AWAG to attract females into accounting profession
The new leadership of the Association of Women Accountants, Ghana (AWAG) has resolved to attract more females into the accountancy profession in the country.
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They intend to do this by engaging students who are studying accounting, as well as other females to educate them on the benefits of pursuing the profession.
In an interview with the GRAPHIC BUSINESS after her induction, the President of AWAG, Mrs Belinda Dede Tandoh said the new executive members would encourage young upcoming female accountants into building their capacity and enhancing leadership in order to increase the membership.
“We are visiting the schools and encouraging female accountants to expand their knowledge base in the accountancy profession to influence the community”, she added.
She said the group had realised that most of their members were affiliated to other professional accountancy bodies, thereby limiting their membership base.
Other projects
Mrs Tandoh stated that their focus would be on building women capacity and leadership through enriching the knowledge base in information technology which the district societies in ICAG are already providing.
“Our main concentration is on soft skills such as listening, writing and managing people in addition to the IT that is already being provided,” she said.
She added that there would be the creation of intense networking among members.
This, she said, could be done through frequent interactions with members and also with the help of technology and the recent launch of their new website, members would be able to connect to other members to create a stronger bond.
She finally urged the new executive members to be open-minded and to accept criticisms from members in order to shape the association to reach its goal and agenda.
Past activities
Giving an overview of the association, the immediate past President of AWAG, Mrs Agnes Otoo Yeboah said for the past six years, the association had carried out a number of activities ranging from technical training in accountancy, ICT trends, banking and finance, entrepreneurship and health programmes.
“Examples of some of the areas of capacity building have been business valuation, cashless economy trends and opportunities, corporate and personal security, interstate succession law, capacity building in public speaking,” she said.
Being a part of the International Federation of Women Accountants (IFWA), in April 2016, AWAG held its debut 3-day international conference dubbed IFWA 2016, which was attended by 267 women accountants from Ghana and 10 other African countries.
The group also held its usual AWAG night with immense support from their parent organisation, the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana (ICAG)
The AWAG
The Association of Women Accountants, Ghana (AWAG) is a distinct woman group emanating from their parent group ICAG to attract, retain and advance more females in accountancy.
Since its formation in October 1994, AWAG has continued to exist to promote the interests of female members of recognised professional accountancy bodies through constant engagement, capacity building and advocacy.
Membership of AWAG has been automatic for female ICA members and the database has been updated at each year’s induction. Female accountants from other recognised accounting bodies have joined by application.
AWAG was initiated by Ms Aurore Lokko who became its first president and is currently a patron.