FIJI INSTITUTE OF ACCOUNTANTS
TECHNICAL WORKSHOP at WARWICK FIJI
SATURDAY 20 MARCH 2021
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Our distinguished speakers,
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The Professional Development Committee,
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Former Presidents of the FIA incl Mr Deepak Rathod, 1999/2000; and
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My FIA members & delegates
A very good morning to you all. How are you all this morning? I am delighted to welcome you all to our first Technical Workshop for 2021. Thank you sincerely sacrificing your Saturday to attend this Workshop. I hope that you will gain from today’s speakers on post-covid risk assessment, business continuity and we also have technical sessions on IFRS 17 – Insurance Contracts and Fraud & Corruption. We had very good plenary sessions yesterday by Mr Ram Bajekal who spoke to WFX/WFH – the new norm and Mr Kameli Batiweti who spoke about workplace dynamics. Such relevant topics and very timely too. COVID-19 has taught us many lessons amongst which these 2 are very important. Providing employees the flexibility of working from home or literally out of a coffee shop and yet meet the deliverables. This is a realty now. Also, keeping employees engaged. We have toxic workplaces, even toxic bosses. How do we keep our staff motivated and engaged?
For those who were in our Technical Workshop last year in March at this same venue will recall that it was only days after our Workshop that the COVID-19 outbreak hit our shores and Lautoka went into lockdown. It was shortly after that, that our lives changed drastically. We had to adapt, become resilient so we could face the challenges that COVID-19 brought about. The one thing that was most certain was the uncertainty with COVID-19. Borders were though to open by Sep 2020, Dec 2020, April 2021 and we still do not know. The good thing is that we now have the vaccine. It was during the same Workshop that we heard from Jon Apted from Munro Leys who spoke at length about how we needed to prepare. I have to admit that like many of you who were present in last year’s workshop, it was only then that I started to realize how serious it was and the extent of the impact of the pandemic globally.
It is through speakers, the subject-matter experts in their fields that help us better understand what is happening around us; their skills, expertise and experiences help us to shape our professional development. This is what FIA brings to you through these technical workshops. I am sure we all needed this break given last year was a different story. Social distancing measures did not permit such gatherings and all for good reasons.
Colleagues, as always, the Institute is committed to ensuring that we are able to provide you with the necessary platforms that strengthen your own skills, create networking opportunities to share knowledge and information, enhance leadership skills, amplify voices and to empower you on your own professional path.
Since last March we have conducted 3 seminars and 1 Women in Leadership event in Suva. Despite the pandemic we provided 81 available CPE hours to members and of this, 50 hours were free for members. Our Leadership workshops have become very popular since we first started in 2018. Thanks to our former President, Mr Zarin Khan who initiated this.
We would like to sincerely thank our sister Accounting bodies and other stakeholders for their generosity in assisting our members with free online training. In collaboration with these professional affiliations, we have;
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Conducted assessments and grant accreditations;
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Delivered Technical Workshops and Seminars for members and non-members alike;
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Presented the Women in Leadership initiatives through the series;
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Co-ordinate webinars from our sister Accounting bodies to enable our members to continue to learn and remain abreast of changes;
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As an Institute, we have assisted the Fijian Govt through their Business Assistance Fiji initiative by assessing nearly 3,000 applications for the Government concessional loan packages to SME’s;
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Intensified online engagement to keep members engaged and connected (Facebook, Website, Zoom sessions etc.);
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Sponsored the Outstanding Graduate with a Major in Accounting for USP Medals and Prizes Ceremonies and awarded students with the Top Accounting marks in Year 13 for the 4 divisions;
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Conducted organisation visitations to create awareness on the work of the Institute and the Accounting profession (school visits were planned in 2020 but had to be deferred due to the pandemic);
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Created networking opportunities for members as part of professional development;
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Developed external partnerships with other professional bodies e.g. Leadership Fiji to ensure that we provide more opportunities for members to engage professionally; and
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Provided technical assistance and advice to members (through our professional networks locally or internationally).
These are few ways in which we are working to addresses the interest of our members. We also conduct surveys to gauge areas of interest to ensure that we are able to develop programmes that serve these interests. In that regard I kindly request members to complete the online survey that was sent last week. It will close on Friday 26 March. We would really like to hear from you and get your valuable feedback.
For 2020-2021, our core target remains in adding value to our Members. Through our PD sessions, we bring to them issues like Ethics, Corporate Governance, Managing Stress, Work-Life balance, etc. These are real life issues facings us everyday. FIA is committed to ensuring that we continue to provide the necessary training and awareness to our Members.
Whilst our core remains Members, we are also committed to intensifying the implementation of the FIA Strategic Plan. The S-Plan committee is tasked to devise strategies that will lay the platform for FIA in future. We are looking at a new home for FIA. This will include a training facility.
Another responsibility that the existing Council has agreed to undertake is to promote gender and women empowerment and a very important task ahead is to ensure women representation on the Council in this year’s AGM, to be held in June 2021. Work has begun and we have started to talk to our female colleagues to be confident of themselves and put their hands up for nomination. To our very able and competent women in the room, you have our full support. It is my personal pledge to ensure we break this male dominance before I step down as President. Otherwise I have failed. Believe me when we sit at Council meetings, we have full realization that it is so one-sided. I want to change this.
Coming back to today’s sessions, we are very fortunate to have a distinguished panel of speakers for you. We truly appreciate that they accepted our invitation to be here to share their skills, expertise and experiences with us. On behalf of the Council, the Professional Development Committee and the Secretariat, I extend our sincere gratitude to Mr Ram Bajekal, Mr Kameli Batiweti, Ms Sahreena Mohammed, Mr Mohammed Khan and Mr Ilimotama Cawi. The speakers today have a wealth of knowledge in their own discipline so please pay attention and ensure our attendance to this year’s technical workshop is worth the money paid. We are accountants so this is the value proposition.
I would like to thank all your employers for supporting the Institute through your participation here. I urge you all to use this time to ask questions, make comments, share your own experiences and clarify doubts. Let us listen, ask, share and support each other.
All the best and thank you! Vinaka Vakalevu.