The Dean of the School of Business of the University of Cape Coast, Professor John Gatsi, has called on tax practitioners to exhibit high ethical standards to promote the image of the profession.
He said tax practitioners must not be influenced to go against the code of conduct of the profession.
Prof. Gatsi, who gave the advice during the graduation of the 2023 class of the Chartered Institute of Taxation Ghana (CITG), said the relevance of the profession would not be felt in the country if professional ethics and conducts were not prioritised.
He also said the legitimacy of the profession would be questioned if members did not go by the code of conduct of the profession.
The programme was on the theme "Professional conduct and the role of members in protecting and promoting the image of the Chartered Institute".
Professor Gatsi said taxation was the only profession that required practitioners to be members of the CITG before they could practise.
"No other profession is allowed to practise as tax practitioner or firm unless the person or firm is registered as a member of the Institute per section 12 of Act 916," he stated.
Prof. Gatsi observed that the purpose of professional code of conduct was to define behaviours and moral principles for practitioners to practise with everyday consciousness of objectivity, honesty, integrity and commitment to confidentiality.
He said the responsibility for ethical and professional behaviours must be taken seriously by all practitioners within the tax profession, irrespective of the years in practice.
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"All of you must be committed to upholding and maintaining the reputation in order to sustain public trust," he stressed, adding that, "complying with ethical rules and professional conducts will not be painless, and that sometimes it may even cost them but this is the profession you have signed unto which demands daily consciousness," he said.
Prof. Gatsi mentioned some of the professional misconducts as disclosing information acquired in the course of professional engagement to another person without the consent of the client, expressing professional opinion not based on sufficient information, failing to keep moneys of clients in separate bank accounts or using clients' moneys for purposes not agreed on and submitting false returns and statements to the Council of the Institute.
He urged practitioners to make conflict of interest disclosures and such disclosures were to be recorded in a conflict-of-interest register.
"While it is generally advisable to avoid inducement and gifts, it is appropriate for professional bodies and organisations to develop gift policies as some may want to place premium on the value, type and material involve and others may just want to discourage gifts in any form," Prof. Gatsi stated.
The Dean of the School of Business of the University of Cape Coast asked the CITG to promote a tax journal that followed proper journal management protocols to make it attractive nationally and globally.
