A legacy for the next hundred years
Mike Rake, chairman of KPMG International, told ACCA's closing centenary seminar, that major markets need to agree principles of regulation and governance, rather than competing with, and superseding, each other. Reflecting the theme of ACCA's centenary year, responsibility, Mr Rake called for courage among CEOs to set the right ethical stance for their companies, which would permeate through their organisations.
The success stories of business in the 21st century he said would be those that gave real meaning to corporate social responsibility, for which there was a strong business, as well as moral, case. Accounting scandals had occurred because of fundamental failures in corporate culture, as well as in internal controls he said.
These points were reinforced by Graham Ward, President of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), who spoke about IFAC's response to the crisis in confidence which confronted the global accounting profession in the wake of Enron and related corporate debacles. He also commented on the importance of building the profession in developing nations to sustain economic development.
ACCA's finale centenary dinner was held at the award-winning Lloyd's Building in the City of London. The Right Hon Chris Patten, the European Union's External Relations Commissioner, gave the after dinner address. He stated: ' I learned two clear lessons in Hong Kong, to whose great success ACCA has made such an important contribution over the years. First, there is a strong relationship between good governance and economic success. Second, there is an equally strong link between economic success and entrepreneurial responsibility; with clean regulation and self-regulation the keys to long-term investor confidence. There is a close bond in business as in politics between expedience and principle - between doing the right thing and doing what is right.'
Coinciding with the centenary finale, a 'focus on accountancy' supplement featuring ACCA was published in The Times, which examined ACCA's work in promoting international accounting standards, issued in training and development for accountants and finance professionals and ACCA's record in championing sustainability reporting