ICAEW president David Matthews and Jawad Al-Shehele, president of the Iraq Union of Accountants and Auditors (IUAA), have co-signed an “agreement to strengthen the accountancy profession in Iraq and build foundations to support the country’s economic growth”.
The IUAA was established in Baghdad in 1969 and is recognised under Iraqi law as Iraq’s sole national accountancy body. ICAEW’s International Capacity Building (ICB) team will work with IUAA to “prepare a three-year strategic plan, which reviews its strengths and weaknesses to boost priority areas and increase growth”.
ICAEW and IUAA will also work together to develop professional education for accountants in Iraq. The ICB team will advise IUAA on achieving its “strategic goals, review its current certified public accountant syllabus and develop a roadmap and action plan for reform”.
The partnership comes, as a worldwide drop in oil prices and the Covid-19 pandemic have “placed unprecedented strain on Iraq’s economy”- with ICAEW stating that “skilled financial professionals are needed to guide the recovery”.
His Excellency Mohammad Jaafar Al-Sadr, Iraq Ambassador to the UK, said: “We welcome the signing of the cooperation agreement between the Iraqi Union of Accountants and Auditors and ICAEW.
“We greatly encourage this type of professional cooperation that has a positive impact on the relations between the two countries, and we look forward to this cooperation extending to other areas.”
He added: “We reaffirm the embassy’s continuous support for all cooperative work on the basis of mutual interest to strengthen the relationship between the two countries.”
