ICAG Launches 2018 Accountancy Week

By G.D. Zaney, Esq.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants (Ghana) (ICAG) is collaborating with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales (ICAEW) to raise the standard of ICAG to a professional accountancy college of international repute.

ICAEW, through its charitable Trust Fund, has also granted bursaries worth £30,250 to 11 students of the Accountancy College of ICAG.

Mr Christian Sottie, President, ICAG, made these known at a news conference to launch the 2018 Accountancy Week in Accra, yesterday.

Mr Sottie noted that there had been a historic relationship between ICAG and ICAEW since the formative years of the ICAG from 1963 to 1973, when ICAEW mentored ICAG to organize local professional chartered accountants examinations.

He explained that the bursaries granted by ICAEW was in recognition of a partnership which was being developed with local tuition providers through the Partners in Learning Scheme (PIL) and Authorized Training Employer (ATE) Scheme with the aim of raising the standard of tuition across the country for the CA professional programme to a world-class standard.

Turning to the theme for this year's Accountancy Week --Professional collaboration against corruption in Ghana-- Mr Sottie said Accountants ought to be and were on the forefront of the anti-corruption campaign, adding that as agents of accountability, ICAG would draw support from other professionals, such as doctors, lawyers and engineers, among others, to form linkages to fight corruption in the country.

As part of activities marking the 2018 Accountancy Week, a two-day conference will be held at the Accra International Conference Centre on the 30th and 31st of May.

Topics to be discussed at the conference are The changing phases of e-Commerce, Moving management of the Economy from Taxation to Production & The Implementation of IPSASs in Ghana: The Journey so far.

Other activities are the ICAG's Annual General Meeting and Council elections, when Mr Sottie's two-year tenure as president will end, and a gala dinner.

Four thousand, four hundred and thirty-one members of ICAG in good standing will vote at the elections to elect an eleven-member Council.

Earlier, on Saturday, members of ICAG undertook a Health Walk and Aerobics to usher in the week-long celebrations and attended a Thanksgiving Church Service at Calvary Baptist Church, Adenta on Sunday.

ICAG is the sole professional accountancy organisation in Ghana with the right to award the Chartered Accountant designation, and with the right to regulate the accountancy profession in Ghana. The Institute was established by an Act of Parliament, The Institute of Chartered Accountants Act, 1963 (Act 170). Members of the organisation are the only persons recognized under the Companies Code (Act 179) 1963, to pursue audits of company accounts in Ghana. It is governed by a council of eleven members who are chartered accountants. The council, headed by a president, holds office for a period of two years.

Its members, work in various sectors of the Ghanaian economy including the public services, accountancy firms, industry, and education and other public and private sector organizations, where funds need to be effectively and efficiently managed. Many of ICAG's members also work in other jurisdictions with national and international organizations.

Given that its members are the only persons recognized under the Companies Code 1963 for the purpose of publicly practicing accounting in Ghana, ICAG's professional qualification is the foundation for a career in accounting in Ghana.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ghana is a member of two international bodies, the sub-regional Association of Accountancy Bodies in West Africa (ABWA) and the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), the worldwide organization for the accountancy profession.

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