The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) celebrated the attainment of membership by over 300 new qualified chartered accountants in the Middle East at their annual recognition ceremonies this month in Dubai and Oman.

ACCA now has over 2,500 members across the Middle East and over 9,000 students training to become professional accountants, said a statement.

At the Dubai ceremony, ACCA also honoured the first United Arab Emirates Chartered Accountant (UAECA) Ahmad Darwish.

The UAECA qualification is the result of a strategic partnership between the ACCA and the Accountants and Auditors Association (AAA) and aims to support the target of qualifying 100 Emirati nationals as chartered accountants working in Audit in the UAE by 2021.

Ahmad Darwish, who is the AAA’s secretary general and chief executive officer of Dubai office, said: “Through this partnership, AAA and ACCA are delivering a national qualification which will further enhance the skills and competencies of all the aspiring accountancy, finance and business professionals in the UAE.

“As the first UAECA I am confident that the development of this national qualification will support the UAE’s vision to be the region’s leading financial centre and drive forward the initiatives of the government to promote the qualification of the nationals.”

Lindsay Degouve De Nuncques, head of ACCA in the UAE, said: “We are honoured to be contributing to the ongoing success of the region by helping develop future generations of complete finance professionals. We want to thank the growing number of employers who are providing outstanding career opportunities to young people studying with ACCA.”

The ceremony also recognised the top performing students in the Middle East including PwC employee in Qatar, Muhammad Wajih Haider, who won the global top achiever prize for the professional level paper entitled ‘Governance’ Risk and Ethics’ attaining the highest mark of all students who sat the exam worldwide. - TradeArabia News Service