C. Q. K. Mustaq Ahmed Jasim Uddin Haroon
A seasoned bureaucrat, C. Q. K. Mustaq Ahmed, assumed office as the first chairman of Financial Reporting Council (FRC) Sunday with a promise to straighten up business financials in the country.
The office of the FRC, a maiden auditors' watchdog, is temporarily located in Dhaka's Kakrail area. Mr Ahmed, along with a few high officials of the finance division, joined the FRC office in the morning.
While talking to the FE, the chairman said he has a plan to arrange the maiden meeting of the Council in a couple of months and it may undertake some major decisions on dealing with things on this important front.
"Actually, we're now busy with procurement of logistics and others needed to make it a full- fledged office," Mr Ahmed said.
The council is empowered to scrap registration of auditors, apart from other modes of punishment, if found guilty of cooking the books in making audit reports.
The law of the watchdog organisation, passed in Parliament sometime in 2015, provides for promoting the highest standards among auditors, enhancing credibility of financial reporting and improving quality of accounting and audit services.
As per the stipulated formation procedures, the chairman of the FRC will now pick four executive directors to run its four key divisions along with three other members of the existing search committee.
The divisions are related to standard-setting, financial reporting monitoring, audit-practice review, and enforcement. However, the council will consist of 12 members. They are chairman, two additional secretaries--one from the Ministry of Finance and another from the Ministry of Commerce--one representative from the Office of Comptroller and Auditor General, a deputy governor to be nominated by the central bank, a member from the National Board of Revenue, a commissioner from the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission, the president of the Institute of Charted Accountants of Bangladesh, the president of the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants, the president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry, a professor from the department of accounting of any public university and an executive director of the FRC who will also work as member-secretary.
Representatives at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) welcomed the new chairman and said they would work together for development of the accounting practices in the country.
Mostafa Kamal, vice-president of the ICAB, the national professional accounting body in the country, congratulated the new chairman and said the regulator would play an important role in developing the standards and best ethical practices.
He also said the ICAB will work together with the watchdog for the development of the accounting professionals in the country.
Mr Kamal believes through functioning of the FRC more transparency in the financial sector will be ensured.
"In my view, from now on the financial sector will be more transparent," hoped Mr Kamal, who works at LankaBangla Finance Ltd.
Mr C. Q. K. Mustaq Ahmed was born in Sylhet in 1955. He studied economics at Dhaka University.
Before joining as FRC chairman, he had served as senior secretary at the Ministry of Home Affairs.
He also served in major positions as senior secretary, the Ministry of Agriculture (2009-2012), secretary, Bridges Division, the Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges (2008-2009), and secretary at the Ministry of Liberation War Affairs in 2008.
He joined Bangladesh Civil Service (Administration) in January 1981 and retired from the Civil Service on July 8, 2015
He attended a series of training courses both at home and abroad during his long career in the bureaucracy.
The FRC is responsible for promoting high-quality corporate governance and reporting to foster investment.
It monitors and takes action to promote the quality of corporate reporting and auditing.
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