The Institute of Chartered Accountants Ghana says it is working to tailor its syllabus to the needs of industry and streamline existing complex certification processes.
Ms. Olivia Kirtley, President of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), during a visit to Ghana said her outfit is assisting the ICAG to make the necessary changes.
“Any professional accountancy organisation goes through a process, and there is always more you can do. The specific things we are focused on in Ghana is enhancing the certification process. The exams and certifications are very complex and very complicated. We are trying to enhance them and make sure they are relevant to the current needs as businesses and organisations change. So, certification and exams need to be appropriately matched against the current demands of business,” she said.
Established some 40 years ago, IFAC supports the development, adoption and implementation of highly-quality international standards in auditing, ethics, education and public sector accounting for professional accountants. ICAG is a founding member of IFAC.
She said: “IFAC regards ICAG is an important strategic partner in the region. In addition to actively strengthening the accountancy profession in Ghana, it also supports less developed professions in neighbouring countries.
“This, in particular, supported the selection of ICAG as the first professional accountancy organisation to receive financial assistance for capacity building under the IFAC capacity building programme funded by the Department for International Development in the UK.
“In addition to ICA Ghana we plan to commence capacity building projects with the professional accountancy organisations in Rwanda and Uganda, and potentially one additional African country this year. I believe our work with ICA Ghana is just the beginning.”
She called for embracing reforms during these economically challenging times. “Embracing reforms in the long-term interests of a country can be tough, especially in difficult economic circumstances. This will require good governance, and good governance depends on leaders such as President Mahama who has set the right tone at the top.”
Government tightened its fiscal position in the first half of the year after exceeding its revenue target for the period by more than GH¢770million, despite falling short on donor support inflows.
The excess revenue, achieved on the back of a difficult business operating environment caused by unstable currency and erratic power supply, cushions the state’s purse against excessive spending by government within the period.
Government raked in a little more than GH¢14.97billion in revenue as against a target of GH¢14.2billion, provisional fiscal figures released by the Finance Ministry showed.
At the same time, however, its GH¢17.5 billion expenditure for the period exceeded the spending target of GH¢17.4billion — which according to the figures was caused mainly by overspending on goods and services, capital expenditure, and what the Finance Ministry described as “other expenditure”.
Nonetheless, the GH¢3.27billion budget deficit expected for the first half of the year was cut to GH¢2.56billion on account of higher than expected revenue.
However, it missed its grants revenue target of GH¢1billion by GH¢138.7million, signalling that some donors are yet to release locked funds as they are still unconvinced with the government’s plans to fight corruption and better-manage the economy, despite involvement of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in government’s economic management programme.
She called for strong advocacy promoting firm corporate governance, evaluation, and keen participation by chief executives, board members and other top management. They must demonstrate effective information flow, constructive challenges, and strongly transparent and accountable processes, Ms. Kirtley said.
Chief Executive of ICAG Fred Moore said the Institute is seeking to review its existing rules, and thus allow for enhanced disclosure of information to the public.
“What our current bill doesn’t allow us to do is to publish information about members who have gone contrary to established ethics and laid-down procedure in the discharge of their duty, whose cases are being reviewed by the professional and ethics committee of the ICAG.
“What we are trying to do is to get a new bill that will allow us to do that. We have had some support from IFAC to ensure that our bill meets the required international standard.”