The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW), a UK-based professional body, has established its office in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) as part of its campaign to set up regional offices around the world.

The move will facilitate ICAEW to work more closely with key stakeholders globally and to offer better support to its members and students around the world, a statement said.

The presence at DIFC, an onshore hub for global finance, will bring enhanced knowledge transfer and training expertise in international accounting standards and practices, not only to firms within DIFC, but to the wider UAE and Middle East region.

The move also will facilitate ICAEW, which has more than 132,000 members in over 160 countries, in attracting more member firms.

Amanda Line, ACA, has been appointed as the ICAEW’s regional director for the Middle East and is responsible for the ICAEW’s activity in the region.

There are more than 800 ICAEW members with the globally recognised ACA qualification (associate chartered accountant) in the Middle East, of which more than 400 are located in the UAE.

“The success of the DIFC as a leading International Financial Centre was contributed to by the highly skilled and knowledgeable professional services industry operating from the centre,” said Abdulla Al Awar, CEO of the DIFC Authority.

“We welcome ICAEW to DIFC as an important driver of enhanced excellence in this field, as well as a valuable resource for the development of accountancy and finance professionals across the region,” he added.

Amanda Line said: “As the accountancy and finance profession becomes increasingly global, we need to offer better support to our members where they are based.”

“Having an office in the DIFC will allow us to fulfil our commitment to the growing number of members and students in the Middle East, many of whom are based in the DIFC.”

“We are also keen to share our expertise and experience with other stakeholders – governments, regulators, businesses – in the Middle East to strengthen the profession and increase the number of qualified chartered accountants,” Line continued.

“The DIFC is a very convenient location for our office and our expanding team, given that it provides us with easy access to many major stakeholders, some of which we are already working closely with, in addition to the purely infrastructural and logistical benefits it offers,” she concluded.

Dhaher Bin Dhaher, executive director of ancillary services at the DIFC Authority, said: “It is a key priority of DIFC to provide an international-calibre operating environment, and that includes making DIFC an attractive and value-added location in which professional service providers and related entities can base their local and regional operations.”

The ICAEW Middle East office which is based at the DIFC will cover the UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Egypt, Iran, Lebanon, Iraq and Jordan, the statement said. – TradeArabia News Service