Financial discipline, key to successful economy — Prof. Omane-Antwi

The President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana (ICAG), Prof. Kwame Boasiako Omane-Antwi, has stated that financial discipline was the key to any successful economy.

“Policy planners, including financial experts must be able to appreciate a country’s expenditure and ask critical questions on what went wrong and find solutions to them,” Prof. Omane-Antwi stated.

Celebrations

He made the remarks last Saturday after a health walk to commemorate the institute’s annual week celebration in Accra.

The celebration was aimed at discussing challenges in the financial sector and also finding alternatives to them. This year’s celebration was on the theme: “emerging development in the financial industry.”

Hundreds of participants in ICAG branded shirts started the walk around 7:25 a.m. from the Aviation Social Centre in Accra through the K. A Busia Roundabout at 37 Military Hospital, the Aku Adjei Interchange,  the Danquah Circle, the Akufo Addo’s Roundabout towards the Ghana International School (GlS) and back to the Aviation Social Centre. The participants later undertook some aerobics to burn out calories.

Commendation

Prof. Omane-Antwi commended the Minister of Finance, Mr Seth Tekper, for the implementation of the Financial Management Law (FML) to check government’s expenditure.

As a body, Prof. Omane-Antwi said, “we have the public financial advocacy platform where we speak to salient issues on the economy, moreover, we have our members in critical positions in government who play their roles to that effect,” stressing “every country need a robust financial discipline of its expenditure. 

According to him, “what we need to adopt as country is what I call, ‘cost containment.’ You do not have to allow cost to overrun and you do not overspend to be in deficit that will cripple the economy.”  

Transparency

For his part, the Vice-President of ICAG, Mr Christian Sottie, underscored the need for accountants to exhibit transparency in their work for peace to prevail.

“When there is transparency and accountability in the system, the system will be safe. Accountants must always ensure that the public understand figures they communicate to them”, he stated.