ICAG begins project to tackle public waste
The Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana (ICAG), has launched a public forum to engage key players on leveraging a good Public Financial Management (PFM) system for national development.
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The forum, which was launched in Accra yesterday with support from PwC Ghana, would feature a series of engagements with emphasis on issues such as waste prevention, money laundering, and avoiding terrorism financing, among others.
It also seeks to identify gaps, deliberate on the successes chalked up and find common grounds to accelerate national development.
The event formed part of ICAG’s mandate of contributing to policy and economic decision-making and enhancing stakeholder engagement.
Launch
A Deputy Minister of Finance, Abena Osei-Asare, who launched the forum slated for November this year, said renewed effort to further reform and strengthen the national PFM system would help anchor economic transformation.
She said despite key interventions to ensure transparent, accountable and efficient use of public resources, the last Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEA) assessment report for Ghana indicated the need for further reform in the PFM landscape.
“As a people and government, we have always known that improving PFM is a necessary condition for building a resilient national economy that can withstand intermittent local and external headwinds.
“Undoubtedly, the impact of the recent convergence of crises has been devastating for the global, regional and national economies,” she added.
Commendation
The Deputy Minister commended the ICAG for setting in motion a process that fosters honest and engaging discussion on PFM.
She entreated ICAG and partners to place the issue of Domestic Revenue Mobilisation (DRM) at the centre of the agenda for the forum, adding: “In a period where the country has limited access to other sources of funds, prioritising, collecting and effective use of domestic revenue is not an option but the only real choice.
“Government, therefore, welcomes the renewed interest of key stakeholders and the general public in this journey to further reform the PFM system,” she said.
Aim
For her part, the President of ICAG, Sena Dake, explained that the forum sought to support the strengthening of sustainable businesses, particularly entrepreneurs and Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs), while contributing to the transformation of the public sector and policy decision-making for a resilient economy.
Among others, she said the forum would address gaps evolving through technology Artificial Intelligence (AI), Digitisation or Automation of systems, as well as standards of the profession, including sustainability accounting and integrated reporting.
Ms Dake urged accountants to champion value of integrity, transparency, accountability, and expertise in every sector of the economy.