Chartered accountants urged to participate in national issues
The President of the Institute of Chartered Accountant of Ghana (ICAG), Mrs Angela Peasah, has called on its members to participate actively on national issues.
That, according to her, would help strengthen the democratic process of the country as well as ensure that resources were equitable distributed to enhance economic stability.
Mrs Peasah made the call at this year’s presidential luncheon of the institute last Friday in Accra.
The luncheon, which was on the theme: “Democracy, Integrity and Stability”, created a platform for members of the institute to interact with business executives, legislators, policy makers, senior civil servants and seasoned personalities of various disciplines in commerce and industry.
It also afforded participants the opportunity to exchange ideas on topical issues of national interest including corruption.
Speaking at the presidential luncheon, Mrs Peasah observed that persistent issues confronting the democratic process of the country were lack of integrity, political expediency above national interest and politicisation of civil service, among other issues.
To that end, she urged professional bodies who were actively involved in politics to bring their professional ethics to bear and make Ghana proud.
“It is expedient that professional bodies spend some time to examine our democratic dispensation because as a nation, we need to be at peace to guarantee the congenial atmosphere needed to build the economy”.
More so, she observed that such involvement would ensure sustainability and preservation of the citizenry development and growth.
Touching on the theme for the luncheon, the Chief Executive Officer of ClayDord Consult, Prof Cletus K. Dordunoo, emphasised that democracy needed to involve the electorate more and must be devoid of any form of corruption.
He said the major threat to stability was corruption and therefore “corruption, when gargantuan,” could make the electorate lose confidence in their politicians. He added that the government needed to establish strong institutions to control its prevalence in society.
“The more we are able to avoid the abuse of institutions and the rule of law, the better our country would be able to sustain its democracy for 100 years more”, he added.
In addition, he opined that the use of deceitful utterances and abusive language especially during campaigns could compromise the country’s integrity because integrity is seen as integral part of democracy and stability.
Those activities, he said, could corrupt the political process and hamper the socio-economic environment, development and growth.
Mr Dordunoo, however, indicated that while one per cent in corruption could lead to 1.4 per cent decline in democracy, 10 per cent corruption could lead to 14 per cent decline per capita income of the country.
He therefore advised politicians to refrain from any form of corruption and endeavour to bring perpetrators to book.
Source: Daily Graphic
This article is very consistent with what the ICA-G stands for: it really is a sub-dept. of the Ghanaian government to: 1) perform audits (and only audits) on major companies (who are the largest taxpayers); 2) in order to accurately calculate a firm’s tax liabilities (period!).
An accounting profession is not a tool of the government. It is an independent profession established to identify, meet, and serve the needs of a society’s business community. Yes, tax services are indeed part of the portfolio of accounting services made available to clients; however, government influence, which certainly exists here, is completely out of place.
Is the ICA-G really an authority to speak on civil society and governance issues? Wouldn’t it be more important for Ghana’s economy and various business sectors, including the small and medium enterprise sector to address issues like: assistance with financial statement presentations, other assurance services (other than an exclusive myopic focus on audited financial statements) and other accounting services that are much need in the business community?