CPA Julius W. Mwatu

23rd October 2013

Julius’s Remarks

On the Occasion of 7th National Practitioners Growth Forum

Rift Valley Sports Club, Nakuru

Fellow CPAs,

It is my delight to be speaking to you this morning as we commence three days of the National Practitioners Growth Forum. First, I bring you greetings of our National Chairman, CPA Benson Okundi has planned to be with us but he got an urgent work related commitment and had to leave the country yesterday in the morning. He has indicated that he will join us on Thursday and hence he will give his key note address then.

Receive greetings from Council members, Council reviewed the plan for this forum and gave us their blessings. CPA Aboo and I will be the council representatives in this event. Council has established several committees to help in executing its mandate, one of those committees and one i am honoured to convene is the Practitioners Development Committee. PDC members have been closely involved in the planning for this event and you will get to hear more about the work of that committee later on as we have a session dedicated for the purpose.

Allow me to turn my attention to the opening remarks of the 7th National Practitioners Growth Forum. This forum has the following objectives;

  1. It is a forum for practitioners; as you may have noted from the program, this event is targeted at members in practice. Much as what we cover is of interest and applicable to all accountants a deliberate focus will be on members holding audit licenses
  2. It is about networking; I want to encourage you to participate fully in the activities lined up for the forum. Get to know your professional colleagues and widen your circle of friends. This partly the reason why the Practitioners Growth Forum is held around the country. We have a real opportunity to network with our counterparts who operate in Nakuru Town and in the larger Central Rift branch.
  3. It is a session to reflect; It is one year since practitioners last met and raised a raft of issues that they wanted their institute to address. During the Practitioners Growth Forum, we will share with each other candidly. We will review the last 12 months, the progress and the challenges. Our profession is also impacted by events at the global level especially by the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) where we are members. We have lined up a session to ponder on the recent changes in the applicable standards and their actual or potential impact on the profession.
  4. It is a planning session, as we congregate and discuss matter that affect the profession I have every faith that we will make solid proposals that we wish the Institute to pick up and work on. I trust that you will apply yourselves fully the on-goings in this forum so that we can re-orient our Institute and highlight areas of priority that ought to be addressed. In fulfilling this objective we ought to be alive to the happenings both regional and globally that are still at the work-in-progress stage but that are likely to affect our operations within the next financial period.
  5. But it is not all serious stuff, we have lined up morning jogs and I want to salute those who made it this morning. Allow me to encourage you to participate for the remaining days. Later today, we will have the networking cocktail, let us take advantage of the event to network and widen our circle of professional friends. On this note, allow me to salute Wachira Irungu and Associates ( WIA) have been the principal sponsors for this years event and we thank them for partnering with the Institute as they have done severally in the past. We urge them to continue and perhaps challenge ourselves to consider if not directly sponsoring the event, to sponsor staff in our auditing firms so that they too can improve and sharpen their professional skills.
  6. It is the voice of practitioners; make sure your voice is heard. This forum is organized by and for the practicing members. Yes we have lined up speakers but I want to make a direct plea to you. Participate, Participate and Participate. I do hope and look forward to interactive sessions with your interjections, comments and questions.
  7. It is meant to be a learning experience, the Institute hopes that forums like this afford its members an opportunity to share experiences and learn from each other. We do not wish for a profession with a few excellent firms, up to date in application of standards and another category of firms that are struggling to fit in. We all must be at par; an audit is and ought to remain an audit of comparable attributes irrespective of the size of the firm conducting it.

Allow me to use the next few minutes reflecting on the practitioner; to start with who is a practitioner. A practitioner is a member of the Institute who has been granted an audit licence, but does it end here? No it does not. Several obligations are borne by practicing members and allow me to share just a few;

  1. All practicing members ought to comply with the CPD requirements on professional Accountants, renew their audit licences each year and pay up their annual subscriptions. Again a majority fulfil this requirement, the onus rests on the minority who are yet to adhere.
  2. Understanding the Accountants Act, Friends, you cannot fail to read, read and read as frequently as you can the provisions of the legal framework that guides our profession. You need to appreciate for instance what amounts to professional misconduct. I urge you to do the needful, have a hard copy, save a soft copy on your computer for those of us who are analogue and save it on the tablets and the recent gadgets for the digital generation.
  3. Your Institute has issued a code of ethics; the code became effective in 2009. Have we read it? Do we comply with it? How do we comply with the ethical requirements and possible conflicts? Again I wish to encourage you not to take shelter in ignorance. Kindly familiarize with the code and take all the necessary interventions to comply in the course of your work.
  4. ICPAK has also issued so many bylaws, guidelines, technical releases and frameworks. Familiarize yourself and your staff on the relevant guidance expected of us. Without boring you with a long list, allow me to draw the attention of the audience on the guideline on ethical marketing. Marketing is permissible but it is regulated. This is one area where practitioners at times seem not to be aware, some actually go to an extent of indicating that the Institute does not allow any form of marketing.
  5. Un-holy Alliances, Friends our Act is clear that you cannot form a partnership with a non-member. You cannot procure work through services of a non-member and retain them on a contingent amount or a commission. Should you elect to open a branch then it must be led by a member of ICPAK. These are not rules of the Institute, they are not rules of the secretariat, they are our rules. I believe and you know it perhaps more than me that one of the biggest threats to our profession is the infiltration of quacks/fake accountants. Let us all agree not the give them a lifeline by working in cahoots with them. We must guard our profession, it is all we got and this is a war we must never and cannot afford to lose.

Allow me now to shift gears and deal a little bit with the support available from ICPAK to its members in practice.

  1. Audit Quality Reviews; this process is aimed at helping you establish gaps between your work and the expected level for you to achieve full compliance to applicable standards and ICPAK requirements. The AQA program is undertaken in the spirit of partnership with the ultimate intention of improving accountancy practice in Kenya. I know our experiences with AQA may be as varied as our number but the overall intention for me is to urge that we embrace the process. It is noteworthy that in Kenya AQA is a free service, some jurisdictions charge for it.
  2. Resources, on this all I can say is visit the ICPAK website. There are host of resources for your benefit
  3. Resolving Technical Queries, ICPAK welcomes your questions on any professional matter. Kindly route your dilemma to either the PDC or the Professional Standards Committee.
  4. Branches, though branches are at their formative stages, it is hoped that they will evolve into new centres for excellence. Forge closer relationship with your counterparts in the region.
  5. The Practitioners Development Committee as I had previously indicated is formed solely to advise council on matters affecting practitioners. I thank all those who have kept following us with their concerns. Later on the training we will share the priority areas and work plan of the PDC. I want to trust that each of us is eager to participate and re-orient the PDC work plan so it addresses your immediate needs.

Before I conclude my remarks, allow me to indicate that your institute is offering a number of lifestyle benefits over and above the professional support. Members of the secretariat will be happy to provide any support that you may need to access and benefit from;

  1. Online portal for CPD returns and updating member records
  2. ICPAK Smart Card
  3. KCA University Discount Scheme
  4. Accountants Benevolent Fund Association
  5. Accountants Motor Vehicle Insurance
  6. Mhasibu SACCO

In conclusion, friends and fellow CPAs, I remain thankful for your votes that have enabled me serve as your Council Member. We have as the present Council made significant contributions to the profession as will be indicated to us in the National Chairpersons Address on Thursday. As a member of that team I have and continue to play my role, i wish to urge all of us to discharge our respective roles faithful to our creed for Credibility Professionalism and AccountAbility.

With those not so few remarks, it is my singular honour to wish you fruitful 3 days during the 7th National Practitioners Growth Forum.

Thank you and God bless you.

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