While encouraging accountancy students to be prepared to face a shifting economic landscape once they join the labour market, Minister for Finance Edward Scicluna pointed out that good prospects await them. "Your future employers are doing well," he remarked. "Malta can today boast of high-calibre professionals in the accountancy, legal and IT fields, and this attract business to our country."
The Minister was addressing the Master in Accountancy Annual Conference 2015, organised by the University's of Malta's Master in Accountancy 2014-2016 students at the Radisson Blu St Julian's. This year's theme was 'The continued applicability of financial reporting obligations for Maltese small and medium-sized limited liability companies'.
Minister Scicluna said that, while in the past accountancy graduates were advised by their employers to do things as they had always been done, the current scenario is exactly the opposite. Following the international financial and economic crisis, from which we are still reeling, the rules of the game have changed thoroughly and are defined by a new ethic of what's acceptable and what's not. He noted the intensification of the global fight against tax evasion under the aegis of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and the increasing awareness on the importance of good governance and transparency in taxation matters.
"Malta stands firm in its opposition to international companies that play one country against the other in a bid to avoid paying their taxes," the Minister said. "However, it also believes that countries should enjoy the freedom to determine their own taxation levels. A rigid approach kills initiatitive. We are very glad that during the last ECOFIN meeting our proposal for the European Commission to adopt a common yet flexible approach in its taxation-related legislation was accepted."
The conference was also addressed by Malta Institute of Accountants President, Mr Franco Azzopardi, and by the Head of the University of Malta's Accountancy Department, Mr Peter J. Baldacchino.
(Source: Press Release by the Ministry of Finance)
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