34th Annual Caribbean Conference of Accountants Held in Belize

Public and private sector accountants from across the Caribbean have converged on Belize for the thirty-fourth annual Caribbean Conference of Accountants. With over three thousand seven hundred members, today, three hundred accounting professionals gathered at the Ramada Belize City Princess for the three-day summit. The event focuses on the challenges facing the Caribbean in tapping into global markets. According to Conference Chair, Shawn Mahler, regional products are not expanding, and the conference will tackle best trading practices. It is being held under the theme “Call of the Champions – Breaking Boundaries in the Marketplace,” which President Jasmine Davis says is fitting in the current economic times.

Jasmine Davis

Jasmine Davis, President, Institute of Chartered Accountants of the Caribbean

“There are so many things that are changing within the world and I think during my opening presentation, I talked about cyber security, the impact that terrorism has had in the marketplace, women and gender biases in the boardroom and of course corporate governance.  Those are the things that we think are facing the nations today and we need to ensure are done, uncovered at this particular time. And the conference hosts have done a remarkable job in getting speakers that have expertise in those areas and so we look forward to a great conference.”

Shawn Mahler

Shawn Mahler, Chair, Caribbean Conference Accountants

“There’s private sector accountants, there’s also a lot of government accountants. The past few months, the ICAC has been working with governments to the implementation of the International Public Sector Accounting Standards. You would be aware that when this standard was brought…the Prime Minister had mentioned that Belize is adapting the IPSAS. So what ICAC has taken charge in actually fostering a relationship with the region governments in order to get them trained and how to implement IPSAS throughout the region. And the World Bank and IFAC, the International Federation of Accountants, they are the ones that have created the public sector accounting standards. So they have teamed up in order to help with the implementation and funding for local governments all over the world and now there are targeting the Caribbean region for that expansion.”