IPSIG Annual Webinar Lecture 2025

The Interdisciplinary Perspectives Special Interest Group (IPSIG) will hold its annual webinar lecture on Thursday, 20 November 2025, 11:00-12:30 (GMT).

Our speaker, Dr Anwar Halari, Senior Lecturer in Accounting at the Open University, will deliver a lecture on ‘Rethinking Microfinance and Accountability: Values, Rituals, and Solidarity’

Financial exclusion is one of the biggest barriers to social mobility and sustainable development, especially in countries where poverty is widespread. In this 2025 BAFA IPSIG webinar, Dr. Anwar Halari will present a unique microfinance model of a Pakistani NGO, Akhuwat, which for over two decades has operated with no credit scores, no interest, and no collateral. Instead, the model is built on trust, solidarity, and moral accountability, enabling Akhuwat to achieve an almost 100% loan recovery rate while serving some of the poorest communities in Pakistan.

Drawing on recent fieldwork in Karachi and Lahore, where he interviewed staff and beneficiaries, observed loan distribution meetings, and explored the everyday practices that sustain Akhuwat’s model, in this webinar, Anwar will discuss how values, rituals, and community dynamics offer a powerful counter-narrative to the conventional microfinance model.

The webinar will focus on interdisciplinary insights from accounting, sociology, and religion, highlighting how community-rooted practices can reshape our understanding of accountability and financial inclusion. It will highlight how trust, character, and reputation are assessed in practice as well as the tensions and challenges of sustaining a trust-based model. Broader lessons for microfinance, ethical accounting, and financial inclusion will also be discussed: what can banks, policymakers, and civil society learn from Akhuwat’s approach?

The Speaker

Dr. Anwar Halari is a Senior Lecturer in Accounting at the Open University. His interdisciplinary research focuses on accountability, sustainability, governance and social and environmental impacts of organisations. He is currently investigating the role of accountants in the move towards sustainability, with particular emphasis on attitudes, identity, professional and societal norms, and how accountabilities are enacted within governance structures in religious institutions with a particular focus on everyday practices of accountability.

Further details about Anwar’s work can be found on his profile webpage.

Registration

Opens: 14 October 2025
Closes: 17 November 2025

This is a FREE event for all BAFA members. Please register to attend this online session by logging into your BAFA membership account. Once registered the Zoom link and further information will be emailed to you closer to the event date.