Interview with Mr Mustafa Mirchawala – CEO, Mirchawala’s Hub of Accountancy
Profile:
Mustafa Mirchawala is a compelling and sought after trainer and speaker, who helps his audience learn complex concepts in simple ways. Having a user friendly style, he speaks regularly at leading business schools and in the corporate fraternity with exposure of various universities, and corporate sector he brings with himself over 12 years professional training experience of IFRS, financial management and tax which is complimented by a rich blend of practical experience.
Mustafa has served leading universities in Pakistan for training session like Bahria University, Commecs, Mohammed Ali Jinnah University, KU, etc.
He has been teaching financial reporting CA and ACCA students for many years. He has taught more than 15,000 students of financial reporting. His specialty is that he connects all IFRS with companies and Karachi Stock Exchange. Not only IFRS he also gives knowledge of local law to students of Financial Reporting.
Mustafa Mirchawala is the CEO of Mirchawala’s Hub of Accountancy, one of the leading name in Accountancy world. This institute is working for youth development in Pakistan through quality education.
PAGE: How would you comment on the education system in Pakistan?
Mustafa Mirchawala: Pakistan is ranked 152 out of 189 countries in the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) HDI ranking. Around 22 million children in Pakistan are unable to attend school. Pakistan spends just 2.3% of its GDP on the education sector which is way less than investment in regional countries like India and Bangladesh do on their education system.
The problems associated with the education system of Pakistan are lack of adequate budget, lack of policy implementation, defective examination system, lack of implementation of education policies, political interference, outdated curriculum, corruption, lack of research, etc. The level of enrollment is also very low, and there are high scale dropouts every year.
PAGE: What is your perspective about the accounting education in Pakistan?
Mustafa Mirchawala: Demand for accounting and finance education in Pakistan is increasing day by day, because now services related to these areas are provided by Pakistani individuals not just on a local but an international scale as well and as Pakistan provides cheaper labour as compared to other countries, accounting and finance individuals are more sought after from Pakistan, with many freelancers available on international freelancing platforms like Upwork, Fiverr, etc. Global accounting qualifications like ACCA, ICAEW, CFA, etc. increase Pakistani students’ employability around the world. Students pass through these tough professional exams, based on international curriculum, easily with the support of top-class accounting institutes in Pakistan like our own. We even teach students around the world so there is no lack of quality education in this area, I believe. Ethical values are also being inhibited as these international qualifications have incorporated ethics in professions.
PAGE: Have we made headway in maintaining the global standards of education?
Mustafa Mirchawala: Not at all levels of education, I wouldn’t say. Not in government schools, for example, but in many private educational institutes for schooling, college, etc. students are being prepared on a level which meets the global standards of education. Many universities are also working tremendously towards meeting global examination standard, improve quality of teaching, providing better facilities, even researching and working on better updated curriculums. Students who excel in their studies and extra curriculum even acquire scholarships to study abroad. Such motivation and encouragement is provided, but there is a lot of room for improvement at all levels. We need to work on areas we lack in like better quality of primary and secondary education at least.
PAGE: Is our industry developed enough to accommodate the graduates churned out by the universities in Pakistan?
Mustafa Mirchawala: Many employment opportunities are available here in Pakistan that do accommodate graduates in many areas, especially with more and more startups emerging recently. Like for example, new fin-tech startups like YPay accommodated many accountants but unfortunately we have also seen many startups with a lot of potential like VavaCars and Airlift close this year as well. But still many businesses and companies exist to offer employment opportunities. Many graduates can get work around the world as well in a vast majority of fields like banking, IT, finance and accounting as I just mentioned and more. Good prospects are offered to Pakistan’s skilled labour and professionals from countries like Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, etc.
PAGE: Are our graduates on a par with the rest of the world?
Mustafa Mirchawala: In terms of accounting qualifications, we are at par and even exceed it, I would say, because IFRS in Pakistan were adapted relatively early in 1973 as compared to other countries like India and Saudi Arabia.
Pakistani accountants have better experience in IFRS. In terms of accounting and finance, I would say we are strong and no less than any other country. But in other fields like science and technology, there is a lot of room for improvement. Like engineering universities are not that up to date, no such technology based work is being done which benefits the country, or reduces the imports and increases the exports.