14 Aug 2016

Government needs to be commended for appreciating regulatory frameworks. 

The managing director of AT&T Monnakgotla, Mr Abel Monnakgotla said at the Botswana Institute of Chartered Accountants (BICA) biennial international conference in Gaborone recently.

He said, in the eve of the country celebrating 50 years of independence, it was important to look back and gauge whether BICA was on the right track as far as its mandate was concerned.

“Due to the growth of the country’s economy in the 1980s, it became necessary for a more formal local structure to regulate the affairs of accountants. The Accountants Act was passed in Parliament in 1988, and the Botswana Institute of Accountants (BIA) was established in July 1990 following proclamation of the act”, he said.

While giving an update on the modest strides that BICA had made in fulfilling its mandate, he said from the humble beginnings, in the 1970s through the 80s, 90s and up to 2016, the accountancy landscape had indeed evolved.

Mr Monnakgotla highlighted that the role of accountants in Botswana had since changed from a simplistic one of being mere number crunchers to a sophisticated one of leading from the front.

He said government was preaching Economic Diversification Drive (EDD), Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) and the Economic Stimulus Programme and therefore called on the profession to lead from front on such activities to ensure that there was return on investment to all economy players.

Mr Monnakgotla commended BICA for being an enabler, saying it brought together able minded people to solve various conundrums and come up with insights and recommendations to propel growth, in the spirit of thriving during turbulent times.

“No entity can survive in isolation, we all need each other in this regard to fulfill our respective mandates and thrive in collaboration”, he said.

He explained that the role of the institute is to represent its members to develop the accounting profession, protect the public interest, ensure observance of the highest professional and ethical standards by its members and to carry out any other functions expected of a professional accountancy and membership body.

 “You will realise that AT&T Monnakgotla Group of Companies has weathered through the great recession, hence it has a story to tell”, he said.

He said AT&T has survived due to a series of introspections, adding that as business, there was need to assess how the business is reacting to the economic environment changes, the strategy, not once or twice but every quarter of the year.

“You need to conscience as a leader and champion the course of action be it, a total change in your products to satisfy customer needs, when you are faced with a declining economic activity, there is need to adopt your processes accordingly”, he said. ENDS