Accounting professionals are highly expected to be abreast with changing trends in accounting practices, laying emphasis on the use of computer software applications rather than the usual manual accounting system, Education Minister, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh has said.
He explained that the practice of accountancy, which has become modern and sophisticated with the aid of information technology could pose challenges for individual accountants who cannot cope with the contemporary trend.
Dr. Prempeh, who was addressing dignitaries at the 30th Graduation and Admission Ceremony of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Ghana (ICAG) in Accra, maintained, the country cannot fully develop if it sticks to the same way of doing things without accepting global best practices.
“The practice of accountancy has moved from mere number crunching as most organizations now prepare their accounts electronically, likewise the issuance of receipts with the aid of ICT and doing business through payment systems,” he said.
The event, which is the 1st Graduation for the year 2018, graduated 355 Qualified Accountants, 35 Chartered Diplomats and 19 ATSWA (Accounting Technician Scheme West Africa) graduates.
In all, 290 new members joined the Institute, having satisfied specific qualification criteria for being admitted.
Addressing the ceremony, ICAG’s President, Mr. Christian Sottie, said, “The Institute has over the years institutionalized certain key activities such as the continuous professional development of students to sharpen knowledge including the district society activities to aid networking.
While the needed capacity is required to fill skill deficits in the country, most organizations are consistently placing prominence on the qualification and the skills set of their labour force.
However, Mr. Sottie, maintained that the skills demand of the accountancy profession is exactly what is offered at ICAG.
“In our efforts to build the required capacity of our professionals, we constantly ask our members to eschew mediocrity and to pursue the virtues of the profession. This we do through the use of modern teaching methods to train our students,” he said.
By Wisdom Jonny-Nuekpe