On 1st July, 2018, Cytonn Investments Chief Executive Officer – Edwin H. Dande, was invited as a speaker for the Chartered Accountants Day by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India – Nairobi Chapter. The event themed ‘Corporate Governance’ highlighted the role of chartered accountants in upholding the highest standards of corporate governance in their organizations. Other speakers at the forum included BIDCO Chief Executive Officer - Thiagarajan Ramamurthy, Institute of Chartered Public Accountants of Kenya (ICPAK) Chief Executive Officer – Edwin Makori, and Centre for Corporate Governance Chief Executive Officer – Dr. Joshua Okombe.
Speaking during the forum, Dr. Okombe noted that the key impediment to corporate governance was fraud, which was driven mainly by greed. Other impediments include incompetence of officials, overambitious corporate expansions as well as complex business structures that harbour excessive debt.
Edwin H. Dande reiterated the importance of corporate governance, noting, ‘Corporate Governance is a decisive competitive advantage since it ensures we do things better to realize better results for all stakeholders. As a result of this, we have taken it upon ourselves as a firm to develop the Cytonn Corporate Governance Index, which ranks organizations based on practical measures they have taken to uphold the highest standards of corporate governance.”
Thiagarajan Ramamurthy noted that Corporate Governance was about demonstrating the right Character of an individual by upholding integrity and independence and managing the environment prudently. “Integrity in this case includes you, your profession, your environment, economy and everything you are involved in. It all begins with the individual,” he explained.
Edwin Makori also agreed with the other speakers highlighting, “The ultimate goal is to encourage efficient use of resources, good corporate governance in the use of power and stewardship, and aligning the interest of the individual, corporations and the society.” He however noted that despite efforts towards better governance, corruption and cases of fraud remained prevalent in Kenya and this has led to the collapse of various institutions both in the private and public sectors.
The event came to a close with a question and answer session as the audience sought the views of the panelists on how they were able to maneuver different challenges to remain steadfast in upholding good standards of corporate governance.
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India has been very active in promoting good corporate governance in India, and members are required to emphasize and practice the same at their places of work.
