This year's summer season is indeed a very
busy period for PICPA Dubai Chapter. For seven consecutive Fridays (14th of June
till 26th of July), PICPANs and Associate Members found themselves alternately
taking part in five different activities in succession - Philippine Independence
Day, DacEasy Seminar, Accountancy Week Fun Bowling & Umm Al Quain Fellowship
and Accounting for Non Accountants Course. Everyone seemed to be tired,
especially those who were always present during those activities, but there's
one more that need to be held - the quarterly membership meeting - wherein aside
from the periodic reporting of activities, the induction of new members and
official launch of our website would also take place.
There was very little time to prepare for it, but the event was successfully held on August 8 at Savoy
Hotel and Residence. There were fifty-seven attendees, which include old pillars
Bernie Eseo ("Um-attend ako dahil maingay ang PICPA
ngayon!") and Romy Docena, who were both finally able to attend a
PICPA activity this year.
The first part of the program, which was hosted by Ed Soriano and Vimma Buling, was
the presentation of the projects that were already completed and the forthcoming
activities for the rest of 2002 of the different committees. Evelyn Jaboni of
Membership reported that many new members registered this year, and that many
old members became more active. She also presented the sample of the PICPA Dubai
Chapter identification card that will be distributed to each member later this
year. Jarsel Longakit of Publication released the second issue of CPAG for 2002
and invited the members to contribute to the final issue of the newsletter,
which will be released during the Middle East Conference in December. Dante
Herras of Professional Development shared with the members the success stories
and feedbacks on DacEasy Seminar and Accounting for Non Accountants Course. He
also mentioned the second AFNA crash course in September, and the possible
holding of seminars on LC and Financial Statement Analysis. Jerry Lorilla of
Finance presented the Treasurer's Report as of July 31, 2002. The last, but
certainly not the least to present, was Benny Tamayo of Sports and Fellowship,
who enumerated the numerous events already completed. He also announced the
forthcoming tennis tournament and mini-Olympics towards the end of the year.
During the closing stage of the first segment, President Redd Valdehueza
encouraged the members to actively participate in the preparations for Middle
East Conference, which will be hosted by the chapter this
year.
After the committee
reports, a special dance number was presented by Jarsel and the daughters of
George de Leon. An open forum was held, and many new members actively
participated. Veterans Bernie Eseo and Emil Dungca helped the officers in
answering the questions.
The
second part of the event was the induction of nine new PICPANs and sixteen new
Associate Members. Redd administered the oath taking ceremony of the twenty-five
inductees.
Light dinner was
served right after the induction rites, but the program was not interrupted.
Dante sang few songs while raffle draws were simultaneously being held. Jerry,
Evelyn and Dante donated the prizes given away.
The final part of the event was the official launching of our website -
