Ensure best business practices for economic sustainability

The country's chartered accountants (CA) have called for more collaboration among entrepreneurs, industry regulatory bodies and banks so that businesses can take significant steps towards becoming instinctive enterprises.

Instinctive enterprises are businesses that continuously reinvent themselves to move faster than market demand and stay a step ahead of the competition.

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The CAs stressed the need for local enterprises to use technology, best business practices, ensure fair competition, get closer to customers, and remain ethics-focused.

They made these comments during a webinar on "creating enterprise value by responsible business practices", organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) yesterday.

"Responsible business practices are crucial for business recovery while improving logistics performance could help accelerate recovery and improve our competitiveness in global markets," said Tapan Kanti Ghosh, secretary to the commerce ministry.

He said the present government is very pragmatic in formulating rules and regulations and thinking about how best business practices can be ensured to harness the maximum benefits in business, trade, investment, and so on.

All the economic development indicators are pointing upward due to the government policies, Ghosh added.

Bangladesh's economy is showing emerging signs of recovery backed by a rebound in exports, strong remittance inflows, and the ongoing vaccination programme.

The commerce secretary also underscored the need to modernise the logistics system to ensure business continuity and build resilience.

Mahmudul Hasan Khusru, president of ICAB, said corporations cannot survive solely on the profit-making paradigm without taking welfare initiatives for the environment and people.

Emphasising on the need to implement inclusive business models, he said the benefits for businesses should go beyond immediate profits and higher incomes.

He also said CAs always suggest best corporate practices for long run sustainability of organisations in the national and global competitive market.

Rizwan Rahman, president of the Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI), echoed the same while also saying that ensuring profitability is required for business stability.

"Of course, customers and employees are the main driver of a business as without these stakeholders, no business can be sustained," he said.

M Ala Uddin Ahmad, chief executive officer of MetLife Bangladesh, said businesses cannot succeed without ensuring responsible business practices.

Responsible business focuses on the needs of all stakeholders, including customers, employees and the society, he added.

ICAB's council member and previous president, AF Nesaruddin, moderated the webinar while Md Zahidul Islam Malita, chief financial officer and finance director of Unilever Bangladesh, presented the keynote paper.