Dubai – May 18th, 2011: The Institute of Management Accountants (IMA®), as part of its annual IMA Middle East Conference, announced a strategic partnership with Hawkamah, the Institute for Corporate Governance (HICG), aimed at advocating corporate sector reform and improving corporate governance in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. IMA is the world’s leading organization dedicated to supporting accountants and financial professionals in business.
The IMA Middle East Conference 2011 hosted prominent speakers, thought leaders and academics in the field of accounting and finance. Opinion shapers from various industries closely involved with the financial profession shared their insights on the future trends and opportunities in the sector.
Commenting on the launch of the partnership at the conference, Nick Nadal, Director of Hawkamah said: “Corporate governance regulations are in place, especially in regional financial and capital markets. But these standards and regulations alone will not support the development of the regional markets. We at Hawkamah realize that we need to engage market players to commit to high standards of ethical behavior and good corporate governance supporting the values of fairness, accountability, trust and respect. The growing number of international professional associations in the region, such as IMA, will inject an added element of professionalism, ethical knowledge, and integrity into the regional markets that are crucial to its development”.
The scope of the partnership includes improving governance practices in public and private listed institutions within the MENA region, assisting in developing national and legal regulatory frameworks in the area of corporate governance and increasing the training capacity of institutions and other stakeholders on good corporate governance.
“Our alliance with IMA targets the entire region and our mission is to produce and disseminate knowledge and researches to help businesses in the region adopt industry best practices that encourage transparency and good corporate governance.”
Hawkamah was created to bridge the governance gap by assisting the region’s countries and businesses in developing and implementing sound, well integrated corporate governance frameworks. This new agreement with IMA fits into Hawkamah’s main objective which is to shape corporate governance practices and frameworks throughout the region by promoting the core values of transparency, accountability, fairness, disclosure and responsibility.
“A major concern for IMA has always been ‘enterprise risk management’ especially when it comes to small and medium size enterprises and family businesses,” said Brian McGuire, IMA Chairman Elect, 2010-2011. “Transparency is essential to business stability and growth, and with Hawkamah, we hope to raise the ethical boundaries in business and promote a healthier environment of information exchange in the region.”
“IMA is committed to raising the professionalism of the finance profession in the UAE and the region. This year, the second highest score worldwide for the CMA exam was awarded to Aneel Iqbal from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Iqbal, ACA, CFA, CMA is the Lead Trainer, Ernst & Young, Jeddah. This award sets a fine example of the increasing participation within the region as we see more and more professionals see the value of the certification and professional accreditation.” added Jim Gurowka, Vice President of International Development, IMA.
Last year, IMA released its inaugural Middle East Salary Survey which reported that Certified Management Accountants (CMA) earn 122 percent more in wages than their non-certified counterparts. This translates to a total of up to AED9.5 million (US$2.6 million) in extra income throughout the career lifetime of a CMA.
