New Vision (Kampala)
David Ssempijja
2 November 2009
Kampala — UGANDA has a shortage experiencing a shortfall of over 1500 professional accountants, an accounting expert has revealed. Gerald Kasanya, the chief executive officer for the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Uganda was speaking at the institute's 14th annual seminar at Imperial Resort Beach Hotel, last week.
"Professional accounting is a key management area in the development of any business. Unfortunately in Uganda we still lack in numbers but we are striving to ensure that it is increased to support this cardinal segment of human resource," he added.
"We need to have more professionals that can match the increasing number of businesses accelerated by the current growth in foreign and local investments," Kasanya said.
The country has about 1500 qualified accountants, half the recommended number by the World Bank.
It lags behind Tanzania which has more than 3000 and Kenya which has over 5000, the chief executive said.
The big gap is blamed on the turbulent politics the country went through in the 1970's. Hope is not lost, Kasanya added, the institute has put in place measures to ensure that the number and quality improves.
"We have a continuing Professional Development programme, which keeps members abreast with the developments in the profession's global trends," he said.
The program covers areas like good governance, risk management, taxation, management, information and communication technology, financial reporting, control and management, and implications of budget reports.
All this aim at enhancing service delivery by the members to their clients and employers, he said. Some of the associations the institute works in close collaboration with include, the International Federation of Accountants and the Eastern, Central and Southern African Federation of Accountants.
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