My career started in 2004 as an accounts officer at IT equipment supplier Apollo Computers. There were opportunities to get involved in all aspects of the job so I was able to learn a lot. I went on to work with a number of SMEs and later, multinationals, before moving into practice. In my career I have risen through the ranks, taking on ever more responsibility.
My father was an accountant and I admired him for his diligence, so I wanted to follow him. I believed I was going for gold by becoming an ACCA accountant.
Professional knowledge is one thing, but being able to speak in terms your client understands is something else
Working in practice gives me exposure to multiple businesses, where I can make a meaningful impact. I consult for different companies at various stages in their growth journey, each one providing new challenges.
Micro, small and medium enterprises form about 70% of the economy in Ghana and I believe that, given the right professional support, they could grow into much bigger enterprises.
Some SMEs need convincing that getting their accounts in order will help them grow and find new opportunities. Professional knowledge is one thing, but being able to speak in terms your client understands is something else.
Though I possess a number of professional qualifications, I do not think these alone are enough. Experience also plays a key role in decision-making and the achievement of business objectives. To succeed, you really need both qualifications and experience, with experience being harder to obtain.
I advise younger accountants to try volunteering to gather some experience, which is valuable regardless of whether you gain financially from it.
Ghana faces the common African challenge of brain drain, with many professionals still preferring to work abroad. Meanwhile, an insufficient amount of our huge arable land is being cultivated, and illegal mining is destroying rivers and forests.
On the positive side, Ghana’s ports are key, being the preferred West African destination for many foreign businesses. The country is also leading digitisation in Africa, with the government developing the required infrastructure. The Ghana Revenue Authority is now fully digital, with companies and individuals able to pay their taxes online. Doing business is getting easier every day and fraud is also being reduced drastically.
Ghana is leading digitisation in Africa, with the government developing the required infrastructure
If I had law-making powers I would change the educational system, making it more suited to employment. I'd have less theory and more practical work, starting at primary school.
At university level, some student projects, given the right support, are great businesses in the making. There should be a panel to examine these projects for viability, with the students forming multi-disciplinary teams (with engineers, accountants and lawyers) to develop them. Students would be trained to launch these projects into businesses, with attractive tax rebates to those who invest in them. In this way, new businesses would be formed, and unemployment reduced.
What I enjoy about my job is that I get to interact with many different people, meeting a wide variety of clients and state agencies. I also enjoy the travelling, as I get to know new places and cultures.
My biggest achievement lies in the lives I have had an impact on. People I once managed and mentored are now doing amazingly well, which I find very fulfilling.
If I wasn’t an accountant, I might have been a lecturer. I currently lecture part time at Matech Professional Training Centre (MPTC) in Accra which I enjoy. But maybe I could have been a poet and a writer.... I enjoy writing in my free time. I also have a passion for fundraising for many different causes, and I like playing volleyball.
