The Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Uganda (ICPAU) on Thursday held its C-Suite Forum at Sheraton Kampala Hotel with the goal of unleashing leadership excellence.
In his opening remarks, CPA David Bunnya Sserebe, the Chairman ICPAU Events Management Committee, cited a need to cultivate the profession which God and the government gave the power to regulate.
CPA Ronald Mutumba, Vice President of the ICPAU Council said the role of the C-Suite forum is to fulfil the mandate of regulating the Code of Accountants and produce competent individuals in the accountancy profession.
CPA Keto Kayemba, Pan-African Federation of Accountants (PAFA) President, elaborated on the role of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) and PAFA.
“[That] is to strengthen the profession’s influence and capacity, facilitate access to resources and support adoption and implementation of standards,” he noted.
Kayemba further dived deeper into the role of the accountancy profession which is high-quality financial reporting.
He said this facilitates good financial management for transparency and the development of skills and competencies in Public Finance Management (PFM).
“We are drivers of opportunities, we are trusted advisers, we are the positive change!” Kayemba noted.
He said the role of accountants in the economy is to build and strengthen partnerships with government and private sectors as well as increase partnerships with educational institutions to influence curriculums.
CPA Selestino Babungi, the Managing Director of UMEME Limited, said it is important for Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) and Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) to have synergy in order to bring to life the long-term goals of the organisation.
“It is important that the CEOs and CFOs see on the same radar, the success of the organisation,” said Babungi pointed out.
He said the CFOs and CEOs need to establish their roles in the organisations and how they feed into each other.
According to Babungi, organisations should have CFOs that can strategically advise stakeholders while ruthlessly driving revenue growth.