Creative Capitalism

The Inclusive Leader

Corporate Governance

Why the Hot Money's on Cheaper Oil

After months of betting on an increase in oil prices, some speculators now see a new downward trend

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The panic about the dollar

A full-blown dollar collapse would be disastrous. Thankfully, it need not happen

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Financial Statements for Senior Management !

What should senior management know about financial statements? This may seem a simple question that many of us may look at it as an issue that is not of a great importance. However, I believe that our economies and businesses suffer daily due to many decision makers' misconceptions of this issue.

I believe that a corporate decision maker should have the minimum required knowledge that enable him understands the mechanism of the financial statements contents and dynamics. Yet, they should have the adequate skills to appreciate the prospective impact of their daily decisions on their corporate financial health. The latest innovations in the relevant information technology have a lot to help in this direction.

Can you really ignore this fact any longer?

In 1993, I became almost professional in applying the excel functions to my then daily auditing activities. I was a semi senior auditor (public accountant) in Qatar. However my audit manager( partner), who was hesitant (afraid) to learn excel or even face the PC screen, has never ever reviewed any of my audit working papers that has any relationship with excel files (soft or hard). In a retrospective assessment of my experience in that environment, I cannot imagine how gross negligent my audit manager was.

I hope that your current manager is not similar to my then one. Otherwise, you have two alternatives: change your manager or change your job! I hope you will not change both.

From Black Monday to Terrible Tues....

It does worth to remmember yesterday to understand today and tomorrow

Knowledge Management

The wise man will never imagine or believe that knowledge is limited or can be hidden from others.
What you know today will or may be obsolete immediately!

INTERNAL CONTROL


It is the new old field that no entity can live and achieve its dreams (goals) without it. Unfortunately, too many business decision makers, educators and even practicing professionals in related fields do not appreciate its importance and even do not seek to understand why most of the catastrophes they face in conducting their duties is directly or indirectly has a relationship with the status of their company’s internal control systems. Transparency, corporate governance, risk management, to name a few of these illuminating and currently used concepts rely to a great extent of the design and the operating effectiveness of the internal controls.

Is not it the time to shake up the dust and start an immediate act that let us be proud about our starting point to look seriously into this issue!

جمعية مدققي الحسابات القانونيين الفلسطينية

This is part of the training course we conducted in Jenin for the PACPA for the period from July 31 to August 2, 2007. I think we can do more and more to improve the environment of auditing profession in Palestine.
جمعية مدققي الحسابات القانونيين الفلسطينية

Do Universities Provide the Market With What Market Needs ?

Last August, I visited Palestine and spent an unprecedented time away from the chaos of daily routine business affairs. In fact, I was surprised from the improvement in the real estate industry in most of the cities I visited such as Jenin and Ramallah. However, I was wandering whether there was a real improvement in the educational process in our universities.

The product of any university is those students equipped with the appropriate knowledge and skills they got during the 4-5 years they spent in the school. I hope that one day we will have a collaborative effort among all who are concerned to provide the market place with what it needs and stop the push approach where the status quo says it sarcastically " these are the students I graduate, take them or leave them"

My immediate and urgent problem is where to leave them?

The Real Investment in Palestine

I visited Palestine late July early August of this year (2007) and spent 22 days in Jenin and Ramallah among my family and my friends. This is the first time I spend more than 5 consecutive days in Jenin since 1981. To my surprise, I discovered and realized that I do not know Jenin. Additionally, Ramallah shocked me with its expansion in every and each direction. The last time I was in Ramallah was in October 1998.

This vacation I spent in Palestine changed my perception towards my country; where I always belong. The question I face since I left Palestine in August is: Was there enough investment in people as it was in land ( real estate) ? If the answer is no, then why?

IT Technology Risks

Poor Licensing Public Accountants (External Auditors)

It is really sad to see too many licensed public accountants in Palestine whose knowledge is not only obsolete, but also are not university graduates or even not majoring in accounting.

The licensing authority and the government must not keep silent at this professional crises.

Economic development, the NGOs, development of the profession and the foreign direct investment will negatively and significantly be affected at any point in time. Thus, let us be ready and proud that we have a profession that we are active members in it locally, regionally and internationally.

I do not have any doubt that there are many professionals, many of them are either my teachers or colleagues, who share me these thoughts.

Your feedback is highly valued and appreciated.

Risk Based Auditing and Materiality

I hear more often than ever business people and other auditing professionals talk about risk- based auditing. What makes me feel sad is when I find several businessmen and some of those professionals do not appreciate enough the full meaning and the professional implications of such an audit strategy and approach. I do still recall the misuse of the materiality concept in auditing by those who claim they are auditors; specifically in the Arab countires.

Auditing and Investment Decision Making

The original auditing profession objective is to provide an independent opinion regarding management assertions embodied in the financial statement(s). Decision makers, whether in private or public sector, should avoid committing themselves to strategic or tactical decisions unless they go through the audited financial statement(s). Thus the economy should have a well-developed auditing profession to be healthy one. I believe that a perceived healthy economy where the auditing profession is almost nonexistent is not necessarily sustainable and growing one.

The dilemma is how we can educate the stakeholders about the importance of the auditing profession role in the investment decision making processes?