The Association of Certified Public Accountants is calling for a law that regulates the profession and protects the economy

Al-Anbat- Mahmoud Alayyat 

The General Assembly of the Jordanian Association of Certified Public Accountants called on the Legal Committee of the House of Representatives to enact a law that regulates the profession of chartered accountants, and protects the financial statements of companies, in order to preserve treasury resources, increase the confidence of international organizations in the Jordanian economy, and protect it.

The Parliamentary Legal Committee had recently started discussing Law No. 73 of 2003 regulating the accounting profession.

Hussam Rahhal, head of the association, confirmed to the Jordan News Agency (Petra) that the enactment of a modern law to regulate the profession that does not take into account the application of international accounting standards negatively affects the credibility of the financial statements of companies, especially foreign companies operating in Jordan that cross borders, indicating that this is the content of the practice profession exam.  To audit the accounts that the association is keen on, in addition to the expertise stipulated in the law.

Rahhal said that the association's membership in the International Federation of Accountants, and the association's membership in the Federation of Arab Accountants and Auditors (a member of the Council of Economic Unity in the League of Arab States) came after strenuous efforts and follow-up by the association and the fulfillment of all requirements and conditions for joining the two most important international professional institutions in the world for auditing.  

He added that the importance of the exam stems from international accounting standards, and is a condition for fulfilling the requirements for joining international organizations, explaining that canceling it or lenient with its requirements means suspending the association’s membership in these organizations and the membership of its general assembly in the committees emanating from the International Federation, and the Federation’s board of directors, as the international accounting standards  She is the one who governs the issuance of financial statements and the work of the auditor.

Rahhal called for the need to review the proposals being discussed by the Legal Committee of the House of Representatives, which are at the heart of regulating the profession, considering granting a chartered accountant license to multiple categories without undergoing the examination of the Supreme Commission, a precedent that no country in the world has adopted.

He pointed out that academic professional certificates or experiences in the field of accounting, financial departments or university education are among the requirements for licensing an auditor, but they are not a substitute for the legal accounting profession exam, which is the basis for training auditors.

In addition, the head of the Jordanian Economic Forum, Representative Khair Abu Saalik, stressed the importance of the role played by the association in serving the legal accounting profession in Jordan and maintaining the application of international accounting standards, pointing to the need to reach a consensual formula to enact a law that regulates the work of the profession.

Abu Saalik said that the reformulation of the law should not affect the work of the Licensing Committee emanating from the Higher Committee for Examinations, insofar as it guarantees an increase in the number of licensed public accountants to meet the increasing demand for them in the market.

The profession of auditing legal accounts was established in the Kingdom in 1985 under Law No. (32) of 1985 to regulate the profession like other professions through examining the profession and experience under the supervision of the Profession Council headed by the Audit Bureau, and it was amended by Temporary Law No. 73 of 2003, which reorganized the profession through the Supreme Commission for the Profession.  Legal Accounting, which is chaired by the Minister of Industry and Trade, his deputy, the Minister of Finance, and the membership of other oversight bodies in addition to the association.