Accountants in public practice whether calculatingly or otherwise have escaped the ire of the public says Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama.
Speaking at the Fiji Institute of Accountants congress meeting, Commodore Bainimarama raised cases of the FNPF and NBF to drive his concerns on professional misconduct which if left unchecked could be detrimental to the economy.
“ After all, is it only the fault of the then directors and management of FNPF Board that FNPF has had to write off in excess of three hundred million dollars from its books? When the excesses pertaining to Natadola and Momi were taking place, weren’t accountants involved? Didn’t they have responsibility to bring it to the public’s attention, for example, that some parties were paid monies which were not commensurate with the services and expertise that were allegedly provided?
“ Would the debacle of NBF have been picked up earlier if the auditors and accountants rather simply highlighting matters, brought it to the fore? Brought it into the public domain?
“ Professional privilege is always cited as a reason for silence. But surely when the then FNPF Board and Management continued to misrepresent its books to the people of Fiji, didn’t the auditors rather than simply drawing it to the attention of their clients have at the very least a moral obligation to disclose such matters to the media, public officials and the public? After all FNPF represents our largest domestic holder of our national savings and our future.
But he said some accounting firms while claiming to the stick to the rules such as professional privilege have breached your very own code of ethics.
“ Your manual on code of ethics states that firms should not audit companies in which the firm’s employees or partners have relatives employed. Yet this has happened in the recent past by supposedly reputable firms. Furthermore there was no disciplinary action taken by the Fiji Institute of Accountants. Perhaps such lapses demonstrate that there may be a need to set up an independent disciplinary body.
“ You need to ask yourselves, should I continue to overlook certain irregularities by my clients and/or fellow practitioners? – irregularities, perhaps not illegal but which constitute dubious actions, gross negligence, and misrepresentation to the public.
“ These questions become even more pronounced and pertinent when your clients are public companies and institutions such as NLTB.
Commodore Bainimarama asked why the profession continued to overlook inherently flawed internal systems and procedures.
“ Because you don’t want to upset the status quo and possibly risk losing your client? - your income?
“ Surely the moral and ethical considerations must in such instances take precedence.
Commodore Bainimarama said a classical example was the ENRONs saga.
“ The adherence to form over substance and neglect of the moral and the ethical has led to the ENRONs.
“ I believe if we were critical enough we have, in a similar vein, a number of mini ENRONs.
“ We cannot continue with such a situation, such a reality. If you all, if we all, are genuine about ‘getting together and moving ahead’ then we have to address and face these very fundamental issues,” he said.
The annual Fiji Institute of Accountants Congress meeting is being held at the Shangri-La Fijian Resort and ends tomorrow.