I have used the word "confront" because the government is least bothered about good governance, and as a sign of frustration the conscious segment of the society has been focusing on this issue most urgently.

Civil society has really taken a continuous action plan so that the general citizens wake up and stand beside them to make the government take measures to establish good governance in government and other economic and social sectors to reduce people's dissatisfaction over the government's poor role in bringing real peace and tranquility in the society.

It is the political will, which dictates in implementing the policies for establishing good governance. Political environment of Bangladesh is not in favour of patronizing good governance, especially in government procurement and expenditure.

We can cite many examples in this respect. Failure in generation of additional electricity is the well-publicized glaring example of non-existence of good governance.

There is one area where political cloud did not exercise their strength or will against good governance, that was financial sector. As a result, many reforms have been made in this sector.

However, the institution which needs reform most has remained untouched, that is ICAB (The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh), which was established under Presidential Order 2 of 1973 for the purpose of regulating the profession of accountancy and for matters concerned therewith.

The most important service the professional accountants provide is auditing of financial transactions or certification of financial statements of business houses, companies, NGOs, corporate bodies, and government projects.

As per the presidential order, chartered accountants are empowered to certify the financial statements of various organizations as mentioned above. It is the responsibility of ICAB to regulate these auditing functions of chartered accountants.

The question is whether the present ICAB management is equipped to exercise its function as regulatory body of auditing and whether the ICAB management has sufficient manpower and logistic support to oversee the functional procedures of auditors.

ICAB has been established by the government for carrying out the functions to help in establishing good governance in financial management. ICAB can play a pivotal role in establishing the good governance in the private sector through systematic monitoring of auditing functions of auditors. ICAB can play a vital role in equitable distribution of wealth through its certification of financial statements, which will result in increasing government revenue significantly.

Does ICAB know how many organizations are being audited each year? Who are doing these audits? Are all the audit reports signed by members of ICAB? What is the mechanism for monitoring these issues? The reality is that ICAB is not equipped for addressing these issues.

Has the government given due attention since issuing the presidential order? There is little reflection of that in the activities of ICAB. Even significant numbers of senior government officials are not aware of this order and ICAB's authority as regulatory body.

There are many instances of government officials not giving due cognizance to the institute's authority on auditing function. Hence ICAB's opinion in this respect has not been honoured in many cases whereby the spirit of the Presidential Order 2 of 1973 has been jeopardized.

For the interest of good governance, every department of the government must extend due cooperation to ICAB in exercising its authority. The sooner the government gives attention in this respect, the better for the nation. It is only ICAB, no other institution will be able to address the above issues effectively and efficiently.

It is the government's obligation to uphold the spirit of Presidential Order 2 of 1973. Accordingly, it is the responsibility of the government to strengthen ICAB as a regulatory body. The government should come forward in assisting the ICAB management to create a vibrant ICAB. To meet the need of the time with the advent of open market and globalization, restructuring of ICAB is a must.

The author is an FCA.