ANNUAL ACCOUNTANTS’ WEEK CELEBRATION 2011 ACCOUNTANTS’ CONFERENCE

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ACCOUNTANTS: MANAGING OUR RESOURCES - BUILDING OUR NATION

THE BENEFITS AND CHALLENGES OF MANAGING OUR NATURAL RESOURCES

DAASEBRE PROFESSOR (EMERITUS OTI BOATENG OMANHENE

NEW JUABEN AND PRESIDENT EASTERN REGION HOUSE OF CHIEFS

VENUE Capital View Hotel, Koforidua

DATE

Wednesday, 1st June, 2011

THE BENEFITS AND CHALLENGES OF MANAGING OUR NATURAL RESOURCES

By Daasebre Prof. [Emeritus] Oti Boateng

Omanhene of New Juaben and President of Eastern Regional House of Chiefs

Mr. Chairman, The President and Executive Members of the Institute, Distinguished Accountants gathered herein, Distinguished Invited Guests, Representatives of the Media, Ladies and Gentlemen. I am indeed very happy to be in your midst this morning to share a few thoughts with you on a topic that is of national importance. Before I delve into the topic, I wish to state that the accountancy profession is one that is dear to my heart. You all know that I am a trained statistician but what you may not know is that I was a pioneer accountancy student when the School of Administration took off in 1960 at the Western Compound of Achimota. There, I began to appreciate the beauty of the double entry accounting system, which recognizes the fundamental dual nature of transactions where every debit entry in the accounts has its corresponding credit entry

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thus ensuring accuracy and transparency in the accounts and the preservation of a basic balance and identity in the accounting equation so that, Assets always equals liabilities plus Owner’s Equity. Again, I learnt the law of contract in mercantile law with its basic ingredients of “offer, acceptance and consideration” with the famous case of Carlill versus Carbolic Smoke Ball still imprinted indelibly on my mind. So distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, I feel at home in your midst this morning. Despite the fact that the President of the Republic of Ghana, Professor John Evans Atta Mills, was visiting the region and a Durbar of Chiefs was arranged to receive him at the regional capital only yesterday, here I am today, after all that went into hosting the President on behalf of the chiefs and people of Eastern Region, physically present and fully energized, to demonstrate my love and commitment to the accountancy profession. Mr. Chairman, distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, I was requested to talk on “the Benefits and Challenges of Managing Our Natural Resources.” It will not be out of place, looking at the audience present here, to lay more emphasis on the key role of accounting professionals in the management of our natural resources. 2

You will all agree with me that the greatest beneficiaries of our natural resources are the people. Development indeed starts with the people and ends with the people. As I have already indicated, since I am talking to accountants, it is worthwhile and prudent to focus on the role of the accountant in natural resource management. The accountancy profession is an important component of any economic development effort.

All of us, whether we are accounting professionals, academicians, government functionaries or private entrepreneurs, we are fundamentally engaged in the business of “people”. This needs to be emphasized because as we discuss policies and standards, approaches and infrastructures and goals and ideals in this conference, we cannot and should not forget that our ultimate objective is to assist the country in improving the standard of living and creating better environment for the citizenry. A key element in protecting the public interest and resources is by ensuring that people have accurate and consistent information on which to base their policy decisions. It is also about making a commitment to finding solutions that are in the best interest of the broadest constituencies and that will lead to improvement in the quality of their lives.

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Natural resources are meant to benefit the people and well managed resources will lead to improvement in the quality of life of the people so endowed. How Do You As Accountants Come In? As Accountants, it is your duty, among others, to identify, measure and communicate economic and natural resource information to permit informed judgment and decisions by the public and other users of the information. Serving the public interest requires that you as accountants play your role in assisting the country in conducting its economic and financial affairs in prudent and transparent ways.

It is necessary for you to work together to prevent any potential crisis that would lead to public skepticism not only in the nation’s financial system, but also in the management of its natural resources. To achieve these goals, there is the need to focus on three keys areas:

a) Clarity in the framework for policy decisions; b) Codes and standards for policy decisions; and c) Coordination of capacity building efforts.

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You represent the challenges facing the accountancy profession as well as managing our natural resources.

As worthy accountants, you need to inculcate in yourselves the trinity of values, namely; integrity, competency and transparency. These are necessary to establish credibility in your work as professional accountants. All your work ought to be designed to contribute to the development of financial systems and economies in general, to assist the nation in developing frameworks that support high quality accountancy practices, and to build a profession that places priority on those core values of integrity, transparency and competency. Working with other stakeholders which share the same commitment to serving the public interest and contributing to economic growth will lead to a more efficient and effective management of our natural resources. To conclude, I would like to quote from the preamble of the natural resource charter which states that “countries with non-renewable natural resource wealth face special opportunities and special challenges. Used well, these resources can create greater prosperity for current and future generations; used poorly, they can cause economic instability, social conflict, and lasting environmental damage. Thank you. 5