THE ISSUE
The AGN International Asia Pacific Regional Conference was held at Hotel Nikko Jakarta in Jakarta, Indonesia from 2 to 4 June 2011. Jakarta is the capital of Indonesia and the centre of its government and businesses. Hotel Nikko Jakarta is a 5-star hotel located in the centre of the city surrounded by some other major 5-star hotels and shopping malls.
The conference was hosted by Darmawan, Hendang & Yogi (DHY), a newly admitted Indonesian member firm of AGN International. The firm’s three offices are located in Jakarta and have 3 partners and some 90 staff, providing audit, tax and consulting services. They spent great efforts in organizing the conference and making arrangements for social programs for delegates and spouses.
Although there were apologies from Australia, China and Vietnam, the conference was well attended by delegates from Japan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom and United States of America. The conference started with a Cocktail/Fellowship Night in the evening of 2 June that took place on the 15th floor of Hotel Nikko Jakarta with a view of the centre of Jakarta. About 25 delegates and companions joined the function, having a variety of good food and drinks, meeting old colleagues and friends and the opportunity to meet new delegates from some member firms.
The Regional Board Members had a meeting at breakfast on 3 June and then the morning session was started with the welcoming address by Ms. Vimala Devi (BSL Tax Services) as Vice Chair of the region to everyone. This was followed by the presentation of Ms. Christine, a guest speaker and Indonesian tax expert from the University of Indonesia, with the topic of Overview of Taxation in Indonesia which was a very informative session. She discussed about all types of taxes in Indonesia, their regulations, calculation examples, and comparisons with regulations of some other countries in the region.
Furthermore, some time was spent on internal Regional matters and future strategies for the region as well as the appointment of a new Regional Chair: Thaddeus Mueller.
Dinner was held at Mera Delima Restaurant which served Indonesian fusion food with musicians entertaining delegates and spouses throughout dinner with Indonesian, Western, Mandarin, Japanese and Korean songs. Some delegates sang their country songs with the musicians and danced to the music along the way.
On 4 June, the morning session was opened with Mr. Nick Blake finishing off his previous day presentation and continued by the presentation of Mr. Hendang Tanusdjaja on Overview of Fair Value Accounting. Hendang is a member of the IFRS Implementation Team of the Indonesian Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Hendang discussed the fair value definition, issues, hierarchy, measurement approach, valuation techniques, and disclosure objectives. Recognition and derecognition of financial assets and liabilities, and guidelines for arriving at the fair values of assets and liabilities were also discussed. During the coffee break it was announced the appointment of Ms. Vimala Devi to the International Tax Committee and Mr. Hendang Tanudjaja to the International Accounting & Auditing Committee.
After the coffee break the final presentation of the conference was done by Mr. Miguel Rocha de Moura, a guest speaker from Arqueonautas Worlwide S.A., a marine archaeological company registered in Portugal and listed at Frankfurt Stock Exchange, Germany, with the aim to recover the cargo from endangered historical shipwrecks in a commercially viable manner and at the same time dedicating activities to the protection of world maritime heritage. The company is today a world leader in commercially structured, shallow water archaeological projects with over 300 shipwrecked discovered resulting in 15 recovery operations, yielding over 100,000 coins and 10,000 artifacts to date. The company is currently doing marine archeological projects in Indonesia since 2007
After concluding the conference at noon, delegates were invited for a half day city tour of Jakarta. Some of the delegates had to catch their planes in the evening and did not participate in the tour. Others, who participated in the tour, visited the National Museum, the National Monument which carries 50 kg gold torch at the top, passing through the largest mosque in South East Asia and an ancient cathedral, and driving around Jakarta’s old-town section and harbor. In the evening, DHY organized the dinner at Seribu Rasa Restaurant, a nearby nicely decorated restaurant with fine Indonesian dining. It was a relaxing moment for the delegates to catching up and enjoy the good Indonesian food served
The conference was short but very fruitful. A lot of matters have been decided to bring the region forward and now it is implementation time. Delegates had a fun time and were able to meet and get to know better their AGN colleagues from other countries in the region. They returned home with good and enjoyable memories and some of them also with Indonesian snacks and handicrafts. |
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