November 17, 2025 • 25 mins
Get to know Ahmed Al Ahbabi in this inspiring episode of Count Me In Podcast, hosted by Adam Larson! Ahmed shares his journey from discovering a passion for accounting and numbers in university, to earning his CMA certification and becoming the first Emirati on the IMA Global Board. He talks about the power of professional communities, the value of connecting with IMA chapters around the world, and how volunteering opens doors for learning, networking, and personal growth. Hear Ahmed discuss real-world skills, building local chapters, and why being part of a global community matters for accountants and finance professionals everywhere. Whether you’re thinking about joining IMA or leveling up your career, this conversation is packed with practical advice, encouragement, and stories you won’t want to miss.
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Episode Transcript
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Adam Larson (00:05):
Welcome back to Count Me In. I'm your host, Adam
Larson. Today, I sit down withAmer Al Ahbabi, the first
Emirati on the IMA global boardof directors and a leader in
finance in The UAE. We talkabout his path in accounting,
how earning the CMA changed hiscareer, and the importance of
community in our profession.Amer shares advice for anyone
thinking about pursuing thecertification or joining IMA and
(00:27):
reflects on what it means togive back and help others grow.
This conversation is one youwon't wanna miss. Well, Amer,
I'm really excited to have youon the Count Me In podcast
today, and I figured we couldstart a little bit by you could
share a bit about yourprofessional journey. How did
you get into accounting andfinance? What led you to where
(00:49):
you are today?
Amer Al Ahbabi (00:50):
Good. Thank you, Adam, for having me today. I'm
really happy. So I've studiedaccounting back in 2012 at the
United Arab Emirates University.And, you know, the the cool
thing here is that I wascomparing between finance and
accounting.
And I thought that I saw thataccounting goes into a lot more
(01:13):
details, a lot more intonumbers. Then I decided, I'll be
an accountant. And, yeah, Ifinished my bachelor degree. And
from there, I my relationshipwith numbers and accounting has
been very quite well. I enjoyedthe cost accounting classes.
(01:35):
I remember at the university, Itook cost accounting one, two,
and three, and they wish therewere more instead of the other
subjects. So, yeah, I reallylove numbers and accounting as
well.
Adam Larson (01:46):
Yeah. It it it really takes that love for
numbers, that love forunderstanding how those things
work. When I've talked to otherpeople who kind of has said the
same thing where they reallyzeroed in because I took some
accounting classes and I knew itwasn't for me, but I know that
for other people, it's for them.And then when you and I first
chatted, you had mentioned, theCMA kinda played a big role in
your development. So maybe youcan talk a little bit about the
(02:07):
CMA and its and its
Amer Al Ahbabi (02:09):
Definitely. So, see, I finished my bachelor
degree. I joined, the stateaudit institution. It's the
federal, auditing body of thegovernment. And, luckily, my
line manager had a lot ofcertifications.
One of them were the was theCMA. And I I was thinking what
(02:30):
are those behind after his namein the email signature, c b a, c
m a, c I a. And I thought I Iinvestigated that, and I went
into details, and I realizedthat there is something called
the CMA, which is a certifiedNigerian accountant, the IMA,
the community. And I startedstudying for the CMA. I didn't
(02:53):
pass from the first exam.
I repeated it, especially parttwo. I remember it was tough
with the essay, but it wasreally, really fun. And, after
that, I joined the IMAcommunity. I joined in 2017 as a
board secretary, I remember,with the team there. I learned a
(03:16):
lot.
And from that time, myrelationship with IMA is
continuing up to where I am now.
Adam Larson (03:26):
So were there certain skills in that you that
you gained by earning afterearning the CMA that kinda
helped you in your professionallife?
Amer Al Ahbabi (03:33):
Yes. Definitely. I'll tell you one very good
thing that I learned from theCMA. See, time management. I
remember once you were in in astress trying to finish the exam
and certain number of MCQstrying to understand which is
the right or wrong answer, doingall these techniques to be on
(03:55):
time, I think, punctuality.
Number two is managing yourstudies, managing to finish the
syllabus before the exam date,reviewing them. It was really
something different than theacademia and the university
exams that we are having there.Also, how to analyze numbers,
(04:18):
especially in cost accounting,especially in companies. Now I
really enjoy going intocompanies and checking financial
statements, reports, costaccounting reports, seeing how
well they are doing, how welltheir numbers are there. Is
there any window dressing?
Is there anything hidden,between the numbers? So cost
accounting see, I believe every,entrepreneur who's entering into
(04:42):
any business, he needs tounderstand numbers. You know,
it's crucial that you areinvesting in a company or you
are an owner of the company orif you even have stocks in any
company. You need to understandthose financial statements.
Right?
And cost accounting, gave me theinfrastructure for this
(05:02):
knowledge and how to assess thiscompany and how well are they
doing.
Adam Larson (05:08):
Yeah. That's great that you're able to kind of,
help understand howorganizations are working. And
and and and you mentioned, like,that entrepreneurs and and
business leaders should all knowhow, like, the numbers work. Are
there other skills gaps that orwithin the profession that you
feel like that can be bridged inthrough these skills, especially
through, like, the CMA and andworking with, organizations like
(05:30):
IMA?
Amer Al Ahbabi (05:31):
See, Adam, I remember I visited the
headquarters of IMA last lastyear or the year before that.
And the the I was introduced tothe story about how IMA was
formed and about the it was acommunity hundred years ago.
And, so community here also inthe chapters, I'm sure of what
(05:52):
you know as well. It's it's areally big community. We come
together as accountants,financials, even people with a
for not from the background offinancial or accounting come
together and discuss a lot oftopics.
So it's more broader than thanjust a profession. It's a
community full community that wecould support each other.
People, I believe, love to cometogether, discuss new topics,
(06:18):
discuss new challenges that theyare facing. You know, people get
hired. Yeah.
I mean, from those events ofwhat I have understood. People
get married. We have certaincases in Egypt. I have visited
them this year in May, and theywere telling me really nice
stories about the IMA communitythere. And it's one of the most
(06:38):
unique communities that I havewent through.
Istanbul, they have a reallynice chapter with the harmony,
Europe and London as well. Sothe communities that you know,
Adam, any place I visit anyplace that I visit, I just
check. Does Miami exist there orno? Do we have a chapter? Shall
(07:01):
I connect with somebody?
I met in this year only, I wentto I met Italy chapter in Milan.
I met London chapter, Istanbul,and Egypt. All of them were
phenomenal. Every chapter,you'll understand something
else. It's a different story.
(07:22):
They have a different communityand how they work. So I believe
IMA is a community, a globalcommunity, a big community. It
Adam Larson (07:31):
is a global community, and I love that
you've been able to connect withdifferent chapters around the
world. What what inspired you tokind of start volunteering and
getting engaged in IMA? Becauseyou've been you've been,
connected since, you know, sinceit's been a while now.
Amer Al Ahbabi (07:44):
Yeah. I'm I'm, so see. I was engaged with a
mission that I graduated as anaccountant from the university,
and I didn't have any idea aboutprofessional certification. Then
what is the difference betweenthe professional certification
and the academic certifications?And it was my mission to,
(08:06):
educate either seniors from theuniversities or employees, and
we've done great with IME in thelast couple of five years here
in Abu Dhabi.
We signed government strategicMOUs. We are teaching CMA and
expanding the reach of of of ofthe professional knowledge, not
(08:27):
only CMA. All the professionalcertification and how an
accountant should scale up hisskills and his technical tools
that he could use to support hiscareer path. Not only this,
Adam. In the last couple ofweeks or, let's say, month, AI
(08:47):
was a really big topic.
We did two events latelyspeaking about AI, one in
collaboration with the Al AinUniversity and one with Dubai
chapter. It's called the field.So so you're speaking about
things that are happening.People are excited. It's more
like a community.
So I felt myself there. I was asecretary, I remember, for the
(09:07):
board for a couple of years.Then I managed Abu Dhabi charter
for three, four years. And thenI went into Iraq, which is the
bigger community, which is theregional advisory council of the
Middle East and Africa. So welooked into a lot of challenges.
And lately, I've been appointedin the global board. We are
(09:28):
discussing a broader community,as said, from China to The
States. So it is really, reallysomething that I learned a lot
strategically how to plan,strategically how to be a board
member from the beginning, youknow, from a board, small
chapter secretary till thesitting on the board of global
(09:51):
directors. So it was a reallynice journey in the last eight
years and looking forward forthe future together.
Adam Larson (09:59):
Yeah. One thing I love to ask when I'm talking to
board members, especially IMA'sboard members, what what skills
and value do you bring to theboard, and what how can you help
how do you think you can help,guide IMA in a new in this
direction, especially with wehave IEI and all those other
things coming.
Amer Al Ahbabi (10:15):
I felt there is a lot of diversification in our
board. A lot of, discussions arehappening from different
perspectives, from differentregions. We are discussing China
market, states, Middle East,Africa. So there is a lot of
thinking outside the box. We area very big group, diverse group.
(10:38):
We we just in the board, theydiscuss topics from the East to
the South to the North. It'svery diverse, different
perspectives, differentdecisions that they are take. I
I learned how to be thinkingoutside the box, checking for
possibilities, how we couldsupport our community as much as
(10:59):
possible, in the best interestof the profession and the
institution and their members.It's it's really before taking a
decision, they think a lot. Theythey just review every possible
option, what will happen if incase this happened, in case that
happened.
You know, the harmony betweenthe board is something I felt.
(11:20):
Yesterday, we had a meeting in asubcommittee. Everybody says
yeah. And his point of view,everybody respects this point of
view. We take it seriously.
Yeah. And he and thinkingstrategically is one of the main
points that I have learned fromthem.
Adam Larson (11:44):
That's amazing. And and I love when I I was just in
Phoenix, and I could see theboard coming out of the board
meeting. And the the group ofthe diverse group of people, the
different people from alldifferent acts, walks of life,
all different things, and youhave so many and people have
been they they have so manydifferent experiences that when
all those different voices cometogether, I can only imagine the
(12:06):
the wonderful ideas and andthoughts that come out from it.
Amer Al Ahbabi (12:18):
Yes. And all of them care or or or all of them
think about one purpose, how tosupport our members, how to make
them satisfied as much aspossible, how to scale their
career path, scale theireducation, scale whatever. It is
so it's a re I really enjoy allthe board meetings that I have
(12:40):
attended. It's really engaging,and and I'm sure I'll learn a
lot more in the future withthem.
Adam Larson (12:48):
Are there skills that you've gained from
volunteering at IMA and beingpart of the board that you've
been able to bring to yourprofessional life and and and
your the businesses where youwork to to are there skills that
you've been able to say, hey. Ican apply this here?
Amer Al Ahbabi (13:01):
Yeah. See, other planning things ahead, taking
decisions, not not yeah. I mean,taking decisions and also not
only yeah. Before, I believe,before couple of years, I was
hesitated to take a decision orthere there is no I I I was,
(13:22):
yeah, I mean, thinking twice.But I may once we joined, we
learned how to take decisions,how to close topics out, and how
to bring topics to the table orto the board position level and
to close it with a purpose, howyou could serve as a board
member in the right way.
(13:42):
You I've been serving withserving with people way ahead of
me in their career path. Yeah.And somebody have twenty five
years experience. Somebodyyesterday, thirty five years of
experience in this profession.So imagine if I'm listening to
him, how he thinks, how he gets,how he makes decisions, and how
(14:03):
he estimates things.
This is something reallypriceless. We are at the end of
the day serving and volunteeringour time, but at the end of the
day, we are also gaining eitherit's a network, either it's a
skill that we are gaining,either it's experience. So I
believe that it had a reallygood impact on on on where I am
(14:25):
now. You know, Adam? Also, thereis something really nice we did
last year in the RAC committeewhere it was chaired by mister
Alhadi.
He's also a global board member.So Alhadi had KPIs, how we could
how we could record our progressin the certain time and how we
(14:49):
could achieve with KPIs andreport this to the board. And we
we benefited a lot from that,how you could scale up something
that important to the board andpresent it to them with the KPI
based on the see, we we areworking on a very, very diverse
region, which was The MiddleEast and Africa. So it was a
(15:12):
very big very big area that wewere covering, and it it was
really nice. It was really nice.
The experience we gained fromthose KPIs, setting the KPIs and
scaling thing up and measuringit at the end of our period was
really nice, especially once wewere preparing the report, the
(15:33):
end of term report, it wasreally fun.
Adam Larson (15:37):
Yeah. That's great. So I wanted to ask you a little
bit about more about the thechapters in local communities
because, you know, IMA is aglobal organization, and and
you've you've seen firsthand howthe local chapters kind of
really bring people together.Maybe you could talk a little
bit more about that.
Amer Al Ahbabi (15:52):
Sure. See, so the local chapters, they serve
the the local community in anydiverse area or demographic area
they are serving in. So what wewere doing, we were making a
small survey about what topicsthey want us to present during
our conferences. We dograduations. A very nice topic I
(16:17):
I saw or sorry.
A very nice a very nice action Isaw with the Egypt chapter in
Skandaria and Cairo. They oncethey do the graduation of CMAs,
they wear the full uniform ofthe graduation robe with the
cap, and it's like you'regraduating from university or
school. And I really loved it.And I saw a couple of videos,
(16:39):
and I promised them I'll beattending one of the graduation.
Because, you know, they makepeople feel that they are they
are they achieved somethingreally important.
And and this thing initiativecame from the chapter itself,
nothing to do with the IMEheadquarters. We we do every
year, we have something calledRamadan fasting month. So we
(17:03):
prepare food for poor people,and we distribute it on behalf
of the chapter. We preparegatherings together. It is
really an the community isreally nice.
We we on every event, we haveoverregisters. People come from
outside the community to seewhat IMA is doing here and what
(17:25):
are they discussing and whattopics. We do collaborations, a
lot of collaborations withgovernment entities,
universities, student chapters.So I I think and I think also we
should involve more intouniversity students, not only in
their senior level, but also thejunior level, especially who
(17:49):
have decided to chooseaccounting and finance. So this
is all about our community.
Adam Larson (17:56):
What advice would you give to somebody who is
maybe on the fence about kindajoining IMA or or getting
getting involved in the CMA?What advice would you give to if
they're kinda on the fence,they're not sure what to do,
what would you say to thatperson?
Amer Al Ahbabi (18:08):
See, I believe I learned a lot from Miami. Either
connections imagine this other,first, once The UAE implemented
the VAT, the value added tax,and nobody have an idea. We
don't have any taxes here. And,I was sitting with people from p
w big four, PwC, and these andand they were discussing these
(18:32):
topics. Yeah.
And I was just graduated twoyears from university. So the
the the type of people you'll bemeeting, the the knowledge
you'll be gaining, you'll beahead. Trust me. It's not about
you are graduated from anyuniversity, about how relevant
are you in your field, how wellare you connected to your
(18:55):
community. Either you are anengineer, either you are a
doctor.
If you're not getting yourselfinvolved into these communities
and also updating yourself withthe new topics within the same
within the same community,you'll be outdated. So so IMA
(19:15):
will give you this update,either it's webinars, events,
conferences. You'll do a lot.And number one, priority is
networking. I made a lot offriends from IMA communities
here.
I'm we work together. We didbusiness together. We so it's a
wonderful community. So if youif you wanted me to rate it out,
(19:37):
I'll say 40% community, 40%knowledge. Communities, which is
includes networking.
And the knowledge and and 20% isthat it will give you see,
anybody comes to me and he knowsthat I am a CMA or as whatever
certification I have, he knowwhat standards or what level of
(19:57):
education I have. So so so thesethree key players are really
important for you and for yourcareer path in the future, and
you should consider them. And Iencourage a lot students to
participate into studentchapters, employees to
participate in their localcommunity chapters. I know
(20:17):
places that we didn't havechapters, and people were
contacting us as I may we wannaopen a chapter here. So and it
was successful because peoplehave without the people and
their willingness and theirpassion for for for whatever
profession they are in, theycouldn't build something that's
(20:38):
scalable or something they couldbe proud of in the future.
Adam Larson (20:42):
Mhmm. Well, and we're we're all people first
before we're accountants, beforewe're professionals. We're
humans. We're humans who havehave very similar experiences.
It may be in different regionsof the world, but we all deal
with issues in life and beingable to come together as humans
first and then have a passionfor the community, for the
(21:02):
accounting community, makingsure that, you know, we're
holding businesses to standards,making sure we have those
internal controls in place tomake sure that, you know,
organizations aren't just, youknow, doing everything for the
bottom line, but are doing itfor whatever your passion is and
for whatever it is.
It's it's more than just that.And I love the the stories that
you've been telling and howyou're seeing that it's a
community. Like, you said, like,even that the local chapter, you
(21:23):
know, feeds the local communityfor folks who aren't able to
like, that's more than justaccounting, and it's coming
together as people. So I thinkthis is, you know, this has been
a great conversation, and I Ilove chatting with you and
chatting with, especially withwith new board members. And, you
know, is as you look at yourrole in the IMA board of
directors, what are some thingsyou hope what's the impact you
(21:44):
hope to leave and the legacy youhope to leave with IMA?
Amer Al Ahbabi (21:47):
See, I'll be I'll I'll tell you one thing.
I've I've been proud that I'mthe first Emirati to be a global
board member, and I'm the onlyone from the GCC region. So this
is a this is a very bigmilestone for me and for the
region as well. We'll be we'llbe hoping to expand the
(22:08):
professional sector here in TheUAE, educate people about the
profession and, how we couldtake it forward. The percentage
of people who are satisfied heresorry, certified are, is not
that pleasant.
I don't think, we we did a studythree years ago. We were less
than 5% of the people who haveany sort of certification,
(22:36):
professional certification inaccounting or finance. So we are
trying our best to scale it up,especially with the new
certification that I may haveintroduced, FMAA. And, also,
this certification have beenintroduced by Arabic language.
It is a very good milestone.
We believe and it was a successin Egypt and Saudi, but not here
(22:57):
in United Arab Emirates. The theEnglish version was more
pleasant and successful here. Weare we are also trying to,
increase the number of membersthat we have, increase our
family and members andcommunity, specifically in the
region and The Middle East andother places of the world. We
(23:20):
are planning, to be honest, to,prepare, like, roundtables, with
with with the regions and how wecould yeah. And across knowledge
between chapters and countries,which I believe is something
very important for us,especially we have just launched
(23:41):
the corporate tax here in thecountry, and I think getting
knowledge from people who havebeen dealing with corporate tax
from fifty years is will bebeneficial for us as well.
So mainly, we're speaking hereabout transforming the
knowledge, getting to know eachother more professionally and
(24:04):
also as a community wise.
Adam Larson (24:07):
Mhmm. And I think that's wonderful because, you
know, it it's it's great to haveto have you on the board because
when people see, oh, wait.There's somebody who's like me
on the board, and I can connectwith that organization. I think
it really it really helps bringus together as as as a community
and an organization. Well, Amir,I'm so honored to have you on
the podcast.
(24:27):
I'm so honored to, get to knowmore about you, and I really
hope that our audience hasgotten to know you and just your
your journey a little bit moreand that they we can continue to
all connect as a community atIMA. And I just wanna thank you
so much for coming on thepodcast.
Amer Al Ahbabi (24:40):
Thank you, Adam. Well, I enjoyed speaking to you
and hope to see you soon in TheStates. This
Announcer (24:48):
has been Count Me In, IMA's podcast, providing you
with the latest perspectives ofthought leaders from the
accounting and financeprofession. If you like what you
heard and you'd like to becounted in for more relevant
accounting and financeeducation, visit IMA's website
at www.imanet.org.
Welcome back to Count Me In. I'm your host, Adam
Larson. Today, I sit down withAmer Al Ahbabi, the first
Emirati on the IMA global boardof directors and a leader in
finance in The UAE. We talkabout his path in accounting,
how earning the CMA changed hiscareer, and the importance of
community in our profession.Amer shares advice for anyone
thinking about pursuing thecertification or joining IMA and
(00:27):
reflects on what it means togive back and help others grow.
This conversation is one youwon't wanna miss. Well, Amer,
I'm really excited to have youon the Count Me In podcast
today, and I figured we couldstart a little bit by you could
share a bit about yourprofessional journey. How did
you get into accounting andfinance? What led you to where
(00:49):
you are today?
Amer Al Ahbabi (00:50):
Good. Thank you, Adam, for having me today. I'm
really happy. So I've studiedaccounting back in 2012 at the
United Arab Emirates University.And, you know, the the cool
thing here is that I wascomparing between finance and
accounting.
And I thought that I saw thataccounting goes into a lot more
(01:13):
details, a lot more intonumbers. Then I decided, I'll be
an accountant. And, yeah, Ifinished my bachelor degree. And
from there, I my relationshipwith numbers and accounting has
been very quite well. I enjoyedthe cost accounting classes.
(01:35):
I remember at the university, Itook cost accounting one, two,
and three, and they wish therewere more instead of the other
subjects. So, yeah, I reallylove numbers and accounting as
well.
Adam Larson (01:46):
Yeah. It it it really takes that love for
numbers, that love forunderstanding how those things
work. When I've talked to otherpeople who kind of has said the
same thing where they reallyzeroed in because I took some
accounting classes and I knew itwasn't for me, but I know that
for other people, it's for them.And then when you and I first
chatted, you had mentioned, theCMA kinda played a big role in
your development. So maybe youcan talk a little bit about the
(02:07):
CMA and its and its
Amer Al Ahbabi (02:09):
Definitely. So, see, I finished my bachelor
degree. I joined, the stateaudit institution. It's the
federal, auditing body of thegovernment. And, luckily, my
line manager had a lot ofcertifications.
One of them were the was theCMA. And I I was thinking what
(02:30):
are those behind after his namein the email signature, c b a, c
m a, c I a. And I thought I Iinvestigated that, and I went
into details, and I realizedthat there is something called
the CMA, which is a certifiedNigerian accountant, the IMA,
the community. And I startedstudying for the CMA. I didn't
(02:53):
pass from the first exam.
I repeated it, especially parttwo. I remember it was tough
with the essay, but it wasreally, really fun. And, after
that, I joined the IMAcommunity. I joined in 2017 as a
board secretary, I remember,with the team there. I learned a
(03:16):
lot.
And from that time, myrelationship with IMA is
continuing up to where I am now.
Adam Larson (03:26):
So were there certain skills in that you that
you gained by earning afterearning the CMA that kinda
helped you in your professionallife?
Amer Al Ahbabi (03:33):
Yes. Definitely. I'll tell you one very good
thing that I learned from theCMA. See, time management. I
remember once you were in in astress trying to finish the exam
and certain number of MCQstrying to understand which is
the right or wrong answer, doingall these techniques to be on
(03:55):
time, I think, punctuality.
Number two is managing yourstudies, managing to finish the
syllabus before the exam date,reviewing them. It was really
something different than theacademia and the university
exams that we are having there.Also, how to analyze numbers,
(04:18):
especially in cost accounting,especially in companies. Now I
really enjoy going intocompanies and checking financial
statements, reports, costaccounting reports, seeing how
well they are doing, how welltheir numbers are there. Is
there any window dressing?
Is there anything hidden,between the numbers? So cost
accounting see, I believe every,entrepreneur who's entering into
(04:42):
any business, he needs tounderstand numbers. You know,
it's crucial that you areinvesting in a company or you
are an owner of the company orif you even have stocks in any
company. You need to understandthose financial statements.
Right?
And cost accounting, gave me theinfrastructure for this
(05:02):
knowledge and how to assess thiscompany and how well are they
doing.
Adam Larson (05:08):
Yeah. That's great that you're able to kind of,
help understand howorganizations are working. And
and and and you mentioned, like,that entrepreneurs and and
business leaders should all knowhow, like, the numbers work. Are
there other skills gaps that orwithin the profession that you
feel like that can be bridged inthrough these skills, especially
through, like, the CMA and andworking with, organizations like
(05:30):
IMA?
Amer Al Ahbabi (05:31):
See, Adam, I remember I visited the
headquarters of IMA last lastyear or the year before that.
And the the I was introduced tothe story about how IMA was
formed and about the it was acommunity hundred years ago.
And, so community here also inthe chapters, I'm sure of what
(05:52):
you know as well. It's it's areally big community. We come
together as accountants,financials, even people with a
for not from the background offinancial or accounting come
together and discuss a lot oftopics.
So it's more broader than thanjust a profession. It's a
community full community that wecould support each other.
People, I believe, love to cometogether, discuss new topics,
(06:18):
discuss new challenges that theyare facing. You know, people get
hired. Yeah.
I mean, from those events ofwhat I have understood. People
get married. We have certaincases in Egypt. I have visited
them this year in May, and theywere telling me really nice
stories about the IMA communitythere. And it's one of the most
(06:38):
unique communities that I havewent through.
Istanbul, they have a reallynice chapter with the harmony,
Europe and London as well. Sothe communities that you know,
Adam, any place I visit anyplace that I visit, I just
check. Does Miami exist there orno? Do we have a chapter? Shall
(07:01):
I connect with somebody?
I met in this year only, I wentto I met Italy chapter in Milan.
I met London chapter, Istanbul,and Egypt. All of them were
phenomenal. Every chapter,you'll understand something
else. It's a different story.
(07:22):
They have a different communityand how they work. So I believe
IMA is a community, a globalcommunity, a big community. It
Adam Larson (07:31):
is a global community, and I love that
you've been able to connect withdifferent chapters around the
world. What what inspired you tokind of start volunteering and
getting engaged in IMA? Becauseyou've been you've been,
connected since, you know, sinceit's been a while now.
Amer Al Ahbabi (07:44):
Yeah. I'm I'm, so see. I was engaged with a
mission that I graduated as anaccountant from the university,
and I didn't have any idea aboutprofessional certification. Then
what is the difference betweenthe professional certification
and the academic certifications?And it was my mission to,
(08:06):
educate either seniors from theuniversities or employees, and
we've done great with IME in thelast couple of five years here
in Abu Dhabi.
We signed government strategicMOUs. We are teaching CMA and
expanding the reach of of of ofthe professional knowledge, not
(08:27):
only CMA. All the professionalcertification and how an
accountant should scale up hisskills and his technical tools
that he could use to support hiscareer path. Not only this,
Adam. In the last couple ofweeks or, let's say, month, AI
(08:47):
was a really big topic.
We did two events latelyspeaking about AI, one in
collaboration with the Al AinUniversity and one with Dubai
chapter. It's called the field.So so you're speaking about
things that are happening.People are excited. It's more
like a community.
So I felt myself there. I was asecretary, I remember, for the
(09:07):
board for a couple of years.Then I managed Abu Dhabi charter
for three, four years. And thenI went into Iraq, which is the
bigger community, which is theregional advisory council of the
Middle East and Africa. So welooked into a lot of challenges.
And lately, I've been appointedin the global board. We are
(09:28):
discussing a broader community,as said, from China to The
States. So it is really, reallysomething that I learned a lot
strategically how to plan,strategically how to be a board
member from the beginning, youknow, from a board, small
chapter secretary till thesitting on the board of global
(09:51):
directors. So it was a reallynice journey in the last eight
years and looking forward forthe future together.
Adam Larson (09:59):
Yeah. One thing I love to ask when I'm talking to
board members, especially IMA'sboard members, what what skills
and value do you bring to theboard, and what how can you help
how do you think you can help,guide IMA in a new in this
direction, especially with wehave IEI and all those other
things coming.
Amer Al Ahbabi (10:15):
I felt there is a lot of diversification in our
board. A lot of, discussions arehappening from different
perspectives, from differentregions. We are discussing China
market, states, Middle East,Africa. So there is a lot of
thinking outside the box. We area very big group, diverse group.
(10:38):
We we just in the board, theydiscuss topics from the East to
the South to the North. It'svery diverse, different
perspectives, differentdecisions that they are take. I
I learned how to be thinkingoutside the box, checking for
possibilities, how we couldsupport our community as much as
(10:59):
possible, in the best interestof the profession and the
institution and their members.It's it's really before taking a
decision, they think a lot. Theythey just review every possible
option, what will happen if incase this happened, in case that
happened.
You know, the harmony betweenthe board is something I felt.
(11:20):
Yesterday, we had a meeting in asubcommittee. Everybody says
yeah. And his point of view,everybody respects this point of
view. We take it seriously.
Yeah. And he and thinkingstrategically is one of the main
points that I have learned fromthem.
Adam Larson (11:44):
That's amazing. And and I love when I I was just in
Phoenix, and I could see theboard coming out of the board
meeting. And the the group ofthe diverse group of people, the
different people from alldifferent acts, walks of life,
all different things, and youhave so many and people have
been they they have so manydifferent experiences that when
all those different voices cometogether, I can only imagine the
(12:06):
the wonderful ideas and andthoughts that come out from it.
Amer Al Ahbabi (12:18):
Yes. And all of them care or or or all of them
think about one purpose, how tosupport our members, how to make
them satisfied as much aspossible, how to scale their
career path, scale theireducation, scale whatever. It is
so it's a re I really enjoy allthe board meetings that I have
(12:40):
attended. It's really engaging,and and I'm sure I'll learn a
lot more in the future withthem.
Adam Larson (12:48):
Are there skills that you've gained from
volunteering at IMA and beingpart of the board that you've
been able to bring to yourprofessional life and and and
your the businesses where youwork to to are there skills that
you've been able to say, hey. Ican apply this here?
Amer Al Ahbabi (13:01):
Yeah. See, other planning things ahead, taking
decisions, not not yeah. I mean,taking decisions and also not
only yeah. Before, I believe,before couple of years, I was
hesitated to take a decision orthere there is no I I I was,
(13:22):
yeah, I mean, thinking twice.But I may once we joined, we
learned how to take decisions,how to close topics out, and how
to bring topics to the table orto the board position level and
to close it with a purpose, howyou could serve as a board
member in the right way.
(13:42):
You I've been serving withserving with people way ahead of
me in their career path. Yeah.And somebody have twenty five
years experience. Somebodyyesterday, thirty five years of
experience in this profession.So imagine if I'm listening to
him, how he thinks, how he gets,how he makes decisions, and how
(14:03):
he estimates things.
This is something reallypriceless. We are at the end of
the day serving and volunteeringour time, but at the end of the
day, we are also gaining eitherit's a network, either it's a
skill that we are gaining,either it's experience. So I
believe that it had a reallygood impact on on on where I am
(14:25):
now. You know, Adam? Also, thereis something really nice we did
last year in the RAC committeewhere it was chaired by mister
Alhadi.
He's also a global board member.So Alhadi had KPIs, how we could
how we could record our progressin the certain time and how we
(14:49):
could achieve with KPIs andreport this to the board. And we
we benefited a lot from that,how you could scale up something
that important to the board andpresent it to them with the KPI
based on the see, we we areworking on a very, very diverse
region, which was The MiddleEast and Africa. So it was a
(15:12):
very big very big area that wewere covering, and it it was
really nice. It was really nice.
The experience we gained fromthose KPIs, setting the KPIs and
scaling thing up and measuringit at the end of our period was
really nice, especially once wewere preparing the report, the
(15:33):
end of term report, it wasreally fun.
Adam Larson (15:37):
Yeah. That's great. So I wanted to ask you a little
bit about more about the thechapters in local communities
because, you know, IMA is aglobal organization, and and
you've you've seen firsthand howthe local chapters kind of
really bring people together.Maybe you could talk a little
bit more about that.
Amer Al Ahbabi (15:52):
Sure. See, so the local chapters, they serve
the the local community in anydiverse area or demographic area
they are serving in. So what wewere doing, we were making a
small survey about what topicsthey want us to present during
our conferences. We dograduations. A very nice topic I
(16:17):
I saw or sorry.
A very nice a very nice action Isaw with the Egypt chapter in
Skandaria and Cairo. They oncethey do the graduation of CMAs,
they wear the full uniform ofthe graduation robe with the
cap, and it's like you'regraduating from university or
school. And I really loved it.And I saw a couple of videos,
(16:39):
and I promised them I'll beattending one of the graduation.
Because, you know, they makepeople feel that they are they
are they achieved somethingreally important.
And and this thing initiativecame from the chapter itself,
nothing to do with the IMEheadquarters. We we do every
year, we have something calledRamadan fasting month. So we
(17:03):
prepare food for poor people,and we distribute it on behalf
of the chapter. We preparegatherings together. It is
really an the community isreally nice.
We we on every event, we haveoverregisters. People come from
outside the community to seewhat IMA is doing here and what
(17:25):
are they discussing and whattopics. We do collaborations, a
lot of collaborations withgovernment entities,
universities, student chapters.So I I think and I think also we
should involve more intouniversity students, not only in
their senior level, but also thejunior level, especially who
(17:49):
have decided to chooseaccounting and finance. So this
is all about our community.
Adam Larson (17:56):
What advice would you give to somebody who is
maybe on the fence about kindajoining IMA or or getting
getting involved in the CMA?What advice would you give to if
they're kinda on the fence,they're not sure what to do,
what would you say to thatperson?
Amer Al Ahbabi (18:08):
See, I believe I learned a lot from Miami. Either
connections imagine this other,first, once The UAE implemented
the VAT, the value added tax,and nobody have an idea. We
don't have any taxes here. And,I was sitting with people from p
w big four, PwC, and these andand they were discussing these
(18:32):
topics. Yeah.
And I was just graduated twoyears from university. So the
the the type of people you'll bemeeting, the the knowledge
you'll be gaining, you'll beahead. Trust me. It's not about
you are graduated from anyuniversity, about how relevant
are you in your field, how wellare you connected to your
(18:55):
community. Either you are anengineer, either you are a
doctor.
If you're not getting yourselfinvolved into these communities
and also updating yourself withthe new topics within the same
within the same community,you'll be outdated. So so IMA
(19:15):
will give you this update,either it's webinars, events,
conferences. You'll do a lot.And number one, priority is
networking. I made a lot offriends from IMA communities
here.
I'm we work together. We didbusiness together. We so it's a
wonderful community. So if youif you wanted me to rate it out,
(19:37):
I'll say 40% community, 40%knowledge. Communities, which is
includes networking.
And the knowledge and and 20% isthat it will give you see,
anybody comes to me and he knowsthat I am a CMA or as whatever
certification I have, he knowwhat standards or what level of
(19:57):
education I have. So so so thesethree key players are really
important for you and for yourcareer path in the future, and
you should consider them. And Iencourage a lot students to
participate into studentchapters, employees to
participate in their localcommunity chapters. I know
(20:17):
places that we didn't havechapters, and people were
contacting us as I may we wannaopen a chapter here. So and it
was successful because peoplehave without the people and
their willingness and theirpassion for for for whatever
profession they are in, theycouldn't build something that's
(20:38):
scalable or something they couldbe proud of in the future.
Adam Larson (20:42):
Mhmm. Well, and we're we're all people first
before we're accountants, beforewe're professionals. We're
humans. We're humans who havehave very similar experiences.
It may be in different regionsof the world, but we all deal
with issues in life and beingable to come together as humans
first and then have a passionfor the community, for the
(21:02):
accounting community, makingsure that, you know, we're
holding businesses to standards,making sure we have those
internal controls in place tomake sure that, you know,
organizations aren't just, youknow, doing everything for the
bottom line, but are doing itfor whatever your passion is and
for whatever it is.
It's it's more than just that.And I love the the stories that
you've been telling and howyou're seeing that it's a
community. Like, you said, like,even that the local chapter, you
(21:23):
know, feeds the local communityfor folks who aren't able to
like, that's more than justaccounting, and it's coming
together as people. So I thinkthis is, you know, this has been
a great conversation, and I Ilove chatting with you and
chatting with, especially withwith new board members. And, you
know, is as you look at yourrole in the IMA board of
directors, what are some thingsyou hope what's the impact you
(21:44):
hope to leave and the legacy youhope to leave with IMA?
Amer Al Ahbabi (21:47):
See, I'll be I'll I'll tell you one thing.
I've I've been proud that I'mthe first Emirati to be a global
board member, and I'm the onlyone from the GCC region. So this
is a this is a very bigmilestone for me and for the
region as well. We'll be we'llbe hoping to expand the
(22:08):
professional sector here in TheUAE, educate people about the
profession and, how we couldtake it forward. The percentage
of people who are satisfied heresorry, certified are, is not
that pleasant.
I don't think, we we did a studythree years ago. We were less
than 5% of the people who haveany sort of certification,
(22:36):
professional certification inaccounting or finance. So we are
trying our best to scale it up,especially with the new
certification that I may haveintroduced, FMAA. And, also,
this certification have beenintroduced by Arabic language.
It is a very good milestone.
We believe and it was a successin Egypt and Saudi, but not here
(22:57):
in United Arab Emirates. The theEnglish version was more
pleasant and successful here. Weare we are also trying to,
increase the number of membersthat we have, increase our
family and members andcommunity, specifically in the
region and The Middle East andother places of the world. We
(23:20):
are planning, to be honest, to,prepare, like, roundtables, with
with with the regions and how wecould yeah. And across knowledge
between chapters and countries,which I believe is something
very important for us,especially we have just launched
(23:41):
the corporate tax here in thecountry, and I think getting
knowledge from people who havebeen dealing with corporate tax
from fifty years is will bebeneficial for us as well.
So mainly, we're speaking hereabout transforming the
knowledge, getting to know eachother more professionally and
(24:04):
also as a community wise.
Adam Larson (24:07):
Mhmm. And I think that's wonderful because, you
know, it it's it's great to haveto have you on the board because
when people see, oh, wait.There's somebody who's like me
on the board, and I can connectwith that organization. I think
it really it really helps bringus together as as as a community
and an organization. Well, Amir,I'm so honored to have you on
the podcast.
(24:27):
I'm so honored to, get to knowmore about you, and I really
hope that our audience hasgotten to know you and just your
your journey a little bit moreand that they we can continue to
all connect as a community atIMA. And I just wanna thank you
so much for coming on thepodcast.
Amer Al Ahbabi (24:40):
Thank you, Adam. Well, I enjoyed speaking to you
and hope to see you soon in TheStates. This
Announcer (24:48):
has been Count Me In, IMA's podcast, providing you
with the latest perspectives ofthought leaders from the
accounting and financeprofession. If you like what you
heard and you'd like to becounted in for more relevant
accounting and financeeducation, visit IMA's website
at www.imanet.org.
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