The Saudi Organization for Chartered and Professional Accountants (SOCPA), represented by the Accounting Standards Board, participated in the fourth periodic meeting held via video conference of the cooperative forum for accounting standards for the Belt and Road countries, initiated by the state of China on November 8, 2022.
The agenda of the meeting included a review by the forum countries of several topics of common interest, the most important of which was a review of the experiences of vocational training and continuing education for members of professional bodies.
SOCPA representative presented in the forum the regulations governing vocational training and continuous education for its members and SOCPA's efforts in prepping applicants for its fellowship exam. He also highlighted SOCPA's efforts in knowledge transfer by translating the publications of international bodies relevant to accounting, auditing, and professional conduct and securing translation rights of several accountancy curricula at the college level. Another topic discussed in the forum was the efforts of the group's countries to achieve sustainability.
And on this topic, SOCPA's representative presented the kingdom's efforts in preserving the environment and the government agencies that support those efforts and showcased, in particular, the Middle East Green Initiative announced by the kingdom and the goals it seeks to achieve.
The attendees also reviewed the applications of the forum countries with regard to measuring fair value. The representative of SOCPA presented the kingdom's experience in applying fair value measurement requirements in several approved standards and the principle of gradualism applied by the Capital Market Authority concerning the option of using fair value in some approved standards and pointed in this regard to the efforts of the Saudi Authority for Accredited Valuers in qualifying valuers and its adoption of international standards for valuation.