ICAG commences week celebration

The Institute of Chartered Accountants Ghana (ICAG) last Friday commenced the 2024 Accountants Week celebrations with Islamic thanksgiving prayers at the National Mosque, Kanda, in Accra.

The event, which included a stakeholder symposium at the National Mosque, was organised by ICAG in partnership with the Ghana Association of Muslim Accountants (GAMA).

Council members and management of ICAG led by the President, Sena Dake, also used the occasion to pay a courtesy call on the National Chief Imam, Sheikh Usmanu Nuhu Sharubutu.

Sheikh Sharubutu prayed for a successful Accountants Week celebration, peaceful elections, continuous peace, political stability and unity in the country.

Week’s activities

The 61st anniversary and the Accountancy Week celebration is on the theme “Building a Strong, Resilient, Adaptable and Sustainable Accountancy Profession. Yesterday, the conference to climax the celebration opened in the Eastern Regional Capital, Koforidua, and will run till Friday, May 31.

Aside from the Islamic prayers, activities for the celebration include Thanksgiving Service at Christ the King Catholic Church and an Akwaaba night session. Another highlight of the celebrations will be the election of a President and a Vice-President of ICAG by members of the institute.

Inclusivity

Ms Dake said the decision to start the celebration with Islamic prayers was to acknowledge the inclusivity and diversity of the accountancy profession. “We have institutionalised the Islamic prayers.

Many Muslim accountants are playing key and significant roles in the profession and in helping the economy and national development.  We, therefore, decided to include the prayers to get blessings from the Almighty Allah for a successful celebration,” she said.

She said it was not the first time ICAG was bringing on board the Islamic faith, as the National Chief Imam was the special guest of honour at last year’s 60th anniversary celebrations of the institute.

Ms Dake announced that the Council of ICAG had approved a request from GAMA to institute an award scheme to recognise the Best Female Muslim accounting graduating students to encourage more female Muslims to pursue a profession in accounting.

She urged accountants to inculcate sustainability in all their endeavours and also build their capacities to meet the challenges confronting the profession. “The profession has been challenged with issues such as cyber security, AI and other technologies. Accountants need to be prepared and build their capacities to use such tools to their advantage,” she said.

Islamic finance

The President of GAMA, Nuhu Salisu, called on Muslim accountants to join the association, as they could play a unique role in helping the development of the country, especially concerning Islamic finance and banking, which could be harnessed for sustainable development.

He said Islamic finance used a unique model of risk sharing instead of interest-bearing which could help the country, especially to reduce the high interest on loans. “Islamic finance is a growing sector of the financial industry.

According to statistics, there are about $ 2 trillion of assets in that sector. If we can come together as Muslim accountants, we can help the nation access other sources of funding to support sustainable development,” he said.