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Last Updated: Feb 13, 2017 - 1:45:37 AM |
Contribution To Parliament
By
The Hon. C.V. Hope Strachan, MP
Minister Of Financial Services
To
The Debate On
The Bahamas Institute Of Chartered Accountants
Bill 2014.
Wednesday, 22nd April, 2015
MR. SPEAKER,
I rise to make my contribution to this debate on the Bahamas Institute of Chartered Accountants 2014 Bill. I do so on behalf of the good people of the Seabreeze Constituency whom I have the privilege to represent.
I wish to thank them for their participation in last weekend’s events. We held our 3rd Annual Fun, Run, Walk, Health Monitoring, Souse Out and Easter Egg Hunt. It was a wonderful, fun filled experience. I wish to thank the members of my Team, the Seabreeze Fundraising Committee, all of those persons who so generously donated to our efforts and most of all I wish to thank the constituents of Seabreeze who came out and participated in goodly numbers.
God is truly good.
MR. SPEAKER,
I wish to recognize Darnell Osbourne, President of BICA, Rees Chipman and Team from BICA.
I believe that this is a good day for the members of The Bahamas Institute of Chartered Accountants. They have been anxiously awaiting the passage of this legislation. It signals to the world especially international regulators that the Institute and the members who comprise BICA are serious about their commitment to international compliance and quality standards.
The Bahamas Institute of Chartered Accountants has the responsibility for regulating the Accounting Profession in The Bahamas. The Institute is presently governed by The Public Accountants Act Chap. 364. which provides for the existence of the Institute, the registration and licensing of its members, discipline of its members, offences and penalties for its members and regulations. The Act was passed in 1991 and aside from some regulations being made there have been no amendments. This legislation is 24 years old. This is a long time in the history and evolution of the accounting profession.
The profession has always been among the noble ones requiring it’s members to adhere to high principles of honesty, integrity, fidelity and trust. Notwithstanding these basic principles which governed the profession from time immemorial there have been major incidents in accounting which shed the spotlight on the profession and demonstrated that many in the profession were not committed to these principles. There were some hard lessons learned from the years between 2001 and 2008 in the United States by the likes of Enron, WorldCom and the Bernie Madoff Billion Dollar fraud scandals. These fraudulent criminal activities were facilitated by accounting loopholes, special purpose entities, poor financial reporting and criminal intent. Billions of Dollars were lost by investors. Many were unsuspecting small investors who literally lost their life savings or pensions. These events put the spotlight on the entire financial services industry but the systemic failure of the regulatory regime of the accounting profession was glaring. Notwithstanding that it took place in the United the global accounting sector was negatively impacted. It became obvious that there were serious deficiencies in accounting standards due to a lack of transparency and accountability in many areas. There was inadequate protection for the public against financial predators. Many Accountants and Auditors were caught up in the midst of the resultant bankruptcy proceedings, harsh financial penalties and prison terms. Arthur Andersen one of the 5 largest audit and accountancy partnerships in the world was destroyed. They had conspired with, actively facilitated, participated in and/or turned a blind eye to these criminal activities. These were not the only mind blowing financially
devastating scandals which emerged during this period but they were perhaps some of the most memorable.
Emerging from this dark period was a critical need to reform the sector, to close gaps, and to increase the accountability of auditing firms to remain unbiased and independent of their clients. The result was Legislation that was responsive and standards that are constantly evolving and that are more demanding to ensure the highest degrees of integrity, fidelity among members of the profession and the highest degree of transparency and accountability in the profession itself. There is little wonder that our 24 year old legislation has been found wanting today and inadequate to facilitate the demands of the international regulators such as The IMF, The International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of the Caribbean (ICAC) both of which we are members in long standing since before the U.S. scandals. Over the many years we have sought to adhere to the Principles of our International Regulators but have been limited under the Provisions of our existing legislation. The Public Accountants Act....
Attached below is full House Contribution by Hon. C.V. Hope Strachan
© Copyright 2015 by thebahamasweekly.com
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