Commercial Registry rejecting annual returns done by some GRA-licensed Chartered Accountants

Dear Editor,

The Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) gives suitably qualified individuals licences (Tax Practice Certificates) to practice as Chartered Accountants, whereby these individuals can certify audited financial statements for companies and these audited financial statements are accepted by GRA.

However, a situation currently exists whereby the Commercial Registry is not recognizing some of these GRA licensed Chartered Accountants - and is rejecting the Annual Returns presented to that organization. I was told that the Registry is recognizing only Accountants certified by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Guyana (ICAG).

This situation is creating lots of confu- sion and is leaving company owners in lots of stress - because when you take your accounts to be audited (by a GRA licensed chartered accountant) and GRA accepts your accounts, when you take the same audited accounts to the Registry they are not accepted. What are you left to do? Now go to an ICAG recognized accountant and pay him all over again to re-certify the same accounts?

My humble opinion is that the Commercial Registry (being a government agency) should be going along with GRA (another government organization) - and not taking instructions from ICAG (a private organization).

Yours faithfully, Trevor Charles