Although happy to be able to tout the passage of the Bahamas Institute of Chartered Accountants (BICA) Bill 2015, BICA President Darnell Osborne told Guardian Business that while getting that bill passed was "definitely the biggest hurdle" to returning to compliance with international accounting standards, the attendant regulations must also be brought into force for complete compliance. Osborne said the regulations should be completed in a matter of weeks.
"(BICA) is in the process - through the Legislative Committee - of finalizing the general regulations, which we should be circulating first to our council, then on to the members for comment. And we will allow a 21-day process, and then we will seek to have the regulations approved at an EGM to avoid any push-back," Osborne said.
"We will definitely circulate it to the membership first and get the comments and make adjustments where we can, bearing in mind that we have to keep it in compliance with the IFAC SMOs. Where we can, we will take into consideration the comments coming from the members, and then we will [seek to] have the regulations passed into law."
Osborne told Guardian Business yesterday that being in a position during the eighth regional Crecer Conference in Ecuador last week to accept the congratulatory remarks of the President of International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), Olivia Kirtley - and other officials connected with The Bahamas' IFAC action plan - on the passing of the BICA Bill made her proud.
"All parties concerned were very happy, and acknowledged... the passing of the chartered accountants bill. They were quite happy that it's a step in the right direction to bring us into full compliance with the IFAC and its SMOs," she said, reiterating the major points of contention with the Public Accountants Act, which were perceived weakness in provisions regarding peer review, practice monitoring and punishment for infractions, continuing education and tenure of the BICA council.
"So they were quite happy we are headed in the right direction."
By invitation from the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank and the Global Public Policy Committee, representatives of BICA and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of the Caribbean (ICAC) attended the Crecer conference.
Crecer was established in 2007 as a regional flagship learning initiative focusing on accounting and auditing. It promotes improved financial and fiscal policies and practices in the public and private sectors in Latin America and the Caribbean, in support of the region's economic growth and development agenda.
The conference consisted of a policymakers forum as well as a practitioners summit. It addressed critical policy issues that impact pace and sustainability of the transparency, governance and accountability reform agenda in the region. The event - closed to the public - was intended to facilitate candid dialogue among participants and has led to the formation of key regional groups that help to advance the broader Crecer objective of supporting regional economic growth.
This year the hot topics that were of interest to The Bahamas were "the capacity of the auditor general and audit committees"; "international public sector accounting standards, from cash basis to accrual basis and the need for effective quality assurance programs in auditing firms"; corporate governance and "protecting the audit from undue influence, regulatory transparency: benefits and best practices".
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