Story by Stanley James, Business Editor
ACCOUNTANTS have pledged to uphold financial discipline, combat illicit transactions and corruption, and support government efforts to improve taxation and revenue collection systems, in line with Zimbabwe’s transparency agenda.
With the government reiterating its zero-tolerance stance on corruption, professionals in the accounting sector are expected to play a pivotal role in promoting a corruption-free environment.
The Zimbabwe Accountants Conference, held in Harare on Thursday, brought together key stakeholders who reaffirmed their commitment to transparency and national development through the prevention of revenue leakages.
“Corruption is emerging as a major cause for concern within the economy, as accountants it is within our ethical values to understand that and say no to any duty or work that is not in line with good corporate governance ethics, going forward the role of accountants in overall economic development becomes of paramount importance,” Acting Board Secretary for the Public Accountants and Auditors, Mr Donald Mangenje said.
“Accounting is all about evaluating and monitoring what we do on a daily basis that is keeping the facts and figures in the right and correct manner, as we seek to develop the country’s overall economic roadmap it becomes important to complement the Government by giving the necessary input on the issues pertaining to sound Governance of funds and how they can be used for long term benefits,” Accountant, Mrs Jaqueline Hussein said.
Mr Martin Makaya the Past president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Zimbabwe highlighted the strategic role of the profession in enhancing public finance management.
“This issue to do with accounting is really vital for the sake of progress and riding on the need to enhance tax as well as revenue collections for the Government so it is up to the relevant authorities to assess the specific needs of the accounting bodies that are tailor-made to the sound and prudent policies.
“Accountability becomes the hallmark of what we are doing in the long term driven by what the government plans to facilitate recovery and growth of the economy, as accountants we are therefore committed to the growth of this economy by working with the Government,” he said.
The government reiterated its commitment to working with accountants on corporate governance issues.
“Accountants are an integral part of this economy as they also offer a lot in terms of technical expertise to the Government in terms of taxation and revenue collection systems going forward it is incumbent upon us to work with them in our public sector utilities and overall economic growth agenda,” Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion, Professor Mthuli Ncube said.
The Zimbabwe Accountants Conference comes at a time government is implementing global financial reporting standards in line with global trends.
