ACCA (The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) has teamed up with Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs and CFA Institute to celebrate this year’s Global Ethics Day (17 October 2018).

To mark this landmark occasion, the organisations will be exploring how businesses are preparing for an ethical future in the face of threats and challenges presented by globalisation, technology and human psychology.

The three organisations are also producing a film interview series called ‘Ethics in business: in their own words’ which will feature a number of global CEOs, including: Helen Brand OBE, chief executive of ACCA, Paul Smith, president and CEO of CFA Institute and David MacLennan, chairman and CEO of Cargill discussing the greatest ethical challenge facing their respective organisations.

ACCA Pakistan held an event in Islamabad which was attended by Rahat Kaunain Hassan, Partner Hassan Kaunain Nafees Legal Practitioners and Advisers, Chaudhry Faisal Mushtaq, Founder and CEO Roots Millennium Schools, Faisal Rehman Malik, Senior Anchor. All these keynote speakers stressed on the value and importance of instilling the right mind-set and culture to drive businesses forward, ethically and sustainably.

Sajjeed Aslam, Head of ACCA Pakistan highlighted, “It is not our opinions but our actions which are going to drive change. Ethics or lack of is going to be the key disruption alongside technology advancements.”

The keynote speeches were followed by a panel discussion moderated by Aamir Ghauri, Senior Journalist, Broadcaster and Author. The panelists included Abid Qaiyum Suleri, Executive Director SDPI, Dr. Tariq Hassan, Chairman Audit Oversight Board, Rahat Kaunain Hassan, Partner Hassan Kaunain Nafees Legal Practitioners & Advisers, Zouhair Khaliq, Co-Founder Team up & Advisor and Syed Asmatullah, Executive Director Deloitte Yousuf Adil, Chartered Accountants.

Our Panellist, Rahat Kunain spoke on the subject and said, ‘Improving work ethics of the nation in general is imperative to drive the productivity of our workforce else competing with global workforce will an upcoming challenge for our youth.’

Aamir Ghauri who was moderating the panel discussed that, ‘The kind of role models we are sharing on television and films should promote and show case good moral and ethical examples.’

Zouhair Khaliq, Co-Founder Teamup and Advisor commented, “The young generation of the entrepreneurs is building up their businesses on strong moral and ethical values, leaders of today should inculcate and nourish such behaviours.”

Helen Brand OBE, ACCA’s chief executive, says: ‘This is the fifth anniversary of Global Ethics Day, and an opportunity for us all to stop and think ahead to the ethical challenges we face and how we can all work together to tackle them. This day is to remind individuals and businesses of their ethical responsibilities and highlight why doing the right thing is so important. And this is why ACCA is supporting Global Ethics Day 2018, working with Carnegie and CFA Institute to shine a spotlight on all things ethical’.