Over 100 IMA (Institute of Management Accountants) members and finance professionals in Saudi Arabia attended a two-day conference on April 10-11, aimed at unlocking the practical aspects of the recent finance regulations in the country. "As finance professionals, we have to be at the forefront of these changes and managements must appreciate transparency to ensure compliance with regulations," said Vijay Soni, chapter president of the IMA western province chapter. "We must understand that regulators are looking for diversified sustainable revenue source to sustain the economy. They are bringing in new regulations to promote transparency and disciplined reporting of business transactions," added Soni. Amarjit Chopra, former president of the Indian Chartered Accountants, in his keynote presentation talked about the importance of corporate governance, he emphasized the five pillars of corporate governance and how the complexities of today's business environment call for more regulations. He elaborated why and how much the "Independence is Independent". Directors and auditors should protect stakeholders' interest as well as be out of danger of being "scapegoat" for being victim of negligence. Raghav Khullar and Salman Munir presented IFRS 15 and 16. This was followed by Dr. Anis Ben Khedker and Raghav, who talked about the emerging fintech trends that are transfoming the finance industry such as blockchain. Ten percent of global GDP is likely to be stored on blockchain by 2026, said Raghav Khullar. Transfer pricing, corporate governance, IFRS implementation coupled with latest tax reforms and technological advancements have been burning issues these days. Practical examples were shared by experts and have been of great importance to audience, said Oboud Abubakr Baeshen while delivering vote of thanks. Noman Majeed presented artificial intelligence and big data in finance. Corporate law updates were explained by Rahul Goswami while Robert Dalla Costa, Irfan Alladin, Hanif Khatri and Rakesh Ramchandra from EY facilitated an open forum on Zakat, Tax and Value-Added Tax (VAT). "Businesses need to maintain readily available data for multi level reconciliation with the tax authority, customs, bank and accounting records to answer multiple queries from various authorities within short notice. Tax residency certificate and withholding tax certificate are easy to obtain from tax departments," said Alladin Irfan. During the event, IMA also recognized Mahmoud Al-Droubi, Nezar Alhussain, Osama Siddique, Musthafa Natikallingal, Fathelrhman Hemoudi, Nasim Akhter, Medhat Hussain, Rubal Arora all CMAs (Certified Management Accountants) who recently earned the certification and Tawfiq Tayyib & Omar Bai as outstanding commerce students from the University of Business and Technology in Jeddah. Naqel-Anexas, Morgan International and 360 realtors have extended valuable support to the event. Essam Salem, Shoaib Mallik, Sajjadali, Pradeep Sharma, Sreekanth AS, AR Merchant, Bhushan Aggarwal and Vijay Soni were awarded for support and event organization. — SG
