2021 http://41.66.247.10:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/404 2026-04-28T23:51:42Z 2026-04-28T23:51:42Z ICA Ghana http://41.66.247.10:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/411 2021-09-15T12:06:40Z 2021-09-01T00:00:00Z

MEMBERS JOURNAL JULY-SEPTEMBER 2021 ICA Ghana In the past three decades, Ghana has made a lot of progress in democratic governance reflcting in [the] successful eight elections and alternations of power between the two main political parties. However, most Ghanaian academics and politicians have observed that Parliament in the Fourth Republic has not been effective in discharging oversight over the Executive, despite its extensive powers of scrutiny and oversight enshrined in the 1992 Constitution. This has raised a lot of public concerns at a time of increasing public expenditure and debt situation. It is now globally established that the effectiveness with which a legislative organ performs its oversight function is a major determinant of government accountability. This paper examines the issue of oversight and accountability by critically analysing the impact of Ghanaian Political Culture and 1992 Constitution on the effective performance of oversight functions of Parliament and the Auditor General. In this modern era of organisational management and advent of corporate governance practices, we keep on hearing about the need for integrity in all aspects of management and governance. However, majority of today’s personalities perceive integrity as being in short supply. In the last three decades we have witnessed a situation of considerable irony, in which noteworthy achievements of business have been confronted with its great failures, and in which increasing discussion of corporate responsibility has been faced with the massive irresponsibility of some business organisations. The nature of business and its place in society has been a topic of considerable importance for quite some time now. Economic, political, social, and ethical issues are all intertwined in this discussion and centred on integrity of those in the helm of affairs of all organisations. The writer discusses the signifiance of integrity on the successful performance of organisations and the need to ensure that integrity is embedded in organisational culture. In economic sense, trade surplus is an economic indicator of a positive trade balance in which the exports of a nation outweigh its imports. Trade balance can be arrived by reducing the total value of imports from the total value of exports. In other words there is a trade surplus when a nation is exporting more than it imports, giving it an inflw of currency. The writer discusses Ghana’s trade surplus and its impact on the economy. He discusses how the country has not benefited much from the surplus and how it has not translated into balance of payment surplus. While cloud-based accounting is still a relatively new trend to the fiance sector, it already has a signifiant effect on the way many PAOs are working. Moving to the cloud can save an organization time, money, and effort, and eliminate the need to install expensive accounting software on individual machines, with separate licenses. But that barely scratches the surface of all the benefis a cloud-based working model can bring to a PAO. The article discusses cloud based accounting and the benefis organisations may derived when moved to cloud-base accounting. Smaller, less complex entities (LCEs) make crucial contributions to the world economy and account for the great majority of entities globally. The World Trade organization (WTO) research indicates that worldwide, small-and medium-sized entities (SMEs) account for more than 90% of businesses and more that 50% of employment. At the same time, increasingly complex structures and transactions need to be addressed in the International Standards on Auditing (ISAs). This complexity in the ISAs can pose challenges for audits of less complex entities. The new stand-alone standard for audits of less complex entities: • Is designed specifially for audits of a less complex entities • Is based on the underlying concepts from International Standards on Auditing • Was developed to be understandable, clear and concise • Reduces the risk of jurisdictional divergence by driving consistency and comparability globally • Will achieve a quality audit engagement Based on the feedback from a discussion paper and outreach, the IAASB has developed a draft standard that is proportionate to the typical nature and circumstance of an audit of a less complex entity and is responsive to those stakeholders’ challenges and is a global solution. The public consultation on this draft new standard is open until January 31, 2022. When fial, the standard will meet the growing global need while reducing the emerging risk of jurisdictional divergence. This landmark new draft standard represents a new era for the IAASB and stakeholder feedback is now needed. Source: https://www.iaasb.org/focusareas/new-standard-less-complexentities

2021-09-01T00:00:00Z ICA Ghana In the past three decades, Ghana has made a lot of progress in democratic governance reflcting in [the] successful eight elections and alternations of power between the two main political parties. However, most Ghanaian academics and politicians have observed that Parliament in the Fourth Republic has not been effective in discharging oversight over the Executive, despite its extensive powers of scrutiny and oversight enshrined in the 1992 Constitution. This has raised a lot of public concerns at a time of increasing public expenditure and debt situation. It is now globally established that the effectiveness with which a legislative organ performs its oversight function is a major determinant of government accountability. This paper examines the issue of oversight and accountability by critically analysing the impact of Ghanaian Political Culture and 1992 Constitution on the effective performance of oversight functions of Parliament and the Auditor General. In this modern era of organisational management and advent of corporate governance practices, we keep on hearing about the need for integrity in all aspects of management and governance. However, majority of today’s personalities perceive integrity as being in short supply. In the last three decades we have witnessed a situation of considerable irony, in which noteworthy achievements of business have been confronted with its great failures, and in which increasing discussion of corporate responsibility has been faced with the massive irresponsibility of some business organisations. The nature of business and its place in society has been a topic of considerable importance for quite some time now. Economic, political, social, and ethical issues are all intertwined in this discussion and centred on integrity of those in the helm of affairs of all organisations. The writer discusses the signifiance of integrity on the successful performance of organisations and the need to ensure that integrity is embedded in organisational culture. In economic sense, trade surplus is an economic indicator of a positive trade balance in which the exports of a nation outweigh its imports. Trade balance can be arrived by reducing the total value of imports from the total value of exports. In other words there is a trade surplus when a nation is exporting more than it imports, giving it an inflw of currency. The writer discusses Ghana’s trade surplus and its impact on the economy. He discusses how the country has not benefited much from the surplus and how it has not translated into balance of payment surplus. While cloud-based accounting is still a relatively new trend to the fiance sector, it already has a signifiant effect on the way many PAOs are working. Moving to the cloud can save an organization time, money, and effort, and eliminate the need to install expensive accounting software on individual machines, with separate licenses. But that barely scratches the surface of all the benefis a cloud-based working model can bring to a PAO. The article discusses cloud based accounting and the benefis organisations may derived when moved to cloud-base accounting. ICA Ghana http://41.66.247.10:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/410 2021-09-15T12:00:55Z 2021-03-01T00:00:00Z

MEMBERS JOURNAL JANUARY-MARCH 2021 ICA Ghana The IMF pursues various facets of its mandate in a number of ways. It promotes international monetary cooperation through a permanent institution which provides the machinery for consultation and collaboration on international monetary problems. This mandate gives the IMF its unique character as an international monetary institution, with broad oversight responsibilities for the orderly functioning and development of the international monetary and fiancial system. The IMF grants loans to countries that are experiencing economic distress to prevent or mitigate fiancial crises. The economic policy conditions attached to such IMF loans have become an important vehicle through which orthodox and marketoriented economic policies are carried out, especially in developing countries. Over time, the IMF has continued to be subjected to a range of criticisms, generally focused on the conditions of its loans and other fiancial assistance. The IMF has also been criticised for its lack of accountability and willingness to lend to countries with bad economic management and human rights records. The writer highlights how IMF policies are affecting the development of developing countries. To ensure rapid economic development, especially in the area of infrastructure, a development bank is needed to bridge fiance from end-savers to development projects. Such bridging should be done by a development bank at all levels. The writer argues that it was time to promote a development bank in Ghana. The recent fiancial crisis has opened space for national policymakers to support pro-development fiance initiatives, and a momentum for the creation of a development bank, which could tap into global savings. Taking advantage of such opportunities is fundamental to supporting future development of the nation. A standard argument for why a development bank should be promoted is that such a bank can fil the gaps left by private fiancial institutions, which are often geared towards commercial activities. The main gap is usually insuffiient fiance for economic transformation In business operating environment, the digital arena forms a large proportion of the actors in the environment in the 21st century terrain. The digital arena or space is the technological factors that inflence the business environment when analyzing it from the external perspective. Modern and highly sophisticated technologies are being used in the banking and fiancial sector, health sector, the manufacturing sector, auditing and forensic analysis, service delivery and more. There is a commercial sense in obtaining and using digital technologies in businesses. This calls for the accountant then to be more knowledgeable about these digital technologies and how these technologies affects their duties. The UK Financial Reporting Council (FRC) and the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) jointly released the publication, Ethical and Auditing Implications Arising from GovernmentBacked COVID-19 Business Support Schemes. This staff publication highlights ethical and auditing implications arising from government-backed business support programs which have been utilized at unprecedented levels during the COVID-19 pandemic. The guidance sets out important ethical considerations for professional accountants who are called upon to assist their employing organizations or clients in applying for and using COVID-19- related funding or fiancial support. The document includes guidance for those who prepare related fiancial information and disclosures, as well as for those who independently audit or provide assurance services regarding such information. The publication was developed by the Staff of UK FRC under the auspices of a Working Group formed by the IESBA and national ethics standard setters (NSS) from Australia, Canada, China, South Africa, the UK and the US. Chaired by Mr. Richard Fleck, former IESBA Deputy Chair, the Working Group’s mandate is to develop implementation support resources to assist accountants effectively apply the International Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants (including International Independence Standards) when facing circumstances created by the COVID-19 pandemic. The publication benefied from input from IESBA Staff. This staff publication, jointly released by the Staff of UK Financial Reporting Council (FRC) and the IESBA, highlights ethical and auditing implications arising from government-backed business support programs which have been utilized at unprecedented levels during the COVID-19 pandemic. The guidance sets out important ethical considerations for professional accountants who are called upon to assist their employing organizations or clients in applying for and using COVID-19- related funding or fiancial support. The document includes guidance for those who prepare related fiancial information and disclosures, as well as for those who independently audit or provide assurance services regarding such information.

2021-03-01T00:00:00Z ICA Ghana The IMF pursues various facets of its mandate in a number of ways. It promotes international monetary cooperation through a permanent institution which provides the machinery for consultation and collaboration on international monetary problems. This mandate gives the IMF its unique character as an international monetary institution, with broad oversight responsibilities for the orderly functioning and development of the international monetary and fiancial system. The IMF grants loans to countries that are experiencing economic distress to prevent or mitigate fiancial crises. The economic policy conditions attached to such IMF loans have become an important vehicle through which orthodox and marketoriented economic policies are carried out, especially in developing countries. Over time, the IMF has continued to be subjected to a range of criticisms, generally focused on the conditions of its loans and other fiancial assistance. The IMF has also been criticised for its lack of accountability and willingness to lend to countries with bad economic management and human rights records. The writer highlights how IMF policies are affecting the development of developing countries. To ensure rapid economic development, especially in the area of infrastructure, a development bank is needed to bridge fiance from end-savers to development projects. Such bridging should be done by a development bank at all levels. The writer argues that it was time to promote a development bank in Ghana. The recent fiancial crisis has opened space for national policymakers to support pro-development fiance initiatives, and a momentum for the creation of a development bank, which could tap into global savings. Taking advantage of such opportunities is fundamental to supporting future development of the nation. A standard argument for why a development bank should be promoted is that such a bank can fil the gaps left by private fiancial institutions, which are often geared towards commercial activities. The main gap is usually insuffiient fiance for economic transformation In business operating environment, the digital arena forms a large proportion of the actors in the environment in the 21st century terrain. The digital arena or space is the technological factors that inflence the business environment when analyzing it from the external perspective. Modern and highly sophisticated technologies are being used in the banking and fiancial sector, health sector, the manufacturing sector, auditing and forensic analysis, service delivery and more. There is a commercial sense in obtaining and using digital technologies in businesses. This calls for the accountant then to be more knowledgeable about these digital technologies and how these technologies affects their duties.