Duncan Majinda, the outgoing Chief Executive Officer of the Botswana Institute of Chartered Accountants (BICA), is a happy man.
Last week, as BICA engaged its stakeholders from across Botswana in unrolling its strategy for 2013-2016, he fell back on the legendary Jack Welch’s brutally simple strategy lesson: “Strategy is about figuring out where you are, where you want to go, and implementing like hell”.
Plenty has happened in the last two years for BICA. The Accountants Act of 2010 is fully effective, having repealed the 1988 one to keep the institution in tune with the times.
The institution has seen a sea change, going way beyond its name change from Botswana Institute of Accountants (BIA) to BICA. The Financial Reporting Act is also up and running, streamlining professionalism within Botswana’s growing accountancy profession.
In the same period, BICA moved into its own facilities ÔÇô a P17 million building at the Fairgrounds. It is now in the process of launching a local technician qualification for Botswana accountants, which will be supported by AAT. Similar institutions in Africa, which already have a similar one running, include Zambia’s Institute of Chartered Accountants.
“Most institutions in Africa start with the accounting technician qualification,” he said. The new qualification, though localized, will borrow a lot from AAT.
“Botswana is the second largest base for AAT in the world,” said Majinda.
AAT is a stepping stone and supply conduit for BICA programmes.
The local technician qualification, expected to further generate BICA revenues, improving its funding profile, will run through its accredited institutions, which include Damelin, Botho College, Botswana Accountancy College.
Despite these positive pointers, challenges remain. BICA currently only meets 20 percent of the economy’s accounting demands. Of that percentage, expatriates make up 80 percent.
Some 70 percent of strategy implementations fail. BICA says it is intent that its strategy will succeed, having gone through the rigorous process internally required to get the strategy map right.
“This stakeholder conference is an indication of the openness of the institution, remarked one stakeholder from Damelin.
By all accounts, BICA remains a growing institution.
