5th edition of chief financial officer awards launched

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | ACCA Uganda and Deloitte have officially unveiled the 5th edition of the Chief Financial Officer Awards to be held on Dec.09 under the theme, “Finance leaders as drivers of sustainability.”

The launch of the awards strategically coincides with the Global Ethics Day themed “Ethics Empowered.” Speaking at the launch ceremony held in Kampala on Oct.20, Charlotte Kukunda, acting Head of ACCA Uganda said, “Sustainability has become one of the central corporate success factors for the future and the future finance departments are not yet well equipped to address the main challenges of our generation. As a professional body of accountants, we uphold the highest professional and ethical values so these two; the Global Ethics Day and the CFO awards happening simultaneously amplifies our purpose of being a force for good.”

The CFO Awards aim at recognizing the role that CFOs and finance functions play within organizations, highlighting the good business and finance practices while raising the profile of this strategic role. The awards are part of the bigger CFO agenda which presents a platform to share best practice, drive awareness, inspire action and develop a community of finance leaders committed to creating more sustainable outcomes for their organisations.

Nobert Kagoro, Partner at Deloitte Uganda said, “In the past, finance leaders were known as number crunchers but that has changed. Finance leaders are now part of the team that drives strategy and performance. They are becoming more of strategists than number crunchers,” adding that, “Finance leaders are becoming catalysts because their role is to catalyze the behaviors that enable strategy execution.

A survey recently done by the Institute of Certified Public Accountants (ICPAU) revealed that 95% of respondents indicated that they had encountered a situation where they were faced with an ethical dilemma, 84% said they discovered the ethical dilemmas during the course of their work and 12% revealed that the dilemmas were reported to them during the course of their work.

Constant Mayende FCCA, President of Governing Council, ICPAU reiterated the need for finance professionals to adhere to ethical values to strengthen relationships with both clients and employers.

Eligibility criteria

For one to qualify, they must be a professional accountant in good standing with their professional body, have been a CFO, Head of Finance or Finance Director (title may differ) for a minimum of three years and must be working and resident in Uganda. Self-nomination is also allowed.

Past winners are not eligible to compete for the categories they previously won. Nominations start Oct.20 and close on Nov.21.