By Kofi Ahovi
The Institute of Certified Bookkeepers Ghana (ICB-Ghana), another professional institute, has been launched in Accra.
The institute aims at bringing certainty to the bookkeeping profession as well as to all involved and affected by it such as small, medium and large enterprises.
ICB-Ghana is the local chapter of ICB-Global founded in 1986 and which is the largest bookkeeping institute in the world, headquartered in the United Kingdom, and with membership across North America, Europe, Asia, Australia and Africa.
Ghana’s latest professional institute is solely charged by regulations to develop bookkeeping as a profession in Ghana. It aims to enable bookkeeping to gain recognition as an integral part of the financial profession, promote training in the principles of bookkeeping, in order to raise professional standards and improve the career prospects of all its members.
Inaugurating the institute, the Executive Director of ICB-Ghana, John Harsoo, noted that the institute was established to cleanse mediocrity from the country’s system and transform it into an investor friendly one while at the same enhancing reliability and trust.
“Throughout the world the bookkeeper’s contribution to sound financial management is recognized and respected as an invaluable component of good business, not only by business owners and managers but also by firms of accountants and auditors who need to work from figures that they can trust,” he stressed.
Bookkeepers handle all the fundamental aspects of a firm’s financial record keeping and presentations, ranging from recording financial transactions, managing accounts payable and receivable and reconciling bank statements, through extraction of trial balances, preparation of income statements and balance sheets, as well as payroll management to, managing statutory tax and pension payments.
Notes George Dodzidenu, Secretary General of ICB-Ghana’s Governing Council: “Corporate institutions must have accurate records. Inaccuracies affect organizations adversely and can cause significant losses through wrong tax payments, inefficient inventory and cashflow management, and the likes. Conversely, accurate financial record keeping improves the fortunes of enterprises. For instance it improves their chances of getting credit from formal sector financial institutions.”
Now ICB Ghana is about to start enrolling students. Actually, both the study syllabus and the examinations are those of ICB Global. However, the Institute’s Ghana chapter will arrange lectures locally to make sure students pass those examinations.
The course of study to become a certified bookkeeper extends over between 18 months and two years, and is done in three stages, each one requiring a minimum of six months to complete.
“We hope to have at least 100 members by the end of this year,” stated Dodzidenu, “and over the coming years, we expect this to grow into thousands of members.”
The Institute of Certified Bookkeepers Ghana (ICB-Ghana), another professional institute, has been launched in Accra.
The institute aims at bringing certainty to the bookkeeping profession as well as to all involved and affected by it such as small, medium and large enterprises.
ICB-Ghana is the local chapter of ICB-Global founded in 1986 and which is the largest bookkeeping institute in the world, headquartered in the United Kingdom, and with membership across North America, Europe, Asia, Australia and Africa.
Ghana’s latest professional institute is solely charged by regulations to develop bookkeeping as a profession in Ghana. It aims to enable bookkeeping to gain recognition as an integral part of the financial profession, promote training in the principles of bookkeeping, in order to raise professional standards and improve the career prospects of all its members.
Inaugurating the institute, the Executive Director of ICB-Ghana, John Harsoo, noted that the institute was established to cleanse mediocrity from the country’s system and transform it into an investor friendly one while at the same enhancing reliability and trust.
“Throughout the world the bookkeeper’s contribution to sound financial management is recognized and respected as an invaluable component of good business, not only by business owners and managers but also by firms of accountants and auditors who need to work from figures that they can trust,” he stressed.
Bookkeepers handle all the fundamental aspects of a firm’s financial record keeping and presentations, ranging from recording financial transactions, managing accounts payable and receivable and reconciling bank statements, through extraction of trial balances, preparation of income statements and balance sheets, as well as payroll management to, managing statutory tax and pension payments.
Notes George Dodzidenu, Secretary General of ICB-Ghana’s Governing Council: “Corporate institutions must have accurate records. Inaccuracies affect organizations adversely and can cause significant losses through wrong tax payments, inefficient inventory and cashflow management, and the likes. Conversely, accurate financial record keeping improves the fortunes of enterprises. For instance it improves their chances of getting credit from formal sector financial institutions.”
Now ICB Ghana is about to start enrolling students. Actually, both the study syllabus and the examinations are those of ICB Global. However, the Institute’s Ghana chapter will arrange lectures locally to make sure students pass those examinations.
The course of study to become a certified bookkeeper extends over between 18 months and two years, and is done in three stages, each one requiring a minimum of six months to complete.
“We hope to have at least 100 members by the end of this year,” stated Dodzidenu, “and over the coming years, we expect this to grow into thousands of members.”
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