The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) yesterday celebrated its 100th anniversary with a call for members to be more responsible.
In a message which was read at special sessions in all ACCA membership countries, the ACCA's Australian CEO, Allen Blewitt, said responsibility was the cornerstone of the accountancy profession. He said it was critical today as it was 100 years ago. Blewitt asserted that without responsibility, there could be no trust or confidence in business. The centenary year launching was held in Hong Kong yesterday.
ACCA Caribbean Office Manager, Wayne Ouditt, read Blewitt's message at a poorly-attended ceremony at Cara Inn yesterday. Blewitt said ACCA was strongly committed to responsibility and ethics both in their qualification and business practices. He said ACCA supported efforts to introduce a code of ethics, which would give every accountant around the world a common ethical framework in which to work.
"In my view ethics cannot be treated superficially. All leaders of the profession, whether partners in firms or chief finance officers, should encourage vigorous debate on ethics, seeking to encourage their staff to reflect, analyze and choose correct ethical solutions to business challenges."
Looking to the future, he said members in practice had to change their auditing tactics:
"We have to accept that with the damage to our reputation which we have suffered with the corporate collapse in recent years, it is no longer possible for us to say that the audit is a very limited function."
But he stressed that the benefits of wider audits must also be sold to regulators, because legislation and professional indemnity insurance provisions would have to be re-examined too.