Accounting Standards Board Newsletter #1

I recently attended PAFA’s Public Financial Management (PFM) conference. The discussion centred on understanding accounting and auditing and its role in improving PFM. Inevitably, the conversation landed on developing appropriately qualified and skilled accountants to work in the public sector. PAFA’s CEO asked: “Why didn’t I know about becoming an accountant when I was a child”? The answer is probably because it isn’t as “sexy” as being a fireman or a doctor saving lives, or an astronaut exploring space. Why would any child want to be a “bean counter”?
This is where we need to change the narrative – not only so that we can encourage more people to join the profession - but also to fully understand how important accountants and sound financial management is to the development and growth of organisations and our economy. We should be story tellers and not bean counters.
There is little that happens in an entity that doesn’t have a financial implication. This places the finance function at the heart of any organisation. In the public sector, financial resources are a critical enabler of service delivery. Financial resources are used to pay salaries, procure goods or services, and invest in new or existing assets. Without these resources, government services would cease to exist.
Government’s activities and related services are not identified in a vacuum. What government decides to do, along with the performance measures and targets are developed with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in mind. How the government plans to achieve these are outlined in the National Development Plan (NDP). The NDP is cascaded through the various levels of government and across all organisations. What this means is that every organisation in government – regardless of how big or small – uses resources (many of which are financial) to work towards a more sustainable future for us all. This is the story we should be telling – how each or our organisations are working towards growth, development, and sustainability.
As finance professionals, we understand how to prepare reports that cater to a range of users – this is what we do when we prepare financial statements. We should extend our skills to beyond just counting the beans to telling our entity’s story from start to finish and how financial and other resources make a difference. As some of you enter “financial reporting season” I hope you this will change how you think about what you do, the importance of your work, and start practicing this as soon as you can!