‘Build good governance culture to aid economic development’
The President of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), Madam Olivia Kirtley, has stressed the need for the country to uphold good governance and transparency in its bid to build a strong economy.
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“Building Ghana’s economy and solidifying its position in an internationally integrated economy is going to require a strong, decisive and embedded governance culture,” she stressed.
Madam Kirtley, who was speaking at the 2015 Presidential Luncheon of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana (ICAG) in Accra yesterday, said even though Ghana had shown commitment to good governance, there was still more to do.
The luncheon was on the theme, “The Chartered accountant: building trust and stewardship in the governance agenda.”
She said it was in the accounting profession’s best interest to play a significant leadership role in the country.
On the accountancy profession, Madam Kirtley said its hallmark was professional qualification and commended ICAG for doing excellent work in building a chartered accountant professional programme.
Funding from DFID
Madam Kirtley announced that IFAC, with funding from the DIFD, had chosen Ghana to launch a project to further strengthen the accounting profession and the ICAG professional qualification.
Under the project, she said, $8 million had been provided to fund professional accountancy capacity building in 10 countries over a period of seven years.
“We are doing that by identifying countries where we think we can really make a difference and then partnering with other professional accountancy organisations to assist us in that work,” she explained.
ICAEW to liaise with ICAG
She further announced that the institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) had been selected to join forces with the ICAG to blend international best practice and local knowledge and experiences.
“We expect this to be completed by March 2017,” she said, adding that the project would focus on enhancing the ICAG examination system, as well as develop road maps to enhance the accreditation of education institutions and training offices.
Mandate of ICAG
The President of the ICAG, Professor Kwame B. Omane-Antwi, said the core mandate of ICAG was to ensure that those governing and managing enterprises accounted appropriately to their stakeholders.