ACPACIans Meet up for 7th Controllers/ Accountants Summit 2015 on AWC
The 7th Controllers/ Accountants Summit 2015 was held at the Grand Ballroom of Hotel Intercontinental Manila last July 14, 2015, with having more than 100 delegates to learn new things, to connect and network, and of course, to have some fun. This year’s summit theme was anchored on the ACPACI’s theme: Soaring High.
21st CPAs are witness to the remarkable changes in the Accounting/finance landscape and work environments instigated by the increasing globalization and rapid advancements. With these developments, ACPACI sees the need for its members to upgrade and diversity their competencies in order to keep pace with the changing world of Accountancy. Today’s Accountants must know how to explore and maximize their potentials in order to meet future demands and challenges of their corporate workplace. Hence, the Association tirelessly offers technical and non-technical seminars and workshops to further enhance the ACPACI members’ skills and to be globally competent.
Luminaries were invited to discuss a variety of subjects. For the morning technical sessions, Mr. Lope Doromal, Jr. who is the Chief Technologists and Client Technical Adviser of IBM Philippines, Inc. discussed the topic: Pushing the Frontiers: CFO Insights From the IBM Global C-Suite Study. Mr. Benjamin B. Azada, Partner of PwC Consulting (Philippines),Inc., tackled Business Service Transformation: Creating Your Own Shared Service Center.
During the Luncheon Meeting, BOA Chairman, the Honorable Joel Tan-Torres delivered his message to the ACPACI members and guests present. He presented the plans and projects of BOA categorized based on the four sectoral areas of the Accountancy profession and the international area. In the plenary, he apprised the audience of the BOA plan about the “controversial” accreditation requirements and the issuance of Certification of FS preparation of the CPAs in Commerce and Industry, which would take effect soon, subject to deliberation with the affected stakeholders. Note: BoA issued its Resolution 3-2016 dated January 19, 2016 regarding the rules on Financial Statements (FS) preparation and the requirement for the Certificate of Compilation Services for the preparation of FS and notes thereto (“the Certificate”).
Also during the Luncheon Meeting, Ms. June Cheryl A. Cabal-Revilla, First Vice President & Controller of PLDT and Chief Financial Controller of Smart Communications, Inc., talked about the “Evolving Role of the CFO” and inspired the crowd by sharing her real experiences as the finance guru of one of the countries telecommunication group. She enumerated the different attributes of a good CFO like integrity, flexibility, continuous quest for learning, among others. She also narrated the story of the Golden State Warriors, the 2015 NBA Champion, how this relatively unknown team travelled the circuitous road towards the NBA Championship by having faith, teamwork, tenacity, drive, openness, foresight and humility. She ended her presentation with the quote: Go Big or Go Home.
In the afternoon session, another notable speaker was Dr. Cesar A. Mansibang, who has over 20 years of academic experience as a professor and administrator and currently a professor of the Ateneo Graduate School of Business (AGSB), Ateneo Law School (ALS), Ateneo School of Government (ASOG), etc. Dr. Mansibang discussed the subject Challenges and Issues in Corporate Leadership Behaviors. In his lecture, he presented the basics of effective leadership and the challenges the CPAs in Commerce and Industry face; the strategic roles of controllers/ chief accountants; leadership traits and values like courageous and committed, visionary and systematic, faithful and hardworking, empowering and inspiring, etc. According to him, leaders must be guided with principles, values and habits and must learn to break with tradition, old ways of thinking or old paradigm. He also discussed Leadership icon, Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership by Kouzes and Posner. He concluded his presentation leading the community singing of Diana Ross’s If We Hold On, people at the ball room singing the song and holding hands and it was almost akin to attending a Sunday church service.
The last technical session entitled, Handling Tax Assessment was expertly conducted by Atty. Olivier D. Aznar, Partner, Tax Advisory & Compliance of Punongbayan & Araullo. In the tax forum, Atty. Aznar gave pointers on how to combat and handle BIR’s tax assessments and filing a protest- the dos and don’ts; filing an appeal and he discussed the common issues companies face during a BIR audit and suggested action points.
The Accountancy Week is a yearly celebration being held every 3rd week of July. It aims to tighten and strengthen the linkages among the sectors of the Accountancy profession and to respond to the technical and developmental needs of the members of these sectors.