The Merit of Regional Cooperation

Malaysia in not a member of G-20 and therefore the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA) would not be present at the G-20 Accountancy Summit in London which is organised by the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC). However, this does not mean that MIA's views would not be articulated during the summit.

The Indonesian Institute of Accountants or Ikatan Akuntan Indonesia (IAI) has sought the views of the members of Asean Federation of Accountants (AFA) so that the region's position would be presented. This is a very noble offer by IAI and it is in line with the Asean spirit of working together to prosper Asean member countries as a group.

As the views of the accounting bodies within the G-20 countries would be submitted to the various working groups before the next G-20 meeting in September, the opportunity offered by IAI enables non-G-20 accountancy bodies like MIA to extend our views and ideas to this powerful economic grouping. The decisions made by this grouping would affect all of us as they would be executed through global bodies such as World Bank, IMF and other similar strong and influential institutions.

Such regional cooperation demonstrate the merit of organisations like AFA which enables like-minded accountancy bodies in Asean member countries to discuss issues of mutual concern and pursue initiatives and projects which would alleviate the accountancy profession in Asean. MIA would assume the Presidency of AFA in November this year.