| 14 Mar 2010 |
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Grant Thornton offers corporate governance solutions at annual congress
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In line with UAE's new corporate governance law to be introduced in April 2010
Grant ThorntonGrant Thornton
UAE gold sponsors of 4th Annual Corporate Governance Congress in Dubai
Dubai, March 14, 2010: Highlighting its commitment to best practice auditing and management practices, Grant ThorntonGrant Thornton
, one of the world's leading independently owned accounting and consulting firms, supported the Fourth Annual Corporate Governance Congress in Dubai last week. The congress, held between February 28-March 4, provided key insights into challenges and opportunities for the UAE in preparation of new corporate governance laws to be introduced next month. As part of the four-day event, Mohamad Nassar, Director of Business Risk Services at Grant ThorntonGrant Thornton, conducted a workshop entitled 'Corporate Governance as a Business Life Style,' where he analysed the core of corporate governance and discussed how to implement it to create a competitive business edge.
"The economic structure of any country fully depends on the effectiveness and leadership capabilities of the companies within it," said Nassar during the session. "Accordingly, the degree of effectiveness by which the companies' boards carries out its responsibilities determines the benchmark of any country's competitive status. Thus, corporate governance lies at the very core of an economy's competitiveness."
Nassar further explained that corporate governance (CG) is dependant on four pillars: Risk assessment and management, an internal control system, an ethics and fraud prevention strategy and perhaps most importantly, transparency and trust.
"The biggest contradiction of CG is an environment where fraud takes place," he said. "If the board and management are serious to fight such an environment and build a concrete CG structure, it has to state the organisation's definition of fraud acts, citing clear examples of what constitutes fraud, conflict of interest, and further specify disciplinary actions that will ensue should fraud occur."
He said: "The main reason behind the huge failures that happened in most of the business organisations all over the world recently is the absence of a serious, integrated and regularly monitored Risk Management process. Organisations need to hire a well-reputed external consultant to evaluate and monitor the Risk Management process and to provide suitable advice and recommendations to management, in an unhindered manner."
"Transparency is the right to obtain the proper, relevant and complete information, justification and data that enables individuals and the community to live and work in a healthy environment free of ambiguity and secrets and in order to be able to do business fairly and take the right decisions," Nassar concluded.
The Fourth Annual Corporate Governance congress was a direct response to the UAE Government's announcement that the new corporate governance law in the UAE, to be unveiled later this year, will be in line with international best practice. The guidelines involve transparency and sustainability in order for UAE organisations to become globally efficient in today's economic climate.
The upcoming regulatory enactments are expected to alter the corporate governance landscape in the region. Organisations will now be held accountable for accuracy and integrity in their business operations, and they must have effective and reliable governance and compliance procedures in place.
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About Grant ThorntonGrant Thornton:
Grant Thornton InternationalGrant Thornton International Ltd (Grant Thornton InternationalGrant Thornton International) is one of the world's leading organisations of independently owned and managed accounting and consulting firms. These firms provide assurance, tax and specialist business advice to privately held businesses and public interest entities. Services are delivered independently by the member and correspondent firms within Grant Thornton InternationalGrant Thornton International, a non-practicing, international umbrella entity organized as a private company limited by guarantee incorporated in England and Wales. Grant Thornton InternationalGrant Thornton International does not deliver services in its own name or otherwise. Grant Thornton InternationalGrant Thornton International and the member firms are not a worldwide partnership.
Grant ThorntonGrant Thornton United Arab Emirates is a Member firm of Grant Thornton InternationalGrant Thornton International. Founded in 1966, Grant ThorntonGrant Thornton UAE has come a long way to emerge as one of the largest firms in the UAE, providing audit, consultancy and accounting services of the highest professional standard, to many international and domestic businesses. Having considerable experience in many fields, they are able to cater to all their clients' businesses including investment, construction, insurance, financial services, manufacturing, oil sector services, hospitality and tourism, shipping and travel, trading and real estate.
For further information, please contact:
Nicholas Nesson / Nitin Nambiar / Tasneem Abdur-Rashid
ASDA'A Burson-Marsteller
Dubai, UAE
Tel: 971-4-3355969
Fax: 971-4-3356080
Email: n.nesson@asdaa.com / n.nambiar@asdaa.com / t.rashid@asdaa.com
© Press Release 2010
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