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Leadership Role of Accountants/Auditors in
Emerging and Developing Nations
Presentation to “Africa’s Economic Growth,
Accountability and Democracy”
Held on 14th -16th May 2013 in ACCRA – GHANA
Presented by Ludovick S.L.Utouh
The Controller and Auditor General of Tanzania
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Presentation Outline
 Introduction
 Emerging
and Developing Economies
 Leadership Role of Professional
Accountants in business
 Accountants’ Contributions to Emerging
and Developing Economies
 Conclusions
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Introduction
 An
accountant/auditors is a practitioner
of accountancy, whose main role is to
keep, audit, and inspect the financial
records of individuals or business concerns
and to prepare financial and tax reports.
 Modern society would be hopeless
without accounting. No large enterprise
could survive without it. Just knowing
where you stand financially is critical.
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Introduction…cont
 Accountants/auditors,
whether as leaders
in organizations or acting in their
professional
capacity
as
individual
accountants/auditors in organizations
therefore cannot just stand aside and
pretend that they are mere observers.
 They must take accountability for their
behavior as leaders and leaders of
organizations. (Saleh and Ahmad)
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Introduction ...cont
 Leadership
involves establishing a clear
vision, sharing that vision with others so
that
they
will
follow
willingly,
providing the information, knowledge and
methods to realize that vision,
and coordinating and balancing the
conflicting interests of all members and st
akeholders.
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Introduction ...cont
 The
leadership roles of Professional
accountants/auditors in emerging and
developing economies context is very
critical
 This paper shades light on the activities of
accountants in their leadership positions
and their overall contribution and
significance to emerging and developing
economies.
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Emerging and Developing
Nations


A developing country, also called a lessdeveloped country (LDC), is a nation with a
low
living
standard,
undeveloped
industrial base, and low Human Development
Index (HDI) relative to other countries.
Developing countries are, in general,
countries that have not achieved a
significant degree of industrialization relative
to their
populations, and have, in most
cases, a medium to low standard of living
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Emerging and Developing
Nations….cont
 There
are many problems plaguing
emerging and developing nations. For
example in Africa World Bank 2011 report
identified the following challenges facing
emerging and developing economies:
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Emerging and Developing
Nations….cont
 undiversified
production structure, low
human capital, weak governance, state
fragility, women’s empowerment, youth
employment, and climate change.
 A finding by Global Financial Integrity
notes that $358bn flowed out of Africa
between 2000 and 2008, due to
corruption, trade mispricing, and other
illicit activity (Globalization 101, 2011).
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Emerging and Developing
Nations….cont
 Emerging
and developing nations are
faced with opportunities and challenges
that they should address to attain
sustainable development.
 It is to these opportunities and challenges
that leadership role of accountants
should contribute.
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Leadership Role of Professional
Accountants


In the variety of roles that professional
accountants in business perform, they are typically
involved in the planning, implementation,
execution, evaluation, or improvement of
governance in their organization.
In addition, many professional accountants in
business have a responsibility to provide objective
and accurate information and analyses to support
all of these activities, and may have overall
responsibility in governance areas, such as
external business reporting (IFAC, 2012).
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Leadership Role of Professional
Accountants….cont




From its inception, accountancy has been a
profound feature of business.
Business survival in the world has and will continue
to be dependent on the effectiveness of a
performing accountancy profession
Business decision-making processes are largely
dependent upon the financial information
prepared by accountants.
Hence, accountants as leaders of businesses and
other organizations, their role is key to business
prosperity and decision-making.
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Leadership Role of Professional
Accountants
In many respects, the profession is central to
encourage and support competiveness and
financial stability. Consequently, the following
activities can be done effectively:
 Facilitation of the mobilization of domestic and
international investment,
 Creating a sound investment environment,
 Reducing corruption and mismanagement of
resources,
 Fostering investor’s confidence, and Promoting
financial stability
 Strengthening enterprise competitiveness
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Strategic Roles of Accountants
Professional accountants in business often
participate in the key areas of strategic
leadership: strategy; values and attitudes;
and the business model.
 This involves
(a) participating in strategy and planning by



providing information and analysis for strategic
decision making and
maintaining strategic control and financial
navigation to ensure execution of strategy.
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Strategic Roles of
Accountants….cont
(b) Evaluation of strategic options that align
with the organization’s risk management
strategy and policies on internal control and
recommending optimal strategies.
c) Influencing top management to
appreciate on
the importance of the
strategic
management
approach
in
performance of the public sector
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Accountants’ contribution to
businesses in emerging and
developing economies



The contribution of professional accountants can
be demonstrated through good financial
management in both private and public sectors.
It affects how funding is used to address national
and local priorities, the availability of resources for
investment and the cost-effectiveness of public
services.
Also, it is more than likely that the general public
will have greater trust in public sector
organizations if there is strong financial
stewardship, accountability and transparency in
the use of public funds (ACCA 2011).
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Conclusion


Acting in the capacity of leaders, professional
accountants have to actualize their roles with
the highest level of integrity.
As such, the integrity of accountants in
performing their role cannot be compromised
and consequently their leadership roles is very
critical and vital in the success of all
businesses and particularly in emerging and
developing economies
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