Accountants failed to call foul ahead of the financial crisis and point out that companies were making unsustainable profits.

That was the message from the former president of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, Aubrey Joachim at the formal launch of the Sri Lankan Accountants Association - Bahrain (SLAAB) yesterday at the Gulf Hotel.

'Accountants failed to call foul and failed to say companies were making unsustainable profits,' he said.

'There was a lack of being proactive in the profession. There is a point at which you need to tell the client that they are wrong, even if the next word you hear is that you are fired.

More than 250 finance professionals took part in the formal launch of the Sri Lankan Accountants Association Bahrain yesterday at a seminar on Finance Transformation jointly hosted by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India Bahrain Chapter (ICAI).

The chief guests at the event were Indian ambassador George Joseph and Sri Lankan consul Tissa Higgoda.

'The number of Sri Lankan finance professionals has been growing in Bahrain over the past few years and there was a growing need to have a forum wherein they could interacts and enhance there professional knowledge,' said SLAAB president Dilip Wijeyeratane.

'SLAAB has been formed to fulfil this need.

'It is a great pleasure for ICAI to assist its fellow professional bodies to set up in Bahrain,' said ICAI Bahrain chairman Alok Gupta.

'We look forward to having more mutually beneficial programmes in the future.'-TradeArabia News Service