ACPACI Holds 2nd GMM and Celebrates 42nd Founding Anniversary
The Association of Certified Public Accountants in Commerce and Industry (ACPACI) held its second General Membership Meeting and celebrated its 42nd foundation day, anchored on the theme, “Soaring High” at the Intercontinental Hotel Manila in Makati City last March 19, 2015.
The event kicked off with the opening remarks of Mr. Marcial P. Morales, Jr., 1991 ACPACI President and immediately followed by the luncheon meeting address of the Honorable Joel Tan-Torres, Board of Accountancy (BOA) Chairman, entitled, The Asean Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) Framework on the CPAs in Commerce and Industry Sector.
According to Mr. Tan-Torres, apart from the Accountancy profession, the Mutual Recognition Agreements have been drawn up and signed for the professional sectors of Engineering and Architecture, Dentistry, Medicine and Nursing, and there may be free flow of professional services in the ASEAN Integration, but there were adequate measures to protect the interests of the local practice, accounting practice in particular. He encouraged the GMM 2 participants to become “Foreign Chartered Accountants” who can practice the Accounting profession in other ASEAN countries as permitted and approved by the host country. He acquainted the audience that other countries have more registered professionals already and we shouldn’t be complacent and we don’t want to be laggard in the program. In the end, he remarked that Accountants ought to maximize their potential and “global quotient” was the key to level up.
In the afternoon, two technical sessions were presented. The first technical session was “Securing Momentum: SEC Updates on Financial Statement Reporting” discussed by Mr. Pocholo C. Domondon, Assurance Director of Isla Lipana & Co. Mr. Domondon talked about the financial statement disclosure requirements, such as the Other Comprehensive Income, critical regulatory disclosures, and summary of accounting policies; SEC Updates and common SEC findings of the financial statements submitted to the Commission. In the second technical session, Ms. Lina P. Figueroa, Principal- Tax Advisory & Compliance of Punongbayan & Araullo, gave a lecture on “Your 2015 Tax Horoscope: Impact of Recent Tax Developments.” She discussed the enhanced, new and more report forms required by the BIR, VAT and withholding tax updates and new BIR Rulings. An open forum ensued after each technical session. In the open forum session, the members and guests shared ideas and experiences, sought advice and asked questions to the resource persons.
To celebrate its 42nd anniversary, ACPACI prepared different games and gave out freebies (ACPACI coasters and notebooks with felt paper cover) to the GMM attendees that day. There was the Human Bingo which everybody enjoyed, and the raffle with a flat screen LCD TV as the grand prize. ACPACI once again offered crowd pleasing menu for its officers and guests. Each of the delicious dishes, ranging from party-perfect appetizers (salads, cold cuts, pork and tofu, cheeses, dips and bites) to show stopping main courses ( spicy crabs, chicken tinola, pinakbet and braised beef) to SINFUL desserts (pitchi pitchi, guinataang bilo-bilo, turon with caramel sauce and cakes, cakes, cakes), was a tried-and-true hit that deserved several rounds of applause. ACPACI and Hotel Intercon served the foods that people crave flat-out.
Other highlights of this momentous event were the speech of Mr. Wowie Roguel during the President’s Time, the induction of new ACPACI members and awarding of token of appreciation to the guest speakers. The GMM was hosted by Ms. Katherine U. Sobremonte, ACPACI Director for Fellowship and Sports.