LAHORE April 5: Federal Board of Revenue Chairman Abdullah Yusuf has said that the economy was under pressure due to revenue shortfall of Rs35 billion during the first nine months of the current financial year.

Talking to newsmen after chairing the first technical session of the South-Asian Federation of Accountants conference, jointly organised by the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Pakistan (ICMAP) and the Institute of Charters Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP), here on Saturday, he said that the federal finance minister had already been given a comprehensive briefing on the state of economy for preparation of next year’s budget.

He said that the government would have to tap all available resources for increasing revenue on the one hand, and taking care of poor sections on the other.

Referring to the finance minister’s observation that the rich were not taxed, he said gaps existed in the taxation system.

The enforcement and policy issues required to be looked into, he said, adding the FBR was changing its systems and procedures under a five-year reforms programme for the past three years for making the atmosphere conducive to foreign investment.

The focus was being shifted from the services sector to industrial and agriculture sectors due to their capacity for employment generation and poverty-alleviation.

Earlier, giving his presidential remarks at the technical session of the conference, he said the issue of value creation for businesses required a lot of thought.

Constitution of a task force by SAFA for examining the issue might be a good idea. There was also a need to look at the possibilities and identifying sectors that could add value to development.

He said that a dynamic change was already taking place in the profession with more and more accountants turning to other sectors.

For example, 97 per cent of accountants were turning to other professions.

Accountants in other countries could also benefit from the Indian experience.

Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh representative Dr Jamaluddin Ahmad, and Institute of Chartered Accountants of India Vice President Uttam Prakash Agarwal presented their papers on “fair value accounting: a paradigm shift and beyond the regulatory compliance,” in the first technical session.

Papers on global integration, from a regional perspective and accounting regulations were presented by ICAP past president

S. Masoud Ali Naqvi and Sri Lanka Accounting and Auditing Standards Monitoring Board Director-General Ajith S. Ratnayake during the second technical session, chaired by Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nepal President Ratna Raj Bajracharya.

Papers on strengthening businesses and risk management and effective resource management were presented by ICAP National Council Member Hasan A Bilgrami and Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India representative A N Raman during the third technical session, chaired by Lahore School of Economics Rector Dr Shahid Amjad Chaudhry.

The conference concluded with a panel discussion, chaired by the SAFA President S M Shabbar Zaidi, in which representatives of the SAFA member bodies, including SAFA Vice President Sheikh A Hafiz, ICMAB President Zahir Uddin Ahmed, ICAI President Ved Kumar Jain, ICAN President Ratna Raj Bajracharya, ICAP President Imran Afzal, ICMAP President Sher Afgan Malik, and ICASL President Nishan Fernando participated.

More than 600 participants from different forums, government ministries, public practice, industry and commerce attended these technical sessions, besides a foreign delegation from Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka.