Last week’s Developing Accountancy Capacity in Fragile and Conflict-affected States Conference, convened in Johannesburg, looked at the World Bank’s list of 36 fragile states and at how robust accounting organisations could support the development of resilient governments and economies.
For example, Zimbabwe’s new president Emmerson Mnangagwa has launched a zero-tolerance corruption initiative, including an amnesty period for people to return illegally exported funds.
IFAC executive director, quality and development, and chief operating officer director, Alta Prinsloo, explained further in an interview with the Zimbabwe Independent how a robust accounting profession is essential to dealing with corruption and financial mismanagement and help to drive economic development.
Prinsloo said the development of accrual-based financial reporting was a cornerstone of sound public financial management and noted that having a higher promotion of accountants in a country’s workforce correlated with better outcomes in Transparency International’s Global Corruption Perceptions Index.
