Handbook on Liberalisation of Professional Services through Mutual Recognition in ASEAN: Accountancy Services

Implementing Agency: ASEAN Secretariat 
Time: September 2015

Foreword:

"The Handbook “LIBERALISATION OF PROFESSIONAL SERVICES THROUGH MUTUAL RECOGNITION IN ASEAN: ACCOUNTANCY SERVICES” is one of four Handbooks published by the ASEAN Secretariat to provide guidance on the liberalisation of professional services in ASEAN. Three other Handbooks in this series deal respectively with the engineering, architecture and surveying professions.

The Handbook is an important tool to disseminate information and create greater understanding of the liberalisation of the trade in accountancy services within ASEAN. Through the Handbook, ASEAN accountancy professionals will be able to obtain information on how to qualify and practice as an accountant, either as an employee, through collaborations or through the setting-up of commercial presence, in all ASEAN Member States (AMS).

The ability of accountants to move beyond national borders within ASEAN will assist ASEAN to accelerate the objective of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in 2015. Under the AEC, the ability of accountants to provide services beyond national borders is facilitated by the ASEAN Framework Agreement on Trade in Services (AFAS) 19951 and the Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) on Accountancy Services 2014. The MRA is one of the important tools to increase the level of liberalisation of cross-border trade in accountancy services in ASEAN.

AFAS, which adopts the core structure and substantive provisions of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), defines cross-border trade in services as consisting of four modes of supply depending on the territorial presence of the supplier and the consumer at the time of the transaction."

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