2,000 accountants needed annually

Accra, April 26, GNA - The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), Ghana Office, on Tuesday said it was working with accountancy institutions to ensure that 2,000 accountants were trained annually to make up for the shortfall the country was currently experiencing.

It said the nation needed about 4,000 qualified accountants to fill the job market which currently held about 2,000 of them. Mr Haruna Alhassan, Vice-Chairman of the Association, in an overview of its operations at a press soiree in Accra, said: "Presently ACCA has launched an Employer Scheme - Approved Employer, which seeks to recognize the support that employers provide to ACC students and members.

"The programme allows employees to benchmark their training and development practices against ACCA's best practice training standards and to receive global recognition".

Mr Alhassan said the Ghana Office had facilitated a contract between EPP Books Services, which enabled EPP to re-print the ACCA study materials and made them available and affordable to ACCA students. It has also provided student's library at its Secretariat for those students, who would want to borrow textbooks.

The ACCA is represented in Ghana through its Ghana Office, which handles all administrative and operational matters and offers support to students in organizing their activities while ACCA Ghana Branch Committee acts in an advisory capacity to both ACCA Headquarters and handles technical matters.

The ACCA Students Societies also exists to coordinate student activities with branches in Accra, Kumasi, Tamale, Takoradi and Cape Coast.

During discussion it was shown that the Accountancy course was very expensive and it takes people three to 10 years to pass all its four parts to be a qualified accountant although it is a rewarding profession.

The Association said that was the more reason why it was motivating students to pass their examinations easily with the use of the internet where accountancy literature abounded.