8 August 2008
Ndola — THE Government has expressed concern about the continued misuse of national resources and challenged accountants to check the abuse of funds meant for national development.
Finance Minister, Ngandu Magande said in Livingstone that the Government was worried about the loopholes in the financial management system in all industries and urged accountants to embrace the Vision 2030 and improve the situation.
"Government is still very concerned about the way resources are being used, I want to ask you accountants to use your positions to push Zambia forward," Mr Magande said in a speech read for him by Economic Management and Planning Permanent Secretary, James Mulungushi.
The minister was officially opening the Zambia Institute of Chartered Accountants (Zica), Association of Certified Chartered Accountants (ACCA) and Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (Cima) joint annual business conference.
Mr Magande said according to the auditor general's reports, it was clear that the situation was bad and urged the accountants to detect financial woes and contribute to national development.
The minister, however, said the Government was impressed with the performance of Zica in national development, but encouraged the accountants to follow the national vision, in which Zambia aspired to become a medium prosperous income nation by 2030.
The minister also said there was need for transformation in thinking and culture by being innovative to enable peasant farmers and small scale businesses to graduate into bigger businesses.
Mr Magande urged the accountants to embrace the accounting reforms, which the Government had initiated through the public expenditure monitoring and financial accounting (Pemfa).
Zica president, Chintu Mulendema challenged accountants to work hard and become entrepreneurs instead of continuing to remain employees.
"Come out of here and become entrepreneurs and not remain employees, go and resign from your jobs to form your own companies," he said.
He said Zica had also received 250,000 euros from the European Union (EU) in January this year, for establishing the practice monitoring mechanism to ensure quality assurance.
He said the association would start asking for reports of performance from employers on their employees to enhance quality service.
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