The government has initiated moves to review some of the laws governing internal revenue generation to conform with international best standards and also to reflect the nation�s status as a middle income country.
The legislation includes Customs Management Law, which is over 15 years old, and the Internal Revenue Act, Value Added Tax Law and Tax Administration Law, which are all above 10 years old,
According to the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Mr Seth Tekpe, the laws would undergo comprehensive transformation because apart from being old, they had also suffered from separate and uncoordinated amendments over the years.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic in an interview in Accra Fridday after interacting with members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants-Ghana, Mr Tekpe said the review had become necessary because the several and separate amendments to those laws �could also bring about inconsistencies which were not intended�.
Established by an Act of Parliament, Act 170, in 1963, the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana, is the sole body charged with the regulation of the accountancy profession in Ghana.
Its members are the only persons recognised under the Companies Code (Act 179) 1963, for the purpose of auditing of company accounts.
Mr Tekpe said the drafts bills are ready and would in the shortest possible time be laid before Parliament for consideration and passage.
The minister said the �comprehensive review� had become necessary because almost all the laws were old.
He said as the nation prepared for middle income, �they way you do things in middle income are different and we must seek to enhance our laws�.
Mr Tekpe said, with current status as the middle income, country was required to present its financial statements in conformity with the best practices.
The minister said the Ghana Investment Promotion Council (GIPC) draft bill was ready to be laid in Parliament and that Ministry of Finance would intensify its effort to collaborate with the institute in financial management systems.
Mr Tekpe, who is a member of the institute, and once a council member, said Ghana could not afford to be protected by old laws, especially, at the time when the nation had begun commercial production of oil.
The President of the institute, Mrs Angela Peasah, said the delegation was at the ministry to congratulate the minister on his appointment as the Minister of Finance, a position which he said was good reflection of the work of the institute and also dialogue on the way forward for accounting practice in Ghana.
She explained that the discussions also centred on how as practitioners, they could collaborate with the minister who was the head of the public sector accounting
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