The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) today conducted a hearing in the matter of a show cause notice issued to the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP) over its directive barring ICAP members and chartered accountant firms from training non-ICAP students. The Commission on 17 September 2012 had issued a show cause notice to ICAP with respect to directive dated 4 July 2012, issued by ICAP, advising all its members and the chartered accountancy firms to refrain from engaging trainees of other accounting bodies, particularly trainees of foreign institutes of chartered accountants or any other accounting body of similar nature. The hearing was conducted by a three-member bench of the Commission comprising of the Chairperson Ms. Rahat Kaunain Hassan, Member Cartels & Trade Abuses Mr. Abdul Ghaffar and Member Mergers & Acquisitions and International Affairs, Dr. Joseph Wilson. Representatives of ACCA, which is an intervener in the matter, gave a detailed view of how the ICAP directive was impacting its students and business in Pakistan. In their submissions, the ICAP representatives requested for an adjournment in order to prepare and submit an acceptable proposal to the matter at hand after mutual consultation with the parties concerned. Representatives of ACCA, participating as an intervener, agreed to the adjournment request to assess the possible proposed options. The bench acceded to the parties’ request for adjournment till 1st November 2012, advising them to come up with a proposal that duly addresses competition concerns.
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