The-Accountant-Sep-Oct-2017-Final

INSTITUTE NEWS
and also to be given investigative
powers.
• Supporting the devolution agenda
through branch enhancement and
empowerment and positioning
ICPAK branches as preferred
reference points in the devolution
agenda.
• He wants to open all the remaining
physical branch offices and also
plant the seed for a CPA centre in
each of the 9 branches.
• Strengthening the Secretariat – by
providing a clear strategic direction
and leveraging on technology for
better service delivery to members.
FCPA Mwatu as you may by now
know has 20 years professional
experience in the wider accounting
profession. He is presently the
Group Chief Finance Officer (CFO)
at Indigo Telecom, in charge of
Strategy, Finance and Risk. He
commenced his accounting career
with PKF where he was engaged
in audit and tax and later worked
with Ernst and Young and KPMG as
a Tax Consultant and Trainer. He
additionally worked for Nedbank
Eastern Africa as a Financial Analyst
on a part time basis. He started
working with the Institute in 2008
as a tax trainer, and later worked
with the Public Finance and Tax
Committee before joining Council;
a position he has served for six
years; the last two as National Vice
Chairman. During his time as Vice
Chairman, he worked very closely
with the Chairman and the CEO and
played a key role in advocacy and
fostering recognition of the CPA (K)
Brand locally and internationally.
Upon joining ICPAK, he took up the
weighty Practitioners Development
Committee (PDC) docket in addition
to co-convening the Public Policy
and Governance Committee.
FCPA Mwatu is convinced that his
election as chairman will permit
him to spur ICPAK’s development;
something he has always desired to
do. It has actually given him a great
opportunity to upscale projects he
had already started. He hopes to
accomplish his mission with the
help of fellow accountants.
Sample the interview below:
Mine will be
an all inclusive
leadership. I
believe that if
you want to go
faster you walk
alone and if
you want to go
further, you walk
with everybody.
It is now my
responsibility to
build the requisite
bond between
the secretariat
and the council
to make our team
even stronger.
What is your vision for the
Institute?
Mine will be an all inclusive
leadership. I believe that if you
want to go faster you walk alone
and if you want to go further, you
walk with everybody. It is now my
responsibility to build the requisite
bond between the secretariat and
the council to make our team even
stronger.
Are you happy with progress at
the Institute?
It is doing well; it is very strong. The
mid-period strategic review will be
done this month (July). I have been
involved in all levels and dedicated
a lot of my time to ICPAK. I know
the institute well and if I use this
knowledge to bring the secretariat
and the council together, we should
be able to deliver our mandate.
What is your biggest challenge?
It will be cohesion, from the
council, to the secretariat, to
the membership. It is not unique
to ICPAK; it is an issue we are
experiencing as a country. I believe
ICPAK can take a lead on this to
become the national benchmark.
The second challenge is meeting
members’ expectations. I felt it
during the campaigns; I see it in
social media every day. Members
expect more than we are giving
them. The expectations are valid;
we don’t have a choice. We have to
meet them. Where we need to play
politics, we will, where we need to
apply some little push, we will; and
when we need to go for strategic
alliances, we shall do exactly that.
We however appeal to members to
support us in this journey. We have a
few challenges – sometimes, politics
on the way, sometimes financial
constraints; but we give our
commitment to meet expectations.
Why did you want to be Chairman
of ICPAK?
It is a passion I have always had.
In fact for me it has been a journey
of service to ICPAK and I earnestly
wanted an opportunity to complete
the job. You do not need to be a
council member or chairman to
serve the institute. For me, that
is where the journey started; as a
trainer for ICPAK members for free.
Actually, this is what partly led to
the award of my fellowship.
What guided your decision to
come up with these pillars?
It is because we have what it takes
to be the preferred profession to
provide direction to the country.
But we need to do more to position
ourselves to be the preferred
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