By Jackline Nabirye
Officer Communications & Brand Management, ICPAU
The Minister of State for Finance, Planning and Economic Development, Hon. CPA Henry Musasizi, has urged accountants to take a more active role in promoting fiscal discipline, accountability and evidence-based decision-making to accelerate Uganda’s development.
Musasizi made the call while officiating at the opening of the 31st ICPAU Annual Seminar held at Imperial Resort Beach Hotel, Entebbe, and online, under the theme “Transforming Institutions and Lives for Sustainable Growth.”
The Minister said accountants are uniquely positioned to influence how public and private institutions make decisions because they generate, analyse and validate much of the financial information on which those decisions are based.
He challenged professionals to move beyond traditional accounting functions of recording and reporting transactions and instead provide insights that improve institutional performance, strengthen accountability and support prudent financial management.
“Evidence-based decision making is fundamental to accelerating economic development, promoting sustainable business growth and avoiding costly policy and investment mistakes,” Musasizi said.
He noted that in the public sector, accountants play a critical role throughout the national budget cycle from planning and preparation to execution, control, accountability and reporting.
According to Musasizi, timely and reliable financial information enables Government to monitor revenues and expenditure, safeguard public assets, manage liabilities and identify whether public resources are delivering the intended development outcomes.
He further called on accountants to harness emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, blockchain and digital financial management systems, to improve the way financial information is generated, managed and used.
In the keynote address, National Social Security Fund (NSSF) Managing Director, CPA Patrick Ayota, challenged finance professionals to rethink their contribution to organisational growth, arguing that cost reduction alone cannot deliver sustainable transformation.
“Cost-cutting is a short-term fix. The real opportunity is on the revenue side; understanding your customer, creating value and finding new growth opportunities,” Ayota said.
He urged finance leaders to work more closely with marketing, customer service and other functions to understand customer needs and identify opportunities to improve value and revenue. Ayota challenged organisations to ask fundamental questions about their operations: Do you know your customer? Do you know your people? Do you know your processes?
He illustrated the importance of learning from outside one’s industry, citing NSSF’s benchmarking of some of its processes against Café Javas to better understand customer experience and service efficiency. For finance professionals, he said, the role of the modern CFO should extend beyond monitoring expenditure to helping organisations grow revenues, improve performance and create value.
Ayota also emphasised the importance of having a clear organisational purpose, measuring results rather than effort, empowering employees and keeping strategies simple enough to remain effective during periods of disruption.
The three-day ICPAU Annual seminar, running from 2–4 September 2026, brings together over 2,000 professionals with the aim to broaden professional development beyond technical accounting knowledge by addressing leadership, personal finance, wellness, entrepreneurship, family life and other areas that contribute to both professional and personal growth.
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