Protect the public purse - Accountants urged

The President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana (ICAG), Prof. Kwame Bosiako Omane-Antwi, has challenged chartered accountants to stand up to their calling and protect public interest.

“We need to play our ‘gate keepers’ role without fear or favour to protect the public interest. The credibility of the profession is threatened when the model of integrity, independence, public service and ethical standards come under suspicion, “he said at the first graduation and admission ceremony of the ICAG in Accra last Saturday.

Two hundred and ninety-seven qualified accountants and 43 Accounting Technician Scheme of West Africa (ATSWA) students graduated at the ceremony. It also marked the admission of 296 accountants into membership of the institute.Fifty-one members of the institute who participated in chartered diploma specialised courses were also presented with their certificates. 

In recent times, the Auditor-General’s report has been cataloguing financial irregularities in the ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) and other state enterprises. 

In 2011 alone, the country lost GH¢118.8 million due to irregularities reported by the Auditor-General. 

Chartered accountants not corrupt 

The ICAG President said while he was convinced that chartered accountants were not corrupt, the system and the moral character of some members of the public tended to corruptible practices.

“It is a systemic problem that has made the country corrupt, spanning the Ghanaian on the street, to the Ghanaian in the pulpit and the Ghanaian in the relevant responsible position.”

The solution, Omane-Antwi said, indicated was two fold—the need for Ghanaians to uphold ethical standards and for professional accountants to be key players in the effort to reduce corruption.

Review of ICAG bill

Over the years, the ICAG has been crying foul over charlatans who had infiltrated the profession and were dragging its name in the mud.

To curb the situation, the Minister of Education, Prof Naana Jane Opoku-Agyeman, in a speech read on her behalf, said the ministry was collaborating with the institute to get the revised ICAG bill passed to help streamline accountancy practice in the country.

She urged the accounting fraternity not to be part of the problem but rather a part of the solution.

“The government will be counting on you to support its efforts in ensuring that financial process and procedures are free of any encumbrances. Professional accountants must not be named as economic saboteurs but instead as repairers of breaches,” she said. 

In a speech that touched on mainly integrity and ethics, the Managing Director of the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL), Mr Ken Ashigbey, who was the guest of honour for the occasion, urged the graduates to exhibit professional conduct whether or not the standards required were written in rules. 

He expressed concern that at a time that the country had more qualified accountants and continued to train more, the fleecing of the public purse remained a challenge.

“The question now is, is it a matter of lack of professionalism or an issue of immorality? It is about time we diagnosed the malaise and ‘dropped that yam,” he said to an applause.