SAAA pledges to help curb corruption, money laundering
The Southern Africa Association of Accountants (SAAA) has pledged to work with the Government to curb vices such as corruption and money laundering in the financial sector as key steps to meet National Development Strategy (NDS1) and Vision 2030 milestones.
SAAA, a professional body of accountants and auditors in the southern African region, said prudent application of administrative principles would help to deal with the twin threats to national development.
Speaking at the 21st SAAA Conference here, president Simba Takodza said some principles such as know your customer (KYC) and monitoring of transactions were not being properly implemented to stem money laundering.
These gaps, said Mr Takodza, were contributing to currency instability and apparent weakening of the local currency.
“Previously, suspicious transactions were quickly fished out because there was due diligence on accounts unlike these days,” said Mr Takodza.
“Trends of a customer were known and their income range was known such that deposits of a large amount would attract enquiries from the bank. That is not happening much these days.”
As administrators, said Mr Takodza, accountants and auditors were key in providing advice on sustainable operations that were sensitive to the environment and communities.
The black market has been identified as contributing to price distortions and weakening of the Zimbabwe dollar, eroding the purchasing power of salaries. SAAA publicity chairman Farai Masabana said the conference sought to prime professional accountants to contribute towards sustainable growth and development in line with NDS1 and Vision 2030 goals.
“In everything we must be fully cognisant of the need for sustainability because we have to bequeath a functional economy and systems to future generations. Green energy and sustainable buildings are important for the future,” he said.
Another speaker Rodney Ndamba said local authorities were not being futuristic in their development trajectory adding that while prioritising housing by parcelling out every identified piece of land, it limited future revenue inflows.
“Some of the land being given out as stands should be developed into office parks which will fetch more for our local authorities than what they would get from residents,” he said.
The conference was opened virtually by Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe deputy governor Dr J Chipika who urged accountants to constantly upgrade themselves to meet evolving trends.
SAAA has a membership of about 18 500 career accountants in local government, private sector and central government in Mozambique, South Africa, Namibia, Eswatini, Botswana and Zimbabwe.
It also includes students.-The Herald
