The government will be moving to establish an internal audit department from April 1, 2023.
Minister in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs, Ryan Straughn, made this disclosure as he addressed the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Barbados’ (ICAB) annual tax update workshop, recently.
At the same time, Mr. Straughn also called on ICAB members to work closely with Government and share information to ensure that the standards they want Barbados to have are implemented, to allow their profession and the country to thrive.
The Minister said the intention was to use regulations as a competitive tool. “So, the question is, what are those structures and systems that you as practitioners would want us the Government to implement to allow Barbados to navigate this world that is becoming more hostile?”, he asked.
Mr. Straughn added that there was a need to formulate a clear plan to allow regulators like the Barbados Revenue Authority (BRA) and the Corporate Affairs and Intellectual Property Office to ensure that the right regulatory systems are in place to facilitate more business in Barbados.
The Minister also challenged ICAB members to seek out new opportunities from which Barbados could take advantage. He stressed that if Barbados was going to reposition itself, then it must do so aggressively.
Minister Straughn also called on them, as professionals, to consider ways of bringing new business from Africa in a similar way that was done for the United States, Europe, and Canada.
However, he outlined that global business requires a cadre of professional persons who are capable of delivering speedy service, and consideration therefore has to be given as to what Barbados needs to do to achieve that objective.
To facilitate the growth of businesses, the Minister proffered the view that they could not be “worrying about BRA and NIS”.
He then challenged the grouping to discuss with Government the issues affecting the growth of entities to provide an understanding of what policy interventions are needed to triple the growth of enterprises.
Mr. Straughn suggested that in order to work smarter, faster and exchange information with Government, there needs to be a commitment by all involved to “defend Barbados”.
“Our tax posture is predicated on how we drive growth; how we facilitate growth; how will we bring new business to Barbados. How are we going to diversify within the existing product offering of Barbados?” he said.
He also called for the private sector to work along with Government. “ICAB can work with regulators and share appropriate data and information for clear policymaking to allow businesses to expand,” Minister Straughn stated.