Page 45 - CMA Journal (Sep-Oct 2025)

Focus Section

Trust
There is a vivid lack of trust in
businessmen, who are construed as
tricksters. Most businessmen have
every intention to strictly follow rules
and regulations, but at times, they are
constrained to behave otherwise. The
government must put complete trust
in them by accepting whatever they
say, even on a trial basis. Mistrust
creates mistrust, and trust begets
trust. Mutual trust creates wonders.

Avoid Raids
By putting trust in traders, raids must
be avoided; instead, they may be informed before any
such surprise visits for any purpose. This will exert moral requirements be made widely known through media,
pressure and a positive impact, and they would correct displayed boldly in offices, and applications be invited on
lapses, if any. The aim is to improve and not to harass. standardized formats made available along with the list
Things would improve for obvious reasons. of required documents. A proper receipt should be issued
to the applicant indicating the date of completion of the
Source of Money process. All shortfalls observed should be intimated for
compliance. This would definitely ease the process and
This is a very tricky phenomenon. In the present scenario, create confidence among the business community.
people do have grey income, as the country’s grey
economy constitutes around 40% to 65% of the GDP. Has Conclusion
anyone ever given serious thought to it? This is caused
mainly by a complex, overregulated, manipulated Businessmen put a lot of their money into any trade and
system. There could be two ways to handle the situation: expect a good return on their investment, sustainability,
one, let the status quo continue and the economy and peace of mind. Generally, they don’t intend to cheat
collapse, or two, let people use grey money productively or flout regulations. However, during various eras, they
without fear of justifying the source. The usage may faced despotic treatments and uncontrollable situa-
include setting up new factories, modernizing existing tions, bringing difficulties to their smooth business
plants and machinery, and expanding production processes. Such situations made them depressed and
capacities. This would surely give a chance to revive caused losses, adversely affecting proper expected
industry; otherwise, this money keeps flying away to growth. At present, things are rather distressing, with
other destinations without any added investment in our the cost of production getting out of control. Good
own country. governance, rule of law, mutual trust, and a friendly
business environment are some of the aspirations of the
Reviving Manufacturing business network for revival.

This area in the country is hard hit by inconsistent, Good governance is the name of the game. Whatever is
unreliable, and costly power supply, brain drain, costly said is only possible if leadership takes care of nepotism
raw materials, expensive technology changes, and low and delayed decision-making, as the human factor alone
investment for expansion and replacement of facilities. is responsible for the plight. Otherwise, gloom cannot be
All these things boil down to a creeping economy. converted into bloom.

Regulation Awareness About the Author: Syed Shamim Ahmed is a Fellow member
of ICMA. He retired as General Manager Finance from the
Many times, even an educated person cannot Karachi Port Trust (KPT) where he served for around 22 years in
comprehend how to fulfil the requirements of the various positions. He was also a member of the Karachi Dock
regulations. The income tax annual return form is the best Labour Board for 7 years. After earning his MBA from IBA
example, where mostly these are filed through income Karachi, he began his career at Citibank before moving to
tax advisors. It is, therefore, imperative that regulatory Awami Autos (now Pak Suzuki).

ICMA’s Chartered Management Accountant, Sep-Oct 2025 43