The accounting profession is ready and able to help the business community navigate workforce challenges, evolving employee expectations and increasing economic uncertainty.
It is also prepared to play an important role in helping the country to maintain strong institutions, resilient businesses and principled leaders.
That vote of confidence came yesterday from Institute of Chartered Accountants of Barbados (ICAB) president Damien Skeete when the ICAB Annual Conference 2026 opened at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre under the theme Future Ready: Leading The Profession Through Change.
Addressing participants in person and online, Skeete said the various challenges faced by businesses in Barbados were “the reality of the world today” and he identified a key role to be played by chartered accountants.
“At times, it can feel rather chaotic, yet the accounting profession sits at the centre of many of these developments. We are uniquely positioned to help organisations make better decisions because, as my grandmother would say, we are no one-trick pony,” the president said.
“We combine technical skills with professional judgement. We understand risk. We understand governance. We understand performance and perhaps most importantly, we understand trust.
“As we become increasingly digital, analytical and technologically driven, the qualities that distinguish exceptional professionals remain remarkably human.
“At the very top of the list, in my view, are empathy, integrity, ethical behaviour, a strong moral code, sound judgement, communication and leadership.”
Skeete also said that as Barbados looks towards its next chapter, “our country will continue to need strong institutions, resilient businesses and principled leaders [and] the accounting profession has an important role to play in all three.
“Let us therefore embrace the opportunities before us, with confidence and determination, let us turn those opportunities into progress,” he urged.
“Let us continue investing in our skills, our people, and our profession, and let us commit to being future ready, not only for our own success, but for the benefit of the businesses, communities, and the nation we proudly serve.”
(SC)