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The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP) second keynote speaker was Dirk Backhaus, Group Director UAE Chapter organised the CFO Conference at Atlantis The Finance (CFO) Al Batha Group. He emphasised on Changing Palm Dubai on May 11, 2015. The theme of the Conference Game for Finance in which he highlighted that finance was Transformative CFOs – The Adaption Champions. leadership now has to think forward rather than looking The Conference was attended by more than 450 finance backward and must focus on the non-financial elements for and business professionals from Gulf Cooperation Council critical decision making. The CFOs must drive firm values (GCC) and Pakistan. by focusing more explicitly on free cash flow generation and reallocation rather than on income. He further stated Desley Humphrey, presenter Business Breakfast Dubai that transparency is imperative and data is turned into Eye was the master of ceremony. The president ICAP intelligence. The strategic CFO offers insights and practically Yacoob Suttar welcomed all the worthy participants who useful help to all P&L leaders. He is perceived as a reliable made it possible to make the CFO Conference a success and trustworthy partner who is welcome to collegially and and appreciated the efforts of the ICAP UAE Chapter constructively challenge all fellow senior executives. Committee members. He stated that this event is a milestone in providing a knowledge sharing platform for Mir Mohammad Ali, CEO UBL Funds discussed the finance professionals in UAE. Moreover, ICAP’s professionals Investment Opportunities in Pakistan along with the constitute an integral part of the UAE industry and it is comparison of regional investment markets. Gary Dugan, incumbent for the Institute to cater to their need and managing director – GW CIO and head of strategy National expectation to increase the members in UAE. He said that Bank Abu Dhabi shared his experience on the Economic this CFO Conference is focused to highlight management Overview of GCC Markets. and technical areas and it will be a continued event where professionals will explore, confront and thrash out solutions An expert panel comprising of Sanjay Manchanda CEO to meet the recent challenges and issues. Nakheel, Hazem Galal, partner PWC and Fasahat Beg, SVP consumer business division Agthia Group participated in Yacoob Suttar thanked the ICAP UAE Chapter for its effort the discussion of Expectations and Perceptions for 2020. under the leadership of the Chapter president Khalid Another feature of the Conference was the speech from top Mehmood. He also thanked Lynchpin for managing the motivational speaker Carol Talbot on Leading … from the Conference through the inevitable challenges. Inside Out for the financial gurus. It was a fire starter session to energise the audience in which they performed certain Khalid Mehmood, president ICAP UAE Chapter, shared the activities to keep them charged and highly motivated. activities and events planned for the whole year to engage the finance professionals. He said that it is important for Neil Hargreaves and Ghazanfar Shah from Deloitte the Pakistani Chartered Accountants to network with discussed the Fraud Risk Management and major other nationalities and that this Conference was only concerns of organisations for fraud awareness and the beginning of events to follow in the future. He also prevention. Moderator Asher Noor, Al Touq Group, Saudi announced that this will be an annual event and the next Arabia spent an hour with his panel members Adnan one is planned for May 2016. Anwar, CFO National Bank Fujairah, Rana Saeed, Cluster CFO ACWA Holding KSA, Christopher Taylor, CEO Abu The keynote speaker Ziad Makhzoumi, Group CEO Fakih Dhabi Finance, Umar Saleem, group CFO Depa and IVF, highlighted the Strategic Leaders - Are CFOs Ready to Kamran Hafeez, group managing director Jang Group. Drive Business and shared his experience of transition from They discussed the financial performance management CFOs to CEOs. He said that the expectations from the CFO is and best practices for organisation excellence. The not only to drive the finance function but to contribute to the Conference concluded on an appreciative note with the overall strategy of an organisation. In today’s organisational participants looking forward to the next CFO Conference challenges CFO’s role is transformational - leadership of to enrich their experience. The Conference was organised change that is creating synergy and building teams. The by Event Partner Lynchpin Dubai. 22 The Pakistan Accountant | Jan-Mar 2015