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ICAI Dubai Chapter organises 'Accounting, Taxation and Sustainability Summit'

Several thought-provoking hot topics currently being debated in various accounting and finance forums discussed

The ICAI Dubai Chapter organised an “Accounting, Taxation and Sustainability Summit” on July 29 at Hotel Millenium Plaza Downtown, Sheikh Zayed Road, Dubai, which featured several thought-provoking topics currently being debated in various accounting and finance forums. Basel Arafe – Partner Business Tax Deloitte UAE — spoke on the topic “IAS 12 – Tax Accounting” and Kabir Dhawan – Partner Business Consulting Grant Thornton UAE — spoke on the strategies for sustainability.

The summit also included a panel discussion moderated by former chairman of the 21st session of ISAR at the "UNCTAD" and author of 15 IFRS books Abbas Ali Mirza and panelists included Basel Arafe – Partner Business Tax Deloitte UAE, Kabir Dhawan – Partner GT UAE, Sharukh Dumasia — Partner KPMG KSA and Rishi Aggarwal — Partner Premier Brains Global. They shed light on the highly complex topics ranging from “Sustainability Reporting and Strategy”, Mergers & Acquisitions, Troubled Debt Restructuring, International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), with a special emphasis on Deferred Taxes and the newly introduced Corporate Taxation in the UAE.

Harikishan Rankawat — Chairman of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) – Dubai Chapter and Managing Partner of RNG Auditors, said: “The International Sustainability Standards Board” (ISSB) has issued its first two sustainability reporting standards on June 26, 2023. These are effective for annual reporting for periods beginning on or after January 1, 2024, with early adoption permitted.

Jai Prakash Agarwal – Secretary of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) – Dubai Chapter, said: “Being a Chartered Accountant, Corporate Tax & Accounting is very close to our heart but as human, attaining sustainability and addressing climate change issues are also equally important.”

“The Middle East has continued to shrug off global economic headwinds. M&A activity remains buoyant with strong demand for assets that can contribute to UAE and KSA demand for “Localised Global Champions” in key sectors. Such assets, prepared and presented properly, realise good deal values”, said Sharukh Dumasia, Head of Deals and Restructuring for KPMG KSA.

Kabir Dhawan, Partner —Business Consulting for Grant Thornton — UAE mentioned that the newly issued standards (IFRS S1 & S2) reinforce the focus on identifying climate-related risks and adds tremendous decision-making value to investors who assess organisations on sustainability related performance. For organisations in the region who have not yet built a sustainability strategy or undertake any sustainability reporting, the release of these standards should emphasise the need to start considering these as a priority”.

The moderator of the power-packed Panel Discussion was Abbas Ali Mirza, who has served as the Chairman of the 21st Session of a global body, the "ISAR" (Inter Governmental Working Group of Experts on International Accounting and Reporting) at the UNCTAD, United Nations. According to Abbas Ali Mirza, it is a move in the right direction that the International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS") have been designated as the applicable Accounting Standards for the purposes of the UAE Corporate Tax law since the IFRS are promulgated by a global body, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB), and are generally considered as globally-accepted set of Standards and they are used by listed companies in over 140 countries.

Abbas Ali Mirza however alerted the Panel to an important aspect in the application of IFRS. He mentioned that "IFRS" are "principles-based" standards as opposed to their closest competing set of Standards, the "US GAAP" (i.e. the Generally Accepted Accounting Principles in the U.S.), which are generally "rules- based" Standards. What does this mean from a practical standpoint? In applying "IFRS", a lot of caution and care will have to be exercised because proper interpretations will have to be used in applying these IFRS Standards so that such interpretations are not challenged later.

Rishi Aggarwal, Partner of Premier Brains Global mentioned about the challenges in preparing the financial statements for year ending 31 December 2023 due to implementation of transition provisions of Corporate Taxes and the relevance of International Financial Reporting Standards for accounting in UAE.