Mr. Emmanuel Asiedu-Mante, Deputy Governor, Bank of Ghana on Friday urged Financial Non Governmental Organisations (NGO's) into micro-credit to adopt prudent accounting practices that meet international standards.
He said as financial institutions they could only sustain and not compromise their operations through sound financial management.
Launching an accounting manual for financial NGO's in Accra, Mr. Asiedu-Mante said it was only through proper accounting systems that non- governmental organisations would generate the required information for decision-making and control.
The manual, which was prepared by the Ghana Microfinance Institutions Network ( GHAMFIN) aims to provide efficient accounting framework that would guide the NGO's with micro credit portfolios to upgrade and standardize their accounting systems and keep up-to-date accounting records.
It was necessitated by negative reports of improper financial records by NGO's engaged in micro-finance, which had created mistrust and suspicions between them and their donors.
The Deputy Governor noted that some NGO's maintain good accounting procedure, while others provide information that fall less of the requirement of their funding partners.
Mr. Asiedu-Mante said in view of the problem it was the duty of all stakeholders to ensure that no stone remain unturned in serving them with adequate doses of good governance and efficient management.
"It's important that all institutions that apply to be involved in micro finance adopt the Micro Finance Information Exchange (MIX) Performance Monitoring and Benchmarking (PMB) system as a means of assessing their own performance".
He noted that despite the setbacks, financial NGO's had filled the void and provided useful services in micro credit to many rural businesses.
Mr. Daniel Acquaye, President of the Institute of Chartered Accountant, observed that financial reporting system supported by strong governance, high quality standards and sound regulatory quality framework was key to economic development.
"The high quality standards of financial reporting, auditing, and ethics underpin the trust that investors place in financial and non- financial information, thus play an integral role in contributing to a country's economic growth and financial stability".
He said currently, there was an increasing trend of public scrutiny of the accounting profession, leading to government interventions and critical discussions of the need to increase confidence that the financial reporting process was responsive to the interest of society.