Professionals Told To Be Bold

MS. JOYCE Aryee, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Ghana Chamber of Mines has urged professionals, especially management accountants, to be bold to resist pressures from their employers when taking decisions.

“If you are not bold enough to do your work where you can confidently say no or walk away from bad decisions being imposed by your employers, then there is trouble.”

Ms. Aryee said this when she launched activities to mark this year's Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) week in Accra.

The theme for the celebration is “The Role of Management Accountancy in Our 50 Year Corporate History”.

She advised management accountants to be concerned with the provision of accounting information to managers within organizations so the managers could make informed decisions that would make their organizations grow.

Ms. Aryee noted that it appeared that the structures for the implementation of the various control systems at the organizational level, especially in the public sector, were not robust enough to block the leakages that were uncovered in many organisations.

“There is the need for all professional bodies to spare the nation the agony of always doing a post mortem of what has already happened, which most of the time turns out to be counter productive.

“We must all ensure the maximum use of the resources at our disposal within the framework of ethically sound behaviour,” she stressed.

The Ghana Chamber of Mines CEO demanded to know the whereabouts of management accountants when the nation's companies and organisations were facing difficulties almost to the point of collapse.

“Mr. Chairman, considering the recent litany of revelations of fraudulent activities from the public sitting of the Public Accounts Committee, I would like to know if our public sectors do have management accountants.

Even though CIMA members may not be culpable in these acts, it nevertheless poses various challenges that the organisation must confront,” she emphasized.

For his part, Sam Tettey-Amlado, Managing Director of City Investments Company Limited (CIC) stated that management accountancy required much sophistication in terms of skills to manage businesses, and mentioned the roles of management accountants as formulating strategies, planning and implementation of business activities, the optimal use of resources, the support of financial reports preparation, among others.

He urged members of CIMA and other professionals to support one another and stand against injustices in society.

Activities lined up for the celebration are lectures on disaster management, and management decision making in a high performing organization - the role of management accountants.

Members would as well visit institutions of higher learning.

An annual general meeting would be held to climax the event.

By Wisdom Peter Awuku