The sustainability and reputation of a company relies heavily on the ethical practices of its leadership, management and, in no small part, on their accountants and auditors.
Active in their recognition of key issues surrounding the accounting profession, the Fiji Institute of Chartered Accountants (FICA) hosted a Conference on Ethics and Integrity this month.
The day-long conference consisted of a presentation by Group Executive New Zealand and the Pacific of the Chartered Accountants of Australia and New Zealand Peter Vial.
This was followed by engaging group activities to ensure participants were able to apply teachings to real world ethical dilemmas in the workplace.
Mr Vial shared that Fijian accountants could seek to learn from the mistakes and controversies surrounding international firms and structured his presentation around understanding the intricacies of ethical accounting.
“Basic issues like confidentiality, managing conflicts of interest, being objective and independent, all of those key issues and fundamental principles are relevant everywhere,” Mr Vial said.
He highlighted the relevance of staying updated with reports abroad and extracting applicable lessons to ensuring an organisation has ethics at the centre of its operations.
FICA president Rajeshwar Singh expressed his gratitude to the Chartered Accountants of Australia and New Zealand for their support in facilitating such seminars and for their longstanding partnership and shared vision of maintaining high standards for accounting in the region.
The Ethics and Integrity conference was held on Global Ethics day 2023, October 18, at the Grand Pacific Hotel.
