Accra, Aug. 27, GNA - Mr Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, Deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, on Wednesday said untrained accountants were harming the integrity of the profession and the national economy. He said as custodians of the nation's finances, it was vital that accountants were trained formally to make the lifeline of organizations more useful to society based on their integrity and honesty. Mr Agyeman-Manu said this when he cut the sod for the construction of the Accountancy Village Complex at Legon in Accra as part of the 40th Anniversary celebrations of the Institute of Chartered Accountants. He said the work of chartered accountants in the country was important and asked the Institute to do well to expose untrained accountants.

Mr Agyeman-Manu, who is also a management accountant, congratulated the ICA for running courses to update the knowledge of its qualified members and train new members.

"I wish to commend the Institute for the bold initiative it has taken to rectify the accounting deficiencies in the system." He said he was aware of the huge foreign exchange that was being spent on students to complete their accountancy courses outside the country and expressed the hope that the Complex would bring the cost down considerably.

"I wish to entreat the Institute to put in place measures that will ensure that professional accountants are given good remuneration and good conditions of service that will attract and sustain people to teach and lecture at the School."

Mr John Kilinogo, President of ICA Ghana, said the economy currently needed more professional accountants than it currently produced.

He noted that a lot of financial resources were being deployed to schools and districts through the GETFund and district assemblies. However, he warned, these funds were at risk of being misapplied or mismanaged where there were no professional accountants in these establishments to help reduce financial losses. He expressed regret that there were many organizations, such as NGOs, bilateral donors and other projects, which needed professional accountants.

Mr Klinogo said the Stock Exchange, investment drives by the President and the President's Special Initiatives were laudable. "I do not believe that we want all these laudable efforts to collapse on account of bad financial management or, indeed poor corporate governance."

He explained that the project sought to create a framework to develop the needed manpower to enhance better financial management across all sectors of the economy.

Mr. Klinogo asked government to aid the Institute to complete the Complex.

The Village Complex is made up of an Apex School, which will offer courses to students at the final levels of ICA examinations. This will be higher than what the universities currently offer. Facilities will be available for research, a library, a computer laboratory, examination halls and an administration block. 27 Aug. 03