Professionals must change mindset — Winful

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KPMG (fin)

Story: Boahene Asamoah
A SENIOR Partner at KPMG, an international tax, audit and advisory firm, Mr Joseph B. Winful, has called for a change of mindset of Ghanaian professionals to ensure high ethical standards in their professional duties.
He also called for the enforcement of rules, regulations and codes of conduct for professional bodies to ensure that the right thing was done.
Speaking at a seminar on Professional Ethics and its Relevance to Good Governance in Accra, Mr Winful stated that professionals were equally to be blamed for the woes and the poverty that had bedevilled the country and the African continent at large.
The one-day seminar was in collaboration with the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana (ICAG).
He said in most cases, professionals had compromised and shown incompetence, adding that there was also pervasive cronyism that had contributed to lower ethical standards within professional bodies in the country.
The senior partner urged all professionals to take personal responsibility for their actions and also to subject themselves to higher principles, as well as exercise self- management.
Mr Wilful stated that there was the need to ensure that rules and regulations were applied to the letter, and also to ensure that there was no fear or favour in the application of professionalism.
The Director of Budget at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, Mr Kwabena Adjei Mensah, who spoke on behalf of the Minister, Mr Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, said the governments over the past years had improved the budgetary process by ensuring transparency, making it broad-based and was linked to the country’s development agenda.
He said “ a strong financial management is not a luxury but a requirement”, adding that the government was committed to improving further the financial management of the country.
He also urged professionals to ensure a balance between assessment, humility and diligence to ensure high ethical standards.
The President of the ICAG, Prof Ato Ghartey, said the issue of ethics was an important one, saying that “we are made to see compliance with culture, the law, regulation or ethical code as the goal more than the standing point of ethical decision making”.