05 Aug 2018

Botswana Institute of Chartered Accountants (BICA) president, Ms Gosego Motsumi has decried the limited technical competency of some of their members.

Speaking during a stakeholder engagement session recently, she explained that it included the quality of professional accountants.

She highlighted that the view was shared by all stakeholders, including employers in both the public and private sector and the Botswana Accountancy Oversight Authority (BAOA).

 Ms Motsumi said professional accountants formed the backbone of any economy, highlighting that technically competent professional accountants were key in ensuring that timely and meaningful financial and non-financial information was provided to stakeholders to aid decision making in organisations.

 She asserted that BICA and stakeholders needed to find ways to capacitate members in the technical competencies of both existing and upcoming qualified professional accountants.

 She noted that it would enhance the quality of their outputs. On other issues, the BICA president urged organisations to continually assess performance, identify developmental needs and provide targeted training to employees.

She also implored those charged with governance in organisations to drive the high performance agenda and demand quality from BICA members.

 “The accounting profession is under immense public scrutiny globally for various reasons,” she said.

Furthermore, the BICA president said they were aware of the challenges faced by their members in the northern region due to the depressed economic activity  because of mine closures, which resulted in retrenchments.

 For her part, BICA chief executive officer, Ms Verily Molatedi said the president’s stakeholder engagement was crucial as it demonstrated how accountants were relevant in so far as Vision 2036 was concerned, especially with regards to the pillar of sustainable economic development.

 She also implored members to be ethical at all times and execute their mandate in the public interest.

 BICA northern committee chairperson, Mr Emmanuel Marufu also raised concern about the non-participation of members in their activities and non-compliance.

 He urged members to attend CPD events and to work with them to drive the organisation’s mandate. ENDS