KARACHI:To mark the Global Ethics Day 2020, ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) joined forces with CFA Society Pakistan, HBL, ICMA Pakistan,
(PSX), and the Pakistan Business Council’s Centre of Excellence in Responsible Business (CERB) for a series of panel discussions engaging country’s top business leaders.
According to a press release issued on Saturday, titled ‘The Big Conversation – Ethics and Sustainability’, and covering five highly relevant topics, the conversations explored how organizations can play a role in building a fairer and more ethical world and commit to minimizing environmental impact whilst putting social responsibility at the heart of business strategy.
The conversation leaders constructively discussed the pressing ethical and environmental challenges of today and exchanged views and solutions on how organizations can blaze the trail of sustainability and cultivate a culture of workplace ethics.
The business leaders stressed that businesses can continue to deliver financial returns while generating positive value for society and being environmentally responsible for the planet. As our world strives to recover from the impact of Covid-19, they feel that there is a growing demand for organizations and nations to become fairer and more sustainable.
The panel discussions included country’s most prominent business leaders and sustainability trailblazers, including luminaries from the regulators such as Sadia Khan, Commissioner, Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan, Dr Inayat Hussain, Executive Director – FS and BSG – State Bank of Pakistan, Bushra Naz Malik, Member, Competition Commission of Pakistan, Usman Hayat, CEO, Audit Oversight Board, and Farrukh H. Khan, CEO/ Managing Director, Pakistan Stock Exchange.
There was also a strong representation of financial services sector with panelists such as Jamal Nasir, Chief Human Resource Officer, Habib Bank Limited, Mohammad Shoaib, CEO, Al Meezan Investment Management Limited, Khurram Shahid FCCA, Head of Investment Banking – AKD Securities, Ayesha Aziz, CEO, Pak Brunei Investment Company Ltd., and Mashmooma Zehra Majeed, CEO, MUFAP.
To share the perspective of corporate sector, progressive, forward-thinking business voices, such as Syed Ali Naseer, Chief Business Officer, Jazz, Almas Hyder, Chairman, Synthetic Products Enterprises Ltd. and Engineering Development Board, Naz Khan, Chief Strategy Officer, K Electric, Ahmad Ali Zia, Group Chief HR Officer and CEO – People and Business Partnering, HRSG, and Ehsan Malik, CEO – Pakistan Business Council, also contributed with their exclusive insights and recommendations.
To examine the challenges raised by new technologies and propose solutions, leadership of the tech industry was also present to deliberate on how organizations can build trust in a digital age. Thought leaders from the tech sector included Zouhair Khaliq, Co-Founder and Partner, TeamUp, Asif Peer, CEO/ Managing Director, Systems Limited, Jehan Ara, Founder, The NEST I/O and President, P@SHA, Faisal Qamar, Co-Founder – HRSG BPO, and Shahjahan Chaudhary, Project Director, National Incubation Centre (Karachi).
Sajjeed Aslam, Head of ACCA Pakistan and Dr. Arshad Ahmad, Vice Chancellor, Lahore University of Management Sciences shared how our education sector can help the professionals of the future build an ethical character and prepare them to lead on the issues of sustainability and environment.
Acknowledging that the accountancy profession has a vital role to play in promoting the highest standards of ethics and upholding public trust, the conversations featured a strong representation from the profession, with contributions from Asim Siddiqui, Country Managing Partner / CEO, EY Ford Rhodes Pakistan, Muhammad Asim, President, CFA Society Pakistan, Omer Zaheer Meer FCCA, Managing Partner, MLCC, Zia-Ul-Mustafa, President, ICMA Pakistan, Stuart Dunlop, Market Director – MESA, ACCA, Nick Pollard, Managing Director Asia Pacific, CFA, Ayla Majid FCCA, Managing Director, Khalid Majid Rehman, Javaria Malik, Director Marketing and Communications, ICMA Pakistan, and Sadaf Shabbir, Director, CFA Society Pakistan.