very low capacity to pay, he added.
In his address, President ICMAP, Hasan A. Bilgrami said the ICMAP has been meeting national human resource needs through a steady flow of professional management accountants. "The institute is well aware of the challenges faced by the competitive and demanding business world and is equipping and training professionals to meet these with full accuracy and efficiency," he remarked.
Speaking on the occasion, Deputy Auditor General of Pakistan Usman Khan in his presentation said the department of auditor general remained traditionally responsible for both accounting and auditing in the public sector till 2001, when the two functions were separated through an organisation. This organisation, created for maintenance of accounts of federal, provincial and district governments was known as Controller General of Accounts.
Usman informed that the auditor general now performs audit function besides prescribing principles and methods of maintaining accounts as per his constitutional mandate. The segregation not only removed conflict of interest situation but also facilitated transparency and independence of both the functions, he added. Hanif Ajaris in his paper said that public service organisations are globally mandated to increase their focus on performance management. Beyond Europe, both Canada and Australia have established formal programmes and standards to measure and report performance within their government agencies. Similarly, performance management reforms have been mandated as being integral of Obama administration's effort to enact major changes in the federal government, he maintained. Shahzad Ahmad Awan, Iqbal Ghouri and Mirza Munawar Hussain also presented their papers on the occasion.