Page 17 - CMA Journal (Sep-Oct 2025)

E x c lus iv e I nt er v iew

Management accountants can play a key role by providing

data-driven insights on production costs, pricing, and

industry performance, which directly support tariff

evaluation and policy formulation

ICMA: Balancing industrial protection with export industry feedback instead of assumptions. Further, NTC
competitiveness is always a challenge. How does NTC conducts on-the-spot investigations both at the
manage this balance in practice? domestic and international levels and has enhanced its
analytical ability to assist domestic industry to attain
Muhammad Iqbal Tabish: Protection is time-bound and competitiveness and provide technical support to
strategic, while export competitiveness is long-term. In an Pakistan exporters facing trade remedy actions abroad.
analytical review, NTC has found that protection has
yielded bene ts for some sectors such as at steel, ICMA: Since the cost of production plays a key role in
aluminum cans, chemicals, and footwear that have been trade investigations, do you see a greater role for cost
able to make a niche in the global market. NTC manages and management accountants in this process?
the balance between industrial competitiveness and
exports by applying data-driven analysis to calibrate Muhammad Iqbal Tabish: Absolutely. Cost and
tari s-providing support where necessary while avoiding management accountants play a vital role in analyzing
ine ciencies. production costs and pricing structures, which are
essential for determining fair value and injury margins in
ICMA: How can tari reforms be designed to ensure trade investigations. Recognizing this, NTC ensures that
that small and medium-sized industries bene t its o cers receive regular training in cost accounting to
alongside larger manufacturers? strengthen their analytical capacity and maintain high
professional standards when conducting investigations.
Muhammad Iqbal Tabish: SMEs do face the greatest
challenges from complex tari s, so our reforms focus on ICMA: How can management accountants contribute
creating neutral incentives across all rm sizes. We are more actively to policymaking - especially in price
simplifying structures and rationalizing duties on setting, cost monitoring, and tari evaluation?
commonly used inputs to make them more a ordable.
For instance, in the chemical sector, these reforms have Muhammad Iqbal Tabish: Management accountants
enabled smaller rms to source inputs locally and at can play a key role by providing data-driven insights on
competitive prices, helping them expand production, production costs, pricing, and industry performance,
create jobs, and integrate more e ectively into domestic which directly support tari evaluation and policy
and global supply chains. formulation. At NTC, a few of our o cers come from cost
and management accounting backgrounds, and their
ICMA: The government has emphasized institutional expertise greatly enhances our analytical work and the
reforms. How is NTC enhancing its e ciency and quality of policy recommendations. However, the
outreach to better support domestic producers and majority of o cers are trade economists, who undertake
exporters? broader economic analysis on rms and industries in
addition to cost of production, which is also an integral
Muhammad Iqbal Tabish: NTC is upgrading digital part of NTC's work.
systems, expanding research capacity, and creating a
central databank for trade and tari analysis. NTC has The Editorial Board thanks Mr. Muhammad Iqbal Tabish, Acting
also improved its outreach to industry through regular Chairman, National Tari Commission (NTC) for sparing his precious
interactions with sector-speci c associations, exporters, time to give an exclusive interview for Chartered Management
Accountant Journal.
and chambers. This ensures policies are based on real
ICMA’s Chartered Management Accountant, Sep-Oct 2025 15