A major pioneer in the establishment of the ACCA International Assembly, Peter Kamaray has made a strong case for the development of professional accountants in Africa and third world countries.
At the 2010 ACCA Annual General Meeting (AGM) in London, Kamaray insisted that many more professionals were required to strengthen the accountability needed for business expansion. “Africa is still a virgin land as far as professional accountancy is concerned,” he said, adding: “The ACCA membership from Africa was only 4% of the global professional family but for foresight and vision of the ACCA executive council, professional accountancy would not have penetrated into the fabrics of business entities in Africa today”.
He furthered that professional accountancy has made huge strides in the hearts of businesses in Africa. “There is no doubt that information technology has gone a long way in contributing to business successes not only in Africa but the world at large. As nations from the Asiatic world penetrate the hinterland of Africa in search of businesses and at the same time giving aids, we as professional bodies should be prepared to accommodate and train more professional accountants in readiness for transparency and accountability required as a result of business expansion,” Peter Kamaray emphasized.
Peter Kamaray with ACCA Chief Executive Helen Brand
According to him, such a move would significantly minimize corruption. “Accounting professionalism and ethics can weaken the grip by corruption to achieve greater sustainability, education and good governance. We therefore, expect from the ACCA executive council tremendous and pragmatic support in all that we are striving to achieve,” he noted.
It has been learnt that ACCA’s Chief Executive Officer, Helen Brand has developed keen interest in seeing that Africa develops in accountancy profession and create a business atmosphere where those African professionals would take up the challenge to catch up with global demands of business efficiency in all spheres of private and public entities.
The work of ACCA was still a novelty in Africa when the likes of Peter Kamaray excelled in his final ACCA exams in the 1960s-over forty years now. He has significantly contributed to the progress of ACCA on the African continent.
© Copyright by Awareness Times
Newspaper in Freetown, Sierra Leone.
