Accountants urged to be resilient under prevailing economic hardships

The Deputy Governor of Bank of Uganda, Dr. Michael Atingi-Ego, has urged accountants to exercise resilience in helping the economy recover from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Atingi-Ego made the remarks as the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Uganda (ICPAU) kicked off its 27th Annual Seminar of accountants that will run for three days until September 2.

He argued that to achieve economic recovery, there is a need for economic resilience for the country to remain productive in spite of the prevailing hardships.

"By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail. Resilience is what helped the financial system to continue on even during the pandemic, “he said, calling upon accountants to prepare well, to achieve resilience in the ongoing dynamic environment.

Atingi-Ego said there is need to invest in infrastructure to be able to support Fintech firms in this dynamic environment as accountancy professions, adding that policy development and innovations is key to development for a socio-economic Transformation.

"We need sustainable accounting reporting. We have a role to play across all financial institutions and public or private entities. We need to promote good governance practices in our entities to promote economic resilience," he said.

The chief executive officer at ICPAU, Derrick Nkaja said that accountants hold pivotal roles in organisations.

"Therefore, it is important for them to equip themselves for various scenarios through continuous learning so that they can adequately support organisations and the communities; and learning should go beyond the technical, to the softer aspects as well," he said.

He noted that with the 27th annual seminar, ICPAU is celebrating thirty years of existence and service to the country, having been established in 1992 by an Act of Parliament.

Fabian Kasi, the managing director of Centenary Bank explained that resilience is a dynamic process wherein individuals display positive adaptation in the face of obstacles and adversity.