26th Annual Conference of Accountants

"Beyond the Wall"

ICAC's 26th Annual Conference of Accountants was held in Trinidad & Tobago over the period June 26-28, 2008 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel. The conference was hosted by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Trinidad and Tobago (ICATT).

The conference theme, Beyond the Wall, drew attention to the critical issues facing accountancy professionals in today’s business environment and was aimed at encouraging members of the profession to create new opportunities to advance the growth of the regional accountancy profession.

The official opening ceremony on Friday, June 27 was attended by the Honorable Patrick Manning, Prime Minister of the Republic of Trinidad & Tobago, Ms. Esther LeGendre, Minister of Education (Trinidad & Tobago) and Mr. Mariano Browne, Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance (Trinidad & Tobago); Mr. Ewart Williams, Governor of the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago; Mr. Trevor Brathwaite, Deputy Governor of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank; Fermin del Valle, President of IFAC; Mr. Richard Aitken-Davies, President of ACCA; Mr. Ron Colucci, Chairman of CGA (Canada); Presidents of ICAC Territorial Institutes; Affiliate Representatives, other specially-invited guests, conference participants and members of the media.

At the start of the opening ceremony, representatives of the Port of Spain District of Scouts Association carried the flags of ICAC member Institutes, which were escorted by the Presidents of the respective Institutes.

Opening remarks were delivered by Sean Ramirez, President of ICATT and Ms. Angela Lee Loy, President of ICAC. This was followed by an address by IFAC President, Fermin del Valle, entitled, On the Wall: Is the Global Accounting Profession Really Making Strides in which he emphasized that professional accountants through their diverse roles, were in a position to make a meaningful contribution to economic growth and development, and to the reduction of poverty nationally and globally. Noting that corruption was the worst enemy of development, he urged members of the profession to foster an environment in which corruption cannot exist and to counter the perception that accountants do not do enough to fight corruption by never compromising their values or character.

ACCA President, Richard Aitken-Davies, delivered a presentation entitled, ‘International Financial Reporting: What Does It Mean to Caribbean Business?’ in which he highlighted the key purposes of International Financial Reporting standards and the implications of international financial reporting for the future of the region. He was followed by Chairman of CGA (Canada), Ron Colucci, who presented on the topic, ‘Glass Walls: In Search of Transparency”, in which he addressed the wide range of issues facing the accountancy profession and the growing need for transparency.

The keynote address entitled, “Beyond the Wall” was delivered by the Honourable Patrick Manning, Prime Minister of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, who noted that the accountancy profession was critical to the development of the Caribbean. He stated that the goal of development was improvement in the lives of people and a key factor in realizing this objective was the highest level of efficiency and effectiveness in the deployment of financial resources in enterprise, public and private sectors. This, he stated, was impossible to achieve without the guiding, monitoring, reporting and clarifying roles that accountants play.

A major highlight during the opening ceremony was the signing of contracts for the commencement of an ICAC/ACCA Practice Monitoring Programme in region. The contracts were signed between ICAC, ACCA and three member territories, namely, the Institutes of Chartered Accountants of Barbados, Guyana, and Trinidad and Tobago.

The contract signing for the practice monitoring programme represents ICAC’s commitment to fulfil IFAC’s requirements for member countries worldwide to maintain an efficient quality assurance review system and is an important milestone in the efforts to improve standards within the regional accountancy profession.

The conference’s technical sessions, which commenced after the signing of the monitoring contracts, focused on the following topics:

• Power Panel Discussion: Impact of Global Events on Caribbean Economies
  
  Panelists/Presenters:
  - Ewart Williams, Governor of the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago
  
  - Trevor Brathwaite, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of the Eastern Caribbean
   
• Concurrent Sessions:
  • Session A: Quality Assurance Management-Impact on Shareholders
    
    Panelists/Presenters:
    - Sylvia Barrett, Technical Manager - Member Body, IFAC
    
    - Carl Hiralal, Inspector of Financial Institutions, Trinidad and Tobago
    
    - Colin Soo Ping Chow, Executive Chairman, Ernst & Young Caribbean
    
    - Colin Wharfe, Audit Methodology Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers (Trinidad)
     
  • Session B: Power Panel Discussion – Financial Services in the Caribbean – Consolidation and Foreign Ownership
    
    Panelists/Presenters:
    - Suresh Sookoo, Group CEO, RBTT Financial Group
    
    - Peter Ganteaume, Group CEO, Guardian Holdings Group
    
    - Richard Young, CEO, Scotiabank of Trinidad and Tobago
    
    - Michael Carballo, Group Financial Director, CL Financial
     
  • Session C: Improving Performance and Operational Efficiency in the Regional Energy Sector
    
    Panelists/Presenters:
    - Robert Riley, Chairman and CEO, BP Trinidad and Tobago
    
    - Vincent Pereira, President, BHP Billiton Trinidad
    
    - Derek Hudson, President, BG Trinidad and Tobago
    
    - Ian Welch, Managing Director, PCS Nitrogen Trinidad
     
  • Session D: Talent Management
    
    Panelists/Presenters:
    - Peter May, Leader, Global Office HR and Global Talent Management PMO, Deloitte and Touche
     
• Meeting the Challenges Faced by Today’s CFOs in Becoming Strategic Business Partners for Their Organisations
  
  Panelists/Presenters:
  - Jeffrey Sealy, Founder and Business Leader, The Business Solutions Network

The President’s Dinner, a major social event of the annual conference, culminated activities on the first day.

On Saturday, June 28, delegates were entertained during breakfast by Paul Keens–Douglas, well-known comedian and author, who had delegates in stitches during his presentation on the topic, ‘Getting Ahead and Staying Ahead’. This was followed by presentations on the following topics:

• Raising the Bar – Today’s Reporting Challenges
  Presenter: Allen Blewitt, CEO, ACCA
   
• Over the Wall: Strategies for Survival and Success
  Presenter: Brian Charles Lara, Former West Indies Cricketer and Presenter
   
• Off the Wall Power Panel Discussion: Caribbean Perspectives on Business
  
  Panelists/Presenters:
  - Bernard Dulal-Whiteway, CEO, Neal & Massy Holdings (Trinidad and Tobago)
  
  - Ralph “Bizzy” Williams, CEO, Williams Industries (Barbados)
  
  - Audrey Marks, CEO, Paymaster Limited & President, AMCHAM (Jamaica)

Preliminary promotion on the 27th Annual ICAC Conference to be held in June 2009 was done by the President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Guyana (ICAG), Khalil Alli, who urged delegates to turn out in large numbers to support next year’s conference which promises to another world-class event.

The conference’s closing address was delivered by Angela Lee Loy, President, ICAC and Misha Lobban, CEO, ICAC, who shared her vision for change within ICAC. The four-point vision presented by the CEO included creating opportunities to enhance value to ICAC member Institutes; institutional strengthening and capacity building within the ICAC Secretariat; strengthening the advocacy role and profile of ICAC in the regional marketplace and increasing the ICAC’s involvement and commitment to social issues.

Vote of thanks was conveyed by Krishna Boodhai, CEO of ICATT, who thanked the delegates and sponsors for their support in making the 26th annual conference a success.

The conference culminated with a Trini-style Carnival Fete entitled, ‘Break down the Wall’ on Saturday, June 28, featuring a line-up of talented Trinidadian artistes including Imaj & Company, DJ 4 Play and Tassa Drummers.

The conference attracted some 600 delegates including accounting and finance professionals, business leaders and other participants from the region who were provided with an opportunity to discuss critical issues and were left motivated to go ‘Beyond the Wall’ in making a positive contribution to the growth and development of the region.