| 12 Nov 2009 |
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GCC audit and accountancy firms weather global crisis
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Auditing and accountancy firms in the GCC have successfully weathered the global financial crisis and no such firm has closed down, said delegates at the Fourth Forum for Accounting and Auditing Bureaus in GCC.
They also said GCC audit firms were in relatively good financial health, as the major losses caused by the impact of the crisis had been sustained mainly by the large multinational firms, rather than the smaller companies in the region.
Ahmed Ali Maqtari, Member of the Board of the UAE Accountants and Auditors Association, said: "We have obstacles, most importantly the strong influence and control in the region by the world's largest firms - the big four of Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG and PriceWaterhouseCoopers - on the UAE and Gulf markets.
But our national companies are trying hard to garner a bigger role in the UAE to be able to alleviate the effects of the global financial crisis on them."
Maqtari highlighted the need for transparency in the accountancy area in the Gulf, and said the government should support UAE national companies and help them develop their performance.
Dr Wael Ibrahim Al Rashid, member of the Kuwaiti delegation and a professor at the Kuwait University, said the crisis has not led to the closure of any accountancy firm in the Gulf, but customer confidence in accountancy and auditing firms had been shaken after some major multinationals in the field covered up the scandals at top companies in the US.
Al Rashid said the volume of work in Kuwait fell by at least 70 per cent as a result of the crisis but no accountancy closed down. He, too, felt GCC firms needed government support.
Al Rashid said, apart from their expertise, the international big four have had strong relations with many firms operating in the Gulf for years now. GCC firms, meanwhile, still badly needed better standards of performance and quality.
Naeem Saba Khouri, Board Chairman of Jordan's Association of Certified Public Accountants, said the crisis has weakened the world's confidence in US-style capitalism.
By Abdel Hai Mohamad
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