Firstly, allow me to share key points on the PICPA’s involvement in various global accountancy professional organizations and its strategic directions in international affairs for FY 2024-2025.
Let me start with PICPA’s Leadership Footprints in the Global Accountancy Bodies:
1.) PICPA is the founding member of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), Confederation of Asian and Pacific of Accountants (CAPA), & ASEAN Federation of Accountants (AFA).
2.) PICPA produced office bearers, namely 1 IFAC in the person of Washington Z. SyCip, 2 CAPA Presidents in the persons of Eduardo Villanueva & Carlos R. Alindada, and 4 AFA Presidents in the persons of Eugenio Reyes, Mariano Lerin, Antonio Acyatan, & Estellita C. Aguirre.
3.) Currently, we have PICPA representatives with seats in the global accountancy bodies, namely, International Affairs Chair Jill Santos as Professional Accountancy Organization Development and Advisory Group Member of IFAC, EVP Gerry Sanvictores as Board Member of CAPA, and yours truly, Pres. Atty. Roland C. Pondoc as Council Member of AFA.
PICPA is dedicated to supporting and empowering its members worldwide. Through PICPA’s International Affiliate Program, PICPA aims to connect Filipino CPAs abroad and foreign CPAs with the national organization, fostering a global community of accounting professionals. This international affiliate policy outlines the guidelines and procedures for establishing and managing these vital international affiliates, ensuring seamless collaboration and the continued growth of the accounting profession globally. PICPA’s strategic directions in the space of international affairs for PICPA FY 2024-2025 include the following: 1.) Implementation of the PICPA International Affiliates Policy; 2.) Creation of more affiliates; and, 3.) Increase in affiliate membership standing.
PICPA finally approved the International Affiliates Policy on 6 March 2021, during the term of then 2020-2021 President Lope “Jun” Bato, where several individuals of that administration were involved in the successful work plans and activities, namely past AFA president Estellita C. Aguirre, as then the Executive Director, myself as then VP for Government, Jill Santos as then the VPO, and PICPA Past President Sonia Golez as then one of the three presidential advisers. This year marks the full-blown implementation of the international affiliates policy. On 30 July 2024, PICPA held a historic virtual town hall meeting to kick off the “touching base” initiative to reach out to our affiliates abroad and to seek comments and reactions to the policy, which is for implementation and execution during this fiscal year. There were mixed emotions in that meeting, and it was full of gratefulness to PICPA and the current PICPA administration for reaching out and making things happen. The cascading of the policy and the eventual implementation are our foundational execution as we embark on strengthening our global reach to PICPA members abroad. To date, we have 18 international affiliates, namely: PICPA-Saipan, California, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Canada, Silicon Valley, USA, New York, Tristate, Calgary, Canada, East Coast, USA, Papua New Guinea, Saudi (KSA, Eastern Province), Jeddah (KSA Western Province), Riyadh (KSA Central Province), Bahrain, Dubai, UAE, Brunei, Abu Dhabi, UAE, Qatar, and Northern Emirates.
Our challenge is to keep the momentum of the active affiliates and to revive the inactive ones. But we will never stop here, we will endeavor to create more affiliates and increase affiliate membership in good standing. I am happy to bring the news that groundworks are already being done to establish PICPA Chicago and PICPA Florida.
Strengthening the Global Network is a milestone project of this administration. Collaboration, Recognition, and Expansion are our 3 pillars for this particular endeavor. On collaboration, PICPA encourages International Affiliates to work closely with the National Office and other chapters, fostering a global network of accounting professionals who can share knowledge, resources, and best practices. On recognition, PICPA's annual national awards program acknowledges the outstanding contributions of CPAs from its International Affiliates, ensuring their efforts and achievements are celebrated on a global stage. And on expansion, PICPA actively supports the establishment of new International Affiliates, aiming to expand its reach and serve a growing community of Filipino and foreign accounting professionals worldwide.
The following are the upcoming PICPA International Conferences: 1. PICPA Middle East Conference, 9-10 November 2024, Dubai; 2. AFA-PICPA & CAPA-PICPA International Conferences, November 2024, Davao City, Philippines; 3. PICPA Davao International Conference, 16-21 February 2024, South Korea.
Our upcoming mega event, a 3-in-1 event in Davao City is going to be exciting. For the very first time in the history of PICPA our 4-day event is dubbed as PICPA ANC, CAPA-PICPA, and AFA-PICPA International Conferences. We are expecting at least 100 foreign dignitaries to include the CAPA and AFA President and we awaiting confirmation from the IFAC President to grace our event as our keynote speaker. PICPA will continue to forge good working relationship with Filipino CPAs abroad, as we put a stamp as laudable professional accountants, taking pride of our abilities and capacities as global Filipino CPAs. (Roland Café Pondoc is a Commissioner of COA)